April 21, 2009
Diagnosis and Symptoms, Hyperglycemia and DKA
Question from Dallas, Texas, USA:
I had my gallbladder removed three weeks ago. It was terribly infected and gangrene had set into large areas of it. My surgeon was flabbergasted, to say the least, and amazed I had not had trouble before. I exhibited high blood sugar levels and was receiving insulin the two days I was in the hospital. I was supposed to have this checked one week from release of hospital, but I have yet to be able to get in anywhere. I have been checking my blood sugar daily, first thing in the morning, and it averages 211 mg/dl [11.7 mmol/L] to 291 mg/dl [16.2 mmol/L]. The highest reading was 435 mg/dl [24.2 mmol/L] during the middle of the day. The morning ones are before I have anything to eat or drink. I am really getting scared and wonder if what I was told in the hospital is true, that it will level out and go away. I have never had this before, but seems like it should have leveled by now.
Also, I have quit smoking, have not had a cigarette in three weeks and wonder if the stress of quitting can effect blood sugar. I will never light up again, but it would be nice to know that this will go away once my body adjusts to the stress of not smoking or the surgery. Hope you can help with some of this. I am afraid I will go to sleep and not wake up because I have gone into a diabetic coma or something.
Answer:
I am not sure about this, but it seems you may not have been diagnosed with diabetes previously. If not, I recommend you get back into your doctor to discuss your blood sugars. Blood sugars above 200 mg/dl [11.1 mmol/L] are associated with poor healing and increased infection rate. The fact that the sugars have not yet come down means you may need to start therapy now. To say that the blood sugars will go back to normal is not necessarily clear and suggests you have a pre-existing risk for diabetes. If you have diabetes already, you clearly need to have your glucose control intensified. My suggestion to you is to call your physician and get recommendations to have this addressed. I applaud you for stopping smoking. I do not feel this is the most likely cause for the high glucose levels.
JTL
