Mary Frances & all (warning - graphic)
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| Mon, 04-26-2004 - 3:03pm |
Mary Frances -
A friend of mine here at work just lost her older brother at age 43. He was a diabetic (type 1, diagnosed in childhood, I think she said 7) and had been on dialysis for some time. She told us that she spoke to him the night before, he was fine, the following morning he didn't feel well at all, his girlfriend grabbed his monitor and checked and he was sky high, in the high 500s. She gave him an injection, but it did nothing. They lost him later in the day at the hospital. She also said that he frequently had lows, and that seemed to be his major problem. The last major high she remembered was probably about 10 years ago, so this type of spike was highly unusual.
Could this have been caused by his kidneys just completely giving out even though he had felt fine prior to this? No one's been able to give them answers. What was worse is he died across the country from the family (they're all here, down in the Bakersfield area, she's in Santa Monica, there's some family in Kansas, but he was in CT.)
TIA!
How can anybody be enlightened, truth is after all so poorly lit.

Hi Gabby,
I am sorry to hear about your friend's brother. And your post wasn't that graphic.
His kidneys had already given out, that is why he was on dialysis. It was most likely his heart gave out perhaps from an electrolyte imbalance or heart failure. When diabetics get to the point of needing to be on dialysis they have multi-sytem failure and really are quite fragile. You don't say if he had a treatment that day but usually they have them 3-4 times per week. He should have been able to survive a 500 blood sugar as most patients do so this is why I think it is cardiac in origin.
Sorry I can't help more but he certainly lived a long time with his diabetes and if he were to be diagnosed now he would live even longer due to newer treatments and equipment.
Hugs and I am glad to see you abck here posting again,
Mary Frances
cl-maryfrances40
Co-Cl Diabetes Board
I don't think he had a treatment, but she's never said.
Blueliner4
(aka The Pixie Princess)