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.

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 19, 2010 at 10:13 PM

    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?

    Also can insulin dependence be induced by taking insulin when it's not necessarily needed?

    Need 2 Know. PH, Nigeria

    ReplyDelete
  2. Surgeon GeneralAugust 20, 2010 at 7:19 PM

    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.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Say something... Anything!... I'll shout right back at you inside 24 hours.

Popular posts from this blog

Sudden Unconsciousness - No Head Scans Available

You know when a medical emergency has arrived when the noise of several heavy, clumsy feet grow louder and louder towards you. So it was, as I sat in my consulting room three days ago, when this young man was rushed in semi-conscious. The accompanying elder sister calmly narrated how they had both eaten lunch at home before setting out on their journey to a popular open market quite close to the hospital where I work - when he began complaining of feeling ill; later leaning over on a stall just before passing-out on the ground. He was "drowsy" but rousable when I called out his name. I pondered what the diagnosis could be as the nurse gave the steroid (Hydrocortisone 200mg) shot through the i.v. line secured - no recent fever or complaints of ill-health whatsoever nor was there any history of Seizure Disorders. Then the fact came forward that he fell backward and hit his head while shooting basket ball hoops at home - but that was four days ago and he then didn't appear h
Read more

Vanishing Testes... Uterine Evacuation

I was mad with the father of a 10-year old whose child proved to have both his scrotal sacs empty - a case of bilateral Congenital Undescended Testes. The point is both parents had known for years the condition and were hoping against all hope that one day the testes would appear, never once thinking to seek medical advice. The poor young chap would have to visit the Paediatrics Surgeon soon. I'm just back from the labour room where I had to evacuate the womb of this married lady who began to bleed just a week after finding out she was in early pregnancy; she being childless till date - she's had a couple of miscarriages in the recent past and a scan today proved once again the same matter of a miscarriage with some products of pregnancy retained, hence the needed evacuation. She'll need to see the Gynaecologist for a thorough check, the poor woman.
Read more

Cancer, Right Breast

I'm somewhat in-human it seems when mechanically, I go about on the job, some of the time. Or to put it more aptly, more detached from the normal feelings lay persons would feel at certain instances. This of course comes with the terrain and in spite of sometimes having short spells of feeling besides myself, it's become second nature to me. These were my fleeting thoughts as I dressed the extensively sutured wound, left behind on the chest-wall of the 54-year old, after her right breast and all of the relevant surrounding tissues had been surgically removed completely, nine days back. She would wince and cry-out softly whenever I dabbed with EUSOL gauze. For many years she had suffered cancer of the right breast up until surgery. And a radical mastectomy indeed it was, that had been the procedure at theatre - leaving no room, hopefully, for any metastasised cancer cells to remain present. Now, she was able to move her right arm with less pain since after surgery, exerci
Read more