Information on DKA?

[lostmother]

Hi am a mother of a 9 year old son that was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in january of 2005. Since then he has been admitted to the hospital eighttimes for DKA. I keep wondering is there something that I have might have done to make my son keep having DKA. Can someone share some light on me with this?

[Forum-vol-wak]

I am the mom of a type one diabetic, not physician.  DKA happens when the blood sugars are high and the body by product is ketones.  We have found that the be4stway to avoid this is by having our daughter check her blood 6-8 times a day.  When her blood sugar is over 225 we have her check for ketone thru her urine.  If she has ketones we give her extra no carb fluids and contact per endocrinologist on how to adjust her insulin dosage.   We do this because sometimes she has ketones due to being ill other times it is a missed bolus from the pump or not enough insulin.  

I would suggest you talk to your Childs endocrinologist or CDE on better ways for you as a team to get this situation under control.  If they will not help you I would suggest you get a second opinion. For another pediatric endocrinologist.  
Being admitted that many times in 2 years is way too many.


If your son is on shots I would suggest   thinking about going on pump therapy or going on to more frequent shots daily.
I hope this helps

[kraysmom]

I can relate to this problem.  My daughter is 16 years old and she has had numerous hospital stays with DKA.  Her sugar hasn't been controlled for some time.  Although she is compliant with her medications and shots, she has spells where her sugar will not come down.  When this happens, it only takes hours for her to go into DKA.  She is a brittle diabetic and we struggle with highs and lows contantly.  I have noticed that as long as we keep in touch with her specialist with her blood sugars and make the necessary changes in insulin, we do better.  It is so easy to not react to a high blood sugar if it is followed by normal ones but there is a reason for the highs.  Insulin levels have to be corrected weekly to take care of this.  I am so sorry for your son, there is help though.  Call your doctor with blood sugars every week and make the necessary changes. Hope this helps.