Discovering type 1 diabetes through DKA

I was taken to hospital by ambulance on Wednesday morning in terrible pain and continuously vomiting; I couldn’t keep anything down! I had been having issues with my blood glucose levels, which I had been monitoring for almost a week to report back to my GP during a phone appointment scheduled for Thursday. The readings had been fairly high all week and the doctor thought it may be my steroids, that I take daily, causing the problem.

 

By Tuesday, I had lost my appetite and I knew things weren’t right. I had an awful, sleepless night on Tuesday night so 111 sent me an ambulance on Wednesday morning. After blood tests at hospital, they diagnosed Diabetic Ketoacidodis (DKA), basically a very dangerous build up of acid in your body. It was then I was told that I was the equivalent of a ‘Type 1 Diabetic’ and would need to have insulin for the rest of my days. They have put the cause down to one of three things: the steroids (as suggested by my GP), the fact I had part of my pancreas removed during my initial cancer surgery in 2018, or the Nivolumab (the immunotherapy I am currently on). They won’t really be able to say at the moment as I currently need to stay on the two medicines if I can. 

It is now Saturday and I’m still in hospital while they try to get my insulin levels more stable.

It’s another big thing to get my head around, but to be honest I’m more worried about them stopping my cancer treatment or catching this horrible Coronavirus in the hospital (I’m really meant to be self isolating at home as I’m on the list of “shielded” people who have to stay inside for twelve weeks, so hospital is not a good place for me to be).

I’m hoping I’ll be able to go home tomorrow and look forward to a major change in my diet! 😱 (not!)

By the way, Facebook sent me an email apologising for blocking my BBC news story. 😊

Stay safe and stay at home everyone. X