no symptoms but death diagnosed as untreated Type 1 diabetes

[crowdedhouse]

A friend just lost her daughter this weekend and the diagnosis was untreated type 1 diabetes.  We are all stunned because she had NO common symptoms - NO unusual thirst; NO frequent urination; NO unexplained or rapid weight loss; NO lethargy, or fluctuations in body temp (feeling hot, or clammy, or chilled);  The only indication that she was not feeling well was a headache that came and went over that past week.  She also felt mildly nauseated, but this was not persistent and was not severe.  These symptoms started on Monday, the 8th.  Around 4 am on Sat the 13th she woke up with a severe headache.  Her parents gave her some pain reliever which she immediately started vomited.  the vomiting persisted for a while, until she finally fell asleep.  A couple of hours later, when checked on, she was unresponsive.  911 was called. She quit breathing before the ambulance could get there.  They were able to restore breathing but before she reached the hospital she began "bleeding out" (cerebral hemorrhage?) At the hospital the CBC showed extremely high white blood cell levels and NO platelets.  She was pronounced a few hours later.  

Is this consistent with diabetes?  Can you be symptom free and then suddenly crash so quickly that you are dead within hours?  

[JDRF-VOL-SG]

I am so sorry for your friend's devastating loss. The facts you give here aren't normal for diabetics -- when diagnosed, we normally do not have high blood cells or low platelets. However, if a person has been diabetic for a while and the diabetes is not controlled by insulin, other health problems can arise. For instance, I was diagnosed after a severe bout of scarlet fever. Bacteria thrive in uncontrolled diabetic people because the high sugar levels help breed bacteria. So many of us do develop secondary problems that send us to the doctor, and then find out that the root problem is diabetes that made our bodies succumb to the secondary problems. I was 12 when diagnosed, and my identical twin was checked and diagnosed at the same time. I can look back and remember that some of the symptoms were present, but nothing that my parents would have noticed at all. They  had no idea that anything was wrong, for many 12 year old kids are sort of coltish and thin, eat a lot, etc. As for the drinking lots of water, I remember doing this, but my parents never saw it or noticed it.

So she could have had some symptoms that just weren't obvious yet to anybody. It develops slowly enough most of the time that the symptoms increase slowly and for a long time can seem just like normal kid behavior.

The real killer in this situation appears to have been the bacteria that made her sick. There is a link if being diabetic made her susceptible to it.

[josie18]

It sounds like she died from complications of septic shock.  Possibly from bacterial meningitis.  

[josie18]

For healthy non diabetic individuals blood sugars do not rise above 140 after a meal.  Usually stay below120 even.  You should see your doctor to get a history of all your symptoms, and possibly run some tests.

[boseephus]

that statement is not true about 140 for a normal person. I have seen elderly persons that are perfectly normal with blood sugars of 200 after eating. This girl did not die with diabetes unless her blood sugars were elevated above the 7oo range for an extended period of time. An hbga1c would determine that at autopsy. She would be severely dehydrated and urinating constantly early on. Very easy to determine cause of death in this case because it was not instant.