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| Wed, 02-18-2004 - 6:39pm |
Hi all. I have a quick question for everyone. My dad has diabetes and last night his blood sugar sky rocketed to 595 and he was sent to the hospital. He's been feeling bad all week...just felt kinda lousy. And my mom didn't think to check his blood sugar level. So, anyway, they got it down by giving him some insulin. He's got an appointment tomorrow with his doctor.
My question is, what makes your blood sugar level jump high like that? I don't know much about diabetes, so if anyone has any advice, I'd greatly appreciate it! Maybe someone could post some websites that I could send to my parents that may help with this.
Thanks!

Hi! Thank you for your
Good thing your mom got him to the hospital right away. He could have gone into a coma!
Something tells me that he hasn't been following the dietary requirements. Stress can make it (the measurement of glucose) much higher, but not into the 500's. If he's had surgery lately, he may have been given an IV with glucose in it. Be sure that he has a bracelet to wear that shows he's diabetic so the EMT's done give him the wrong stuff.
Ok...guidelines: fasting range is 70-110 and 2 hours after eating a measurement should be below 140.
Hi all. Well, the doctor is assuming that it
Hi Mandy,
I am the other community leader for this board. I am a type 2 diabetic and a registered nurse. Any advise I may give is not a substitute for seeking medical advise from a health care practitioner of your choice.
My take on this is that your dad's diabetes has not been in good control and that he is not meeting the minimum treatment guidelines. Also the number one cause of death in diabetics is heart disease. Diabetes causes inflammation of blood vessels, amoungst other things. This leads to increased heart problems and strokes. Also with a blood sugar this high his beta cells in his pancreas may not be able to produce enough insulin anymore.
How long has your dad been diabetic? what type of insulin did they put him on?
One of the problems with Medicare (I am assuming that your dad is on Medicare) is that they only pay for the diabetic to check their blood sugar once per day and that isn't adequate. Your dad should be checking his blood sugar himself unless his isn't capable of doing that because of his stroke. At this point he needs to be checking it four times per day so that his physicians can tell what is going on.
Most meds don't cause an elevation in the blood sugar. The exception to this is psych meds. They are notoriously bad for causing elevated blood sugars and increased weight.
Please see if there is a diabetic clinic near you that your family can be referred to. There they would meet up with dietitans who specialize in diabetes and certified diabetic educators. Your dad needs to be eating a diabetic meal plan and he needs to be exercising as much as he can with his limitations. At the moment probably only walking will be allowed by his physician.
There is a very good web site with information for the newly diagnosed as well as the long timer. It is the Joslin Diabetic Clinic which is part of Harvard University. Look at www.joslin.org
Mary,
Wow! Thank you for
"healthy" is one and "fitness" is this one...ha ha...too bad neither of them are accurate.