Hypoglycaemic Coma
Unfortunately, 14 hours had elapsed before one Mr Nwokocha was brought to us deeply unconscious. A known Type 1 Diabetic, he had usually injected himself daily with Insulin - the hormone that his body lacked in the right configuration, making him unable to properly utilize blood glucose.
He had given himself the usual Insulin shot the morning of the previous day. Apparently he then must have gone into low blood sugar mode; his brain suffering the lack of glucose thereof, he then slipping off into an unconscious state. Unfortunately he was home alone.
Eventually a neighbour managed, somehow, to find the poor man deeply unconscious the next morning.
He still appears in a vegetative state, even now. His blood sugar count was very down indeed, a fast check showed, and of course he was infused with hypertonic glucose infusions, amongst other measures done to carefully bring him round.
I'm afraid he already may have suffered irreversible brain tissue damage. I told this to his older sibling, who didn't seem to quite understand the jargon I was saying.
He had given himself the usual Insulin shot the morning of the previous day. Apparently he then must have gone into low blood sugar mode; his brain suffering the lack of glucose thereof, he then slipping off into an unconscious state. Unfortunately he was home alone.
Eventually a neighbour managed, somehow, to find the poor man deeply unconscious the next morning.
He still appears in a vegetative state, even now. His blood sugar count was very down indeed, a fast check showed, and of course he was infused with hypertonic glucose infusions, amongst other measures done to carefully bring him round.
I'm afraid he already may have suffered irreversible brain tissue damage. I told this to his older sibling, who didn't seem to quite understand the jargon I was saying.
I'm familiar with the hazards of insulin, but my question is how does someone who is a type 2 diabetic end up being insulin dependent. I wasn't born diabetic but now can't go a day without 2 doses of insulin. How is that possible?
ReplyDeleteAlso can insulin dependence be induced by taking insulin when it's not necessarily needed?
Need 2 Know. PH, Nigeria
Hi. Great questions, enaye. Taking your last question first, a Type 2 Diabetic placed on Insulin shots can actually cause negative feed-back on the Pancreas such that the Pancreas reduces production of natural Insulin - remember that Type 2 Diabetics actually still produce some degree of functional insulin. So, in a sense, prolonged use of Insulin in Type 2, can cause some degree of dependence on its continuous use. To answer your 2nd question, the good news is that the "dependency" can be reverted back to that for oral drugs alone as the case was before. You probably started Insulin for want of a better (lower) blood sugar result - finding an oral hypoglycaemic combination for each individual Type 2 Diabetic, therefore, is the usual challenge for the physician. Diet comes into play as well, as I'm sure you know.
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