45 Comments
Were you experiencing DKA (diabetes-related ketoacidosis) when you were diagnosed with T1D?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
© 2023 T1D Exchange. All Rights Reserved.
?? Did testing for that exist 70 years ago ??
I did not have any signs of ketoacidosis., my BG was not in that range. That’s why it was mistaken for type 2 for about two to three months until not responding to the medicines. I assume the GAD autoantibodies had just finished their job.
I put I don’t know because I was 3 years old and that was in 1960. I know I was very sickly and they finally put me in the hospital. Not sure if I was diagnosed prior to the hospitalization or if I was in ketoacidosis
Yes I was in DKA I spent 3 days in the hospital
Only 3 days in the Hospital? My T1D diagnosis with the complications gave me a full week of R&R in the Hospital’s ICU. But the Hospital I was in, when diagnosed was overbooked to the point where when my status changed from ICU to standard inpatient care, I remained in the same room in the ICU with only the status flag over my room door getting changed to tell the staff that my room was no longer considered part of the ICU despite my having remained housed in a room designated as being in the ICU.
I was diagnosed back in the mid-1970’s – Told only of my high blood glucose levels…. nothing else… So, I have no idea if I was experiencing ketoacidosis or not.
I had the same experience. I said “I don’t know” to the question. But, I remember feeling completely exhausted, and drinking water non-stop. I could only guess that I had DKA. We’ll never know.
I said “I don’t know” because I generally felt like crap most of the year before my T1D diagnosis, but going by Hospital Lab test results, the lab test results would probably change my “I don’t know” to a “DEFINITE YES!!!” since when admitted into the ER, my Blood Acetone level was almost 0.5% HIGHER than what all the Hospital’s available literature was telling them was a “100% FATAL Blood Acetone level meaning my survival should have been medically impossible, yet I never even lost consciousness.
When checked into the Hospital’s ER, they said I’d done the “IMPOSSIBLE” by having WALKED into the ER with a blood glucose too high for their lab equipment to give a numeric reading, but when they tested my blood gasses, they said that my blood acetone level was high enough that even if my BG was in the “IDEAL” range, my Blood Acetone level alone should have resulted in my having been transported to the MORGUE instead of the Hospital since everything the Hospital had available said that a blood Acetone level of 2.5% was “100% FATAL with survivability nearly impossible” and when aditted my blood Acetone level was just barely below 3%. They said they didn’t believe the results so tested my blood acetone level three times and my test results were consistently ranging between 2.98 and 3% so according to the information they had available to reference, it should have been more than 100% impossible for me to have remained alive, much less remaining fully alert and conscious!!!
Similar to my story! “How are you not in a coma?”
Prior to my T1D diagnosis, when I went to the Doctor feeling just as sick the previous month, my weight about 3 weeks prior to T1D diagnosis was still 160 pounds, but when my T1D was diagnosed, my weight had dropped in less than 4 weeks to less than 112 pounds!!!
Wow! You and Ms Cris should be written up in a medical journal! It’s amazing what the human body can tolerate.
Yes, not knowing it. My physician sent me to the ER because of “unexpected, very odd blood test results” at my annual physical.
At the ER, they re-ran the tests THREE TIMES because they couldn’t believe the results were from me and that I was “awake and coherent.”
In the ICU, the Dr quickly ran my antibodies: antiGAD through the roof, diagnosed me on the spot as T1D. The ICU nurse was startled all night by me, not comprehending how I was not in a coma! But, he was glad to have someone to talk to. So was I.
I dunno. I have trouble remembering what I did 30 minutes ago. And I’m supposed to remember 72 years ago???
I have no idea. I didn’t have any symptoms. My A1C was 14 at (mis)diagnosis. I was diagnosed as Type 2 at first. By the time I got an endo appointment, I had starved myself down to an A1C in the 8’s. The endo said it would be interesting to know if I had experienced DKA.
I was diagnosed in 1945, when I was 6. I had lost so much weight! Three doctors could not make a diagnosis. A fourth doctor had my blood sugar tested. A diagnosis was made in the nick of time. Another few days and I might have died. Pork insulin saved my life.
Half you’re still here!
I’m with Amanda and glad you’re still here! 🙂
I know I was spilling ketones but I don’t know if I was in DKA. I had just barely turned 4 so the details are fuzzy.
I had lost a lot of weight in a very short time, 10 plus pounds in 1.5 weeks at 11 years old. I had the tell tale signs and symptoms thirsty, peeing, hungry but couldn’t eat without becoming nausea and/or vomiting. The oldest of my 3 niece’s had the same symptoms when she was diagnosed at 23 months old. My brother (nieces Dad) was in a coma when once one of the many pediatricians finally figured out he wasn’t gaining weight at 7 months old. He was not much more than his birth weight.
You and your family have certainly gone through the T1D ringer/wrangler!
As a ten-year old, I was only aware of the constant unquenchable thirst and never-ending trips to the bathroom literally all day long. I was convinced that I was dying because I could not imagine my body continuing like that.This lasted about 2 months before my sainted mother was able to convince the GP to check my urine (rather than give his usual suggestion that she was being neurotic). My positive urine test was followed by a blood test, and I started a bizarre protocol of insulin administration the day after that, all from home. I guess my mother would have noticed ketones, but the doctor never looked into it.
My doctors also told my Mom she was being neurotic! My normally positive and not-yelly Mom actually yelled at the last doctor to get me some help. And that’s what it took for the last doctor to be called who immediately put me in an ambulance for the hospital!
So, I’d like to add my Mom to the “Sainted Mother Club”. 😀
(Although, we might need a new name for it… that one I just made up sounds like it could go a different way.) ;p
My symptoms really kicked in on Christmas Eve. My parents were too busy with Christmas stuff to make too much of it. Our tradition of going to my Aunt’s house in Central Kanas the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day stayed on. My Aunt had just moved into her brand new house Thanksgiving week, her new fridge had ice and water in the door and I was forever getting yelled at by my Mom for playing with it (even though I couldn’t get enough to drink). My parent’s realized on our way home, I wasn’t playing with the fridge I was truly thirsty, as I had drank the whole gallon water thermos by myself in a half hour. That usually only 7.5 hour trip, turned into the longest drive home from there, ever. They did an urine test on me at one if the stops (using my brothers kit) and it was bright orange.
I was diagnosed in 1966 when I was a 7 years old. I had the usual symptoms, thirst, drinking, peeing. After a little while of this, my mother took me to the doctor thinking there was something wrong with my bladder. The doctors did a urine test and it showed up right away I was diabetic. I do not recall if they tested for keytones, but they probably did.
15 years later, I had almost the identical experience. I did drink so much water that my urine test was high but not off the charts.
I’m gonna say yes – I was in DKA. But I don’t really remember – I was found by a neighbor in a coma. I had been Dx’d with T2D because I was 30 years old. Didn’t know enough to challenege that initial Dx. Do D of any kind in my family (which should have been a clue to the first doctor I saw), weight went from 110 lbs (I was a ballet dancer at the time) to 95 lbs, plus the classic symptoms. It was my good fortune to have a “day job” with a large city fire dept. When the neighbor called to say I wasn’t coming in to work (that was nice of her, she didn’t think to call 911) they knew of my recent (although incorrect) Dx of D and dispatched paramedics from HQ. Having that job saved my life!
I don’t think so but don’t really know. I wasnt throwing up or feeling sick. I don’t remember hearing anything about DKA.
I was 7 years old at that time. All I know knew I was put in the hospital and GOT SHOTS!!! I was NOT HAPPY!😥!
No, I was fully conscious and actually not feeling sick at all. I have no idea what my bg level was when my pediatrician took a urine test at his office and told my mother to take me to the hospital. It was 1955 and I was 8. Once at the hospital I remember never ending urine tests, not many blood tests.
Idk, I was dxd as an adult in the early 90’s. I was thought to be T2 because I was 39. I had lost 20 pounds and could barely make it up a flight of stairs. I was not sent to the hospital but was sent home with glucophage. I think I was on it for 6mos to 9mos., I don’t remember exactly. I might have gone through a bit of honeymoon. The doc said then that I had to go on insulin. He said I was of 10% of type 2s that can’t achieve control without insulin. I think I was on NPH and regular. I was never sent to the hospital until I started insulin. I went to a diabetes educator at the hospital to learn how to stick a lemon with a needle and do exchanges in diet.
I was Dx’ed at age 18 months due to chronic diaper rushing 1956.
I was diagnosed with Graves the year before after a 9 month battle after the birth of my first son and this was my quarterly Endo visit following my thyroidectomy. The doctor had good news/bad news. Bad news was I was T1D. Good news was I was pregnant with my second child. So we caught both early. Fast-forward 17 years later and unknowingly using bad insulin which was not past its expiration, I found myself in the hospital for a week with DKA. Numbers were running in the mid-200s and could not get them down with aggressive injections. Thought I was having a heart attack. Am on a pump now and no issues.
I was very lucky to be diagnosed by a diabetic co-worker using his own BG monitor after I complained to him about blurry vision, thirst, weight loss, etc. He hooked me up right away with his CDE in the endo clinic in the medical center where we both worked. Especially during that first year after diagnosis, I felt especially lucky to have a great example of a person with diabetes performing well at a demanding job.
Now that I have learned more, I’m pretty sure I was in DKA but they treated me as Type 2. My blood sugar was high, I had a bladder infection and I went to Urgent Care but sent to the ER because I was throwing up and was sick.
I was 5 and remember most of what happened.
I had most of DKA signs and symptoms:
very thirsty, urinating a lot, fast and deep breathing, fruity breath, utter fatigue, nausea and vomiting, achy muscles, flushed face, dry skin and mouth (hence the thirstiness). I was nearly in a coma, but I’m not sure if I went there. I don’t think so. I think that, once I was in the hospital and was finally allowed to sleep, I slept deeply. (My Mom was instructed to keep me awake for the hour and 15 minute ambulance ride to the hospital.) As an aside, I also remember it taking both hands and both feet for the nurses to find a vein to put an IV in.
It was 1971 and it took 3 or 4 doctors to make a diagnosis. I was in the hospital for a month. (I wish I knew why I was in for so long! I was in at American Thanksgiving and released Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve in my own bed was blissful!!!)
I also wonder if the doctors who called me a liar and said I was faking being sick found out that I’d been rushed to the hospital. But, that’s a thought that goes nowhere, so I will have to let it go!
I understand how the dehydration caused the nurses to have a hard time finding a vein to put an IV in. My doctors had to cut me open to stick an IV in me.
Yes, dehydration makes getting an IV in difficult (and my veins like to hide anyway).
But… O, AnitaS! Ouch! I’m sorry they had to cut you open!
I was lucky that they eventually succeeded. I applaud the determined nurses for that.
Even though the tests showed Type 1, the Endocrinologist said he didn’t think that I was because I was 67. The type 2 drugs weren’t working & he would give me a rough time for not controlling my blood sugar levels. I was eating 30 carbs per day & he would say that I wasn’t controlling my diet. My wife confirmed what I ate. It turned out that I had Lyme disease which attacked my pancreas. After seeing 9 different physicians, one finally diagnosed it. At that point I almost couldn’t walk from fatigue. One infectious disease doctor said I was just getting older & needed to slow down. That taught me to seek better physicians. I’ve been through 9 different Endocrinologist. I would love to find one that is a type 1 and understands what we go through.
Your story is heartbreaking and infuriating. I’m sorry you went through this. My mentor was diagnosed at 50 and had a similar experience. I was 42.
So many people don’t believe me when I tell them how many endocrinologists fail us as T1Ds because they don’t understand it as an autoimmune disease that can strike at any age.
I was diagnosed at age 21. My glucose was 226 at the hospital. They didn’t admit me because I was in nursing school. At first they didn’t know if I was a MODY, but, then they decided I was a T1D. (1979)
I was a kid away at summer sleep away camp and they offered unlimited bug juice (kool aid). I caught a stomach virus and after that passed I drank, and drank, and drank the bug juice. The camp had to tell my parents to send me more clothes because I lost so much weight. I had cramps, open sores, and all the usual symptoms of DKA. The camp nurse obviously didn’t know anything about TID because the counselor sent me to see her because of all the bug juice I was drinking. I am very fortunate to have survived those 8 weeks away. I was home for less than an hour when my mother (a nurse) observed me drinking anything liquid in the refrigerator and then going to the bathroom for my polyuria. She put me in the car and drove me to the hospital where I was rapidly diagnosed with T1D. ( think that my BG was over 1200. Lucky to be alive.
Yes, I had DKA and lapsed into a coma for a day at the hospital.
When I was diagnosed in 1963, I was admitted to the hospital that evening. I was unbelievably thirsty and peed almost continuously. At some point that night I went into a hyperglycemic coma and woke up the next day when they had brought my glucose level down and reversed the DKA.
BG 742, lots of urination but no nausea or chest pains. Not sure they could/knew to test for ketoacidosis in 1966.
I was very young, so I don’t know for sure. I don’t think I was though, because my mother recognized the signs – – excessive thirst and urination – – and took me to the doctor’s office to get checked.