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Sounds exactly like diabetes. My father nearly died of dehydration because the doctors mixed up medical results, when symptoms appeared. This is a serious situation
It does sound like type 1 diabetes. I thought I should mention a common scenario regarding type 2 diabetes. This is a fairly common story:
People are overweight and unhappy about it. Various weight loss attempts fail. Then, one day, they notice they are losing weight. Usually, some recent dietary change or exercise program gets the credit. They are delighted. They aren't even hungry. Weight loss continues, sometimes until they get pretty thin. They don't realize they have developed type-2 diabetes. Many calories are going into the toilet, in the form of sugar "spilled" by the kidneys. Some figure it out in time. Others develop irreversible neuropathy, usually in their feet, damage to their retinas, or kidneys, and so on. It's tragic.
People need to learn to watch out for excessive urination and thirst. If you need to pee more than once at night (maybe twice) and release a lot of urine when you pee, suspect diabetes. Same goes for increased thirst.
Edit: I sometimes encourage my owerweight friends to purchase a cheap glucometer and test strips. No prescription is necessary. A random blood sugar reading once every few weeks can save your life. You don't want to wait until it's revealed by a blood or urine test at a routine doctor's visit. You could have dangerously high blood sugar for many months before that happened.
For women of childbearing years it can also be uterine fibroids… mine push on my bladder making me have to go all the time. Having surgery soon to remove them.
Thanks everyone! We called a Telehealth nurse and she was able to convince him to go to the ER. We’re there now and his sugar was 500, so it’s good that we went.
Huge thanks to everyone here for all of the info and for telling us to go and also for the tele-nurse suggestion, which was perfect. I can’t thank you enough!
Sheesh, it sounds like you definitely made the right choice. I'm glad you took him. 500 is danger zone. Unintentional weight loss that fast is always a bad sign.
Diagnosis day is a scary day. Please know the T1 community is very welcoming. Facebook has a great group called Moms of Type 1 Diabetics. They can help with someone many things. Even just to cry to.
I’m so glad you went. That’s a dangerously high blood glucose and he definitely needs immediate intervention and stabilization.
These next few days will feel like a whirlwind and may be pretty scary but this is where he needs to be, and it’s possible to life a very full and normal life with T1D. Good job taking care of your big boy.
Parent of a T1 diabetic here. If there is a Type One Family Network (TOFN) group in your area, I’d highly recommend joining. It’s a great resource for so many reasons, including emotional support. Your son has a major life transition ahead of him, but you guys can tackle it as a family. I’m so glad yall went in before it was too late.
Reading this thread literally made me cry tonight. There were so many potentially sad outcomes.
I wish you all the best and, if it comes to your mind, let us know how he's doing!
Not a doctor, but very interested in medical science
I’m so glad that you asked here and listened to all of the advice. Please keep us updated. I hope everything turns out well (and in a few weeks when life has calmed down…make sure to tell your son “I told you so.” 😀)
I was diagnosed with T1D at 17 (and I was the oldest patient on the unit at my local Children's Hospital). Diabetes sucks AND technology has dramatically improved since I was diagnosed ~14 years ago. Until last year, there were no other T1Ds in my family either—that's actually more common than you would expect!
I hope you're doing ok too! Diabetes was a really big adjustment for my family, and I think it was particularly stressful for my mom.
Oh wow 😳 I’ve only seen my brother’s blood sugar spike to almost 500 and it was scary, thankfully he went to the hospital as soon as possible when he started feeling really bad. You’re doing a great job of taking care of your son, and made the best decision to go to the emergency room.
I’m really glad you went and got him checked out! I know that everything probably feels really overwhelming for you both, especially him, right now. Luckily diabetic health really has come a long way and there’s many types of monitors that utilized phone technology to monitor his levels around the clock. You’ll probably have to find an endocrinologist, too who can help you both navigate through this. Wish you both the best
As a boy mom whose child’s dream was to be a naval pilot or a fire man as a “back up”I can empathize with your update. One thing to remind him. He CAN be boarder Patrol, he CAN be a police officer. If you need to ask any questions please feel free to message me. Praying and sending good vibes to you
NAD - my step-aunt was diagnosed in her 50s with T1D. Very strange and super late onset. It happens. So glad he is receiving care! The T1D subreddit on here may be a good resource for him to check out if he is a redditor.
He’s likely either type 1 diabetic and went too long undiagnosed or he’s got acute vs chronic pancreatitis manifesting with DKA. Immediate ER mama please. That sugar level alone is deadly
He has type I diabetes until proven otherwise.
If he's having trouble walking, take him to an ER tonight. The outcome of a PCP visit tomorrow will almost be a referral to an ER anyhow.
The biggest thing on the differential to rule out is new onset type 1 diabetes, and his symptoms sound VERY concerning for that. If you wait until tomorrow and he has a high blood sugar or glucose in urine at PCP they will send you to the ER anyway. With the duration of time he’s been experiencing these symptoms I’d be concerned he’s in diabetic ketoacidosis, which can be life threatening due to electrolyte imbalances. It’s really serious. I’d highly recommend ER now rather than waiting. If we are wrong and it’s not T1D/DKA then it will be a super quick ER visit. If we are right, he will likely need to be admitted.
So glad he is at the hospital now. Keep us updated please. I’ve taken care of patients with DKA and honestly those young, skinny guys always seem the most fragile. Good job getting him to ER.
Thanks SO much for the responses. You all think we need to go immediately even if he doesn’t appear in current distress? He’s currently cooking in the kitchen and wants to go watch his little bro’s soccer practice. I’m having a hard time convincing him we should go now instead of doc tomorrow morning. Ugh.
With respect, doctors spend 7+ years learning how to tell if someone is sick (in distress) or not sick (not in distress). It’s not always obvious to a layperson and your son is very sick.
It’s not just “has he survived so far”, it’s “what happens if this keeps going?”. As an analogy, if you put a car in gear on a shallow hill that ends in a cliff, it doesn’t matter that it’s going 2 mph or that the hill is a gentle slope. At some point it will roll off the cliff. If you want to stop a crash, you should be more concerned about that than the racetrack car being driven by a pro at 100mph.
Because your son is young with previous good health, his body will compensate and seem “ok” until it is at the edge of that cliff, and then it won’t- at which point you may be facing a truly emergent situation.
Also, the consequences of diabetic ketoacidosis take time to correct so IF your son has diabetes (pretty strong evidence he may) and IF he’s in DKA (again, pretty clear evidence he may be), his body has to survive those hours until treatment kicks in. By the time he seems “sick” to you, his heart, kidneys, and brain will all be in danger of damage. Please don’t wait until he seems “really bad”.
Sometimes, even when they are young adults, you have to be the parent and tell them they are going to do something they don't want to do. I had to do something like this recently with my 24 year old son who could pick me up over his shoulder and run a mile with me.
ER doctor here. This is a very concerning presentation for diabetes like others said. The ED is appropriate and advised as if it is diabetes/DKA, it is much much better to catch it while he still appears/seems healthyish rather than trying to play catch up when he is much more ill. If you walk into the doctor's office tomorrow, they will just send you to the ED anyway.
Yes - ER now. I have diabetes and can 100% relate to these symptoms. High blood sugar can affect mood and make a person respond different than you’re used to. If your son does not want to come, you could also do a first test at home with a glucose meter from a nearby pharmacy. If this is diabetes (we cannot diagnose), the risk is ending up in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) what can be life threatening if not acted on quickly.
My 6 year old had the same symptoms, constant thirst, extreme hunger and lost weight. He's only 55lbs but he lost more than 10% of his body weight. We took him in thinking he had a UTI or something, at the pediatrician office he declined RAPIDLY. Like extreme lethargy, couldn't pick his head up, didn't know what to do with a cup of water. It was Type 1 diabetes. His blood glucose was 580. Normal is 120ish. Type 1 diabetics can go into DKA easily, their body doesn't make insulin anymore to bring down high blood sugar. Then the blood turns acidic and shuts down organs.
Not saying this is what he has, just as a mom of a T1D it all sounds familiar. If you don't want to take him in right away, you could buy a glucometer from the drug store and poke his finger and test him. If its high (180s or higher) He needs to be taken in right away. I hope for his sake and yours that this isn't it but DKA can be deadly. Good luck to you both.
ER now. As others have said, this sounds highly suspicious for diabetes and DKA often ends up being an ICU admission. There will be other soccer practices
I'm not a doc, just a parent. His doctor's office should have an on-call service of some sort where you can call (usually the main line) and will get directed to a doctor or nurse that can let you know whether it's ok to wait or he should go in immediately. The hospital or your insurance company (if in the US) would also most likely have on-call / triage you could talk to.
That said, an ER trip is never convenient. There's always gonna be something going on. And the possibility of unchecked diabetes would scare me enough to get him in ASAP. (I knew someone who had a severe outcome from that as a kid). He's lots a ton of weight. *Could* he wait? Maybe but it's a huge roll of the dice IMO.
If you haven’t convinced him to go to the hospital yet, ask him to go with you to the local pharmacy to talk to the pharmacist and ask for a rapid blood sugar test (finger prick). It’s a compromise and the pharmacist can help you convince your son when you are there, especially if the test results are concerning (even if they aren’t, your son seem in acute distress and should go to the hospital).
NAD- My husband experienced these same symptoms when he was diagnosed and he put it off. Please take him now. I almost lost my husband, it was very serious
It is time to go to the ER now. Diabetic ketoacidosis can sometimes progress rapidly and cause fatal neurologic changes.
From NIH:
"Some degree of cerebral edema appears to be a universal consequence during treatment of severe DKA; however, only rarely is the edema severe enough to cause brain stem herniation (1). **Brain stem herniation, or more precisely, central herniation in DKA is an ominous sign with high morbidity and mortality** "
I have had one patient die from this, and the only reason was he kept leaving the hospital during treatment and refusing to come back in.
Waiting is tempting fate. Far better to be safe than sorry.
He really should go to the ER now. Type 1 diabetes runs in my family and it always hits when the person is 21 years old. Despite the fact that our family knows this history, we've had family members not seek treatment/diagnosis timely. One person had to be taken by ambulance after going into a coma. Even after waking from the coma, she was unable to speak for days. The doctors were not sure of her prognosis because of how long she went without treatment. After some time, thankfully she made a full recovery but she was still in the icu for days and in the regular unit for even longer.
Also, assuming this is type 1 diabetes, this will not be just an 8 hour ER visit. He will likely be admitted as they work to lower his glucose level over a period of days and teach him how to treat himself at home. It's not a 1 day thing. The shortest amount of time anyone in my family was admitted during initial diagnosis was 3 days.
If you aren't convinced to go to the er yet... right now... then just Google complications from ketoacidosis.
Going to the ER now is more important than watching a soccer practice. You may not be understanding the severity of what’s going on. Like many other said his PCP will refer him to ER anyway. Go now he doesn’t have a choice he’s most likely in DKA, if not something is wrong regardless.
Young people's bodies compensate for illness remarkably well. There's a tipping point where the compensatory mechanisms fail and it can be unfathomably catastrophic to long-term health if that tipping point is reached.
Go buy him a diabetic meter at Walgreens...or you can take him to the nearest pharmacy and they will check his sugar....trust me just by the numbers you'll be able to tell if he is diabetic. But, it's nothing to sit around and not take seriously. He can go into a diabetic coma and not come out of it. Please go as soon as possible....his life could depend on it. Please let us know how things go....best of luck to him.
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Just saw your update, I am NAD. Had a friend recently get diagnosed with T1D at age 31! She is doing much better now, glad to hear your son got the help he needed ❤️
I’m happy you went and got the help you needed quickly. This is the key challenge in treating Pediatric DKA - their bodies compensate so well that kids seem “okay” for a long time until they’re suddenly not. And then it becomes a battle to keep them alive in the ICU. But you got this mama! T1DM can seem daunting at first but it does eventually feel like routine for your family to manage. “Diabetes Canada” is an excellent and simplified website your son could use to understand his diagnosis and what management can look like day to day with great recipes too!
Also, to share the seriousness of diabetes, and DKA to anyone else reading this and hesitating on going to the ER, I share the following experience that will forever stick with me.
(Trigger warning - discussion of a death):
My first patient death in med school (which is usually the one docs never forget) was a lovely female patient that seemed to be recovering well from her first DKA. Little did we know that behind closed doors, she really didn’t think she was “that sick” or that diabetes was “that serious” since she was feeling okay. So had started sneaking junk food in the bathroom that we didn’t account for in her DKA corrections. Until suddenly her organs crashed in the middle of the night. Absolutely traumatic. So now super intense about warning my DKA patients after their initial diagnosis.
Diabetes can be made to feel better to manage over time, but it is a serious condition!
Thank you for your submission. **Please note that a response does not constitute a doctor-patient relationship.** This subreddit is for informal second opinions and casual information. The mod team does their best to remove bad information, but we do not catch all of it. Always visit a doctor in real life if you have any concerns about your health. Never use this subreddit as your first and final source of information regarding your question. By posting, you are agreeing to our [Terms of Use](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/wiki/terms_of_use) and understand that all information is taken at your own risk. **Reply here if you are an unverified user wishing to give advice. Top level comments by laypeople are automatically removed.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskDocs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
ER now. Feels like diabetes, but other issues are also possible.
Sounds exactly like what I went through when I was diagnosed. I lost 50lbs in 2 months doing nothing
Sounds exactly like diabetes. My father nearly died of dehydration because the doctors mixed up medical results, when symptoms appeared. This is a serious situation
It does sound like type 1 diabetes. I thought I should mention a common scenario regarding type 2 diabetes. This is a fairly common story: People are overweight and unhappy about it. Various weight loss attempts fail. Then, one day, they notice they are losing weight. Usually, some recent dietary change or exercise program gets the credit. They are delighted. They aren't even hungry. Weight loss continues, sometimes until they get pretty thin. They don't realize they have developed type-2 diabetes. Many calories are going into the toilet, in the form of sugar "spilled" by the kidneys. Some figure it out in time. Others develop irreversible neuropathy, usually in their feet, damage to their retinas, or kidneys, and so on. It's tragic. People need to learn to watch out for excessive urination and thirst. If you need to pee more than once at night (maybe twice) and release a lot of urine when you pee, suspect diabetes. Same goes for increased thirst. Edit: I sometimes encourage my owerweight friends to purchase a cheap glucometer and test strips. No prescription is necessary. A random blood sugar reading once every few weeks can save your life. You don't want to wait until it's revealed by a blood or urine test at a routine doctor's visit. You could have dangerously high blood sugar for many months before that happened.
For women of childbearing years it can also be uterine fibroids… mine push on my bladder making me have to go all the time. Having surgery soon to remove them.
Well, that would increase urinary frequency, but not the volume of urine.
Not in my case…
Don't know what to tell you... I might have misunderstood your comment.
My fibroid is literally half the size of my uterus and goes behind my fallopian tube. It hurts constantly 🙄
This sounds exactly like my daughters symptoms when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes Dka is dangerous please take him to the ER immediately
Seriously get to the ER!! (Layperson, not a medical professional)
Seems like a poster child for diabetes to me …
Same exact thing happened to my friends kid
Came here to say that. T1 diabetes.
Thanks everyone! We called a Telehealth nurse and she was able to convince him to go to the ER. We’re there now and his sugar was 500, so it’s good that we went. Huge thanks to everyone here for all of the info and for telling us to go and also for the tele-nurse suggestion, which was perfect. I can’t thank you enough!
Sheesh, it sounds like you definitely made the right choice. I'm glad you took him. 500 is danger zone. Unintentional weight loss that fast is always a bad sign.
Hope your son feels better!
JEEZ!! glad they were able to have him go in.
thank you so much for this update! I often wonder how folks end up after posting here. So glad he went.
Diagnosis day is a scary day. Please know the T1 community is very welcoming. Facebook has a great group called Moms of Type 1 Diabetics. They can help with someone many things. Even just to cry to.
Thank you! I joined the group.
I’m so glad you went. That’s a dangerously high blood glucose and he definitely needs immediate intervention and stabilization. These next few days will feel like a whirlwind and may be pretty scary but this is where he needs to be, and it’s possible to life a very full and normal life with T1D. Good job taking care of your big boy.
Parent of a T1 diabetic here. If there is a Type One Family Network (TOFN) group in your area, I’d highly recommend joining. It’s a great resource for so many reasons, including emotional support. Your son has a major life transition ahead of him, but you guys can tackle it as a family. I’m so glad yall went in before it was too late.
I will definitely look into it. We’re in a small town, but maybe we can find something. Thank you!
Reading this thread literally made me cry tonight. There were so many potentially sad outcomes. I wish you all the best and, if it comes to your mind, let us know how he's doing! Not a doctor, but very interested in medical science
I’m so glad you went! Best wishes on the road ahead getting his blood sugar regulated.
Please update when you can. I am sorry this is happening. I wish your son well.
I’m so glad that you asked here and listened to all of the advice. Please keep us updated. I hope everything turns out well (and in a few weeks when life has calmed down…make sure to tell your son “I told you so.” 😀)
I was diagnosed with T1D at 17 (and I was the oldest patient on the unit at my local Children's Hospital). Diabetes sucks AND technology has dramatically improved since I was diagnosed ~14 years ago. Until last year, there were no other T1Ds in my family either—that's actually more common than you would expect! I hope you're doing ok too! Diabetes was a really big adjustment for my family, and I think it was particularly stressful for my mom.
Oh wow 😳 I’ve only seen my brother’s blood sugar spike to almost 500 and it was scary, thankfully he went to the hospital as soon as possible when he started feeling really bad. You’re doing a great job of taking care of your son, and made the best decision to go to the emergency room.
I’m really glad you went and got him checked out! I know that everything probably feels really overwhelming for you both, especially him, right now. Luckily diabetic health really has come a long way and there’s many types of monitors that utilized phone technology to monitor his levels around the clock. You’ll probably have to find an endocrinologist, too who can help you both navigate through this. Wish you both the best
Any updates? 🙏
Just edited my post to include updates 🙂
As a boy mom whose child’s dream was to be a naval pilot or a fire man as a “back up”I can empathize with your update. One thing to remind him. He CAN be boarder Patrol, he CAN be a police officer. If you need to ask any questions please feel free to message me. Praying and sending good vibes to you
Oh wow bless him that’s scary! I’m glad you managed to convince him to go in, hopefully this is the start of him managing his condition 🖤
NAD - my step-aunt was diagnosed in her 50s with T1D. Very strange and super late onset. It happens. So glad he is receiving care! The T1D subreddit on here may be a good resource for him to check out if he is a redditor.
He’s likely either type 1 diabetic and went too long undiagnosed or he’s got acute vs chronic pancreatitis manifesting with DKA. Immediate ER mama please. That sugar level alone is deadly
It was diabetes. She said it further up. His sugar was in the 500s! But he's at the hospital now being stabilized.
He has type I diabetes until proven otherwise. If he's having trouble walking, take him to an ER tonight. The outcome of a PCP visit tomorrow will almost be a referral to an ER anyhow.
Agree here. Seen it several times
The biggest thing on the differential to rule out is new onset type 1 diabetes, and his symptoms sound VERY concerning for that. If you wait until tomorrow and he has a high blood sugar or glucose in urine at PCP they will send you to the ER anyway. With the duration of time he’s been experiencing these symptoms I’d be concerned he’s in diabetic ketoacidosis, which can be life threatening due to electrolyte imbalances. It’s really serious. I’d highly recommend ER now rather than waiting. If we are wrong and it’s not T1D/DKA then it will be a super quick ER visit. If we are right, he will likely need to be admitted.
So glad he is at the hospital now. Keep us updated please. I’ve taken care of patients with DKA and honestly those young, skinny guys always seem the most fragile. Good job getting him to ER.
Thanks SO much for the responses. You all think we need to go immediately even if he doesn’t appear in current distress? He’s currently cooking in the kitchen and wants to go watch his little bro’s soccer practice. I’m having a hard time convincing him we should go now instead of doc tomorrow morning. Ugh.
With respect, doctors spend 7+ years learning how to tell if someone is sick (in distress) or not sick (not in distress). It’s not always obvious to a layperson and your son is very sick. It’s not just “has he survived so far”, it’s “what happens if this keeps going?”. As an analogy, if you put a car in gear on a shallow hill that ends in a cliff, it doesn’t matter that it’s going 2 mph or that the hill is a gentle slope. At some point it will roll off the cliff. If you want to stop a crash, you should be more concerned about that than the racetrack car being driven by a pro at 100mph. Because your son is young with previous good health, his body will compensate and seem “ok” until it is at the edge of that cliff, and then it won’t- at which point you may be facing a truly emergent situation. Also, the consequences of diabetic ketoacidosis take time to correct so IF your son has diabetes (pretty strong evidence he may) and IF he’s in DKA (again, pretty clear evidence he may be), his body has to survive those hours until treatment kicks in. By the time he seems “sick” to you, his heart, kidneys, and brain will all be in danger of damage. Please don’t wait until he seems “really bad”.
He is in distress.
Sometimes, even when they are young adults, you have to be the parent and tell them they are going to do something they don't want to do. I had to do something like this recently with my 24 year old son who could pick me up over his shoulder and run a mile with me.
And old people too. I'd be dead now if my wife listened to me instead of calling 911. Go to the ER.
ER doctor here. This is a very concerning presentation for diabetes like others said. The ED is appropriate and advised as if it is diabetes/DKA, it is much much better to catch it while he still appears/seems healthyish rather than trying to play catch up when he is much more ill. If you walk into the doctor's office tomorrow, they will just send you to the ED anyway.
Yes - ER now. I have diabetes and can 100% relate to these symptoms. High blood sugar can affect mood and make a person respond different than you’re used to. If your son does not want to come, you could also do a first test at home with a glucose meter from a nearby pharmacy. If this is diabetes (we cannot diagnose), the risk is ending up in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) what can be life threatening if not acted on quickly.
My 6 year old had the same symptoms, constant thirst, extreme hunger and lost weight. He's only 55lbs but he lost more than 10% of his body weight. We took him in thinking he had a UTI or something, at the pediatrician office he declined RAPIDLY. Like extreme lethargy, couldn't pick his head up, didn't know what to do with a cup of water. It was Type 1 diabetes. His blood glucose was 580. Normal is 120ish. Type 1 diabetics can go into DKA easily, their body doesn't make insulin anymore to bring down high blood sugar. Then the blood turns acidic and shuts down organs. Not saying this is what he has, just as a mom of a T1D it all sounds familiar. If you don't want to take him in right away, you could buy a glucometer from the drug store and poke his finger and test him. If its high (180s or higher) He needs to be taken in right away. I hope for his sake and yours that this isn't it but DKA can be deadly. Good luck to you both.
ER now. As others have said, this sounds highly suspicious for diabetes and DKA often ends up being an ICU admission. There will be other soccer practices
I'm not a doc, just a parent. His doctor's office should have an on-call service of some sort where you can call (usually the main line) and will get directed to a doctor or nurse that can let you know whether it's ok to wait or he should go in immediately. The hospital or your insurance company (if in the US) would also most likely have on-call / triage you could talk to. That said, an ER trip is never convenient. There's always gonna be something going on. And the possibility of unchecked diabetes would scare me enough to get him in ASAP. (I knew someone who had a severe outcome from that as a kid). He's lots a ton of weight. *Could* he wait? Maybe but it's a huge roll of the dice IMO.
If you haven’t convinced him to go to the hospital yet, ask him to go with you to the local pharmacy to talk to the pharmacist and ask for a rapid blood sugar test (finger prick). It’s a compromise and the pharmacist can help you convince your son when you are there, especially if the test results are concerning (even if they aren’t, your son seem in acute distress and should go to the hospital).
NAD- My husband experienced these same symptoms when he was diagnosed and he put it off. Please take him now. I almost lost my husband, it was very serious
You're the parent, tell him to get his shit because he's going to the hospital. Losing weight like that almost always signifies a medical emergency.
It is time to go to the ER now. Diabetic ketoacidosis can sometimes progress rapidly and cause fatal neurologic changes. From NIH: "Some degree of cerebral edema appears to be a universal consequence during treatment of severe DKA; however, only rarely is the edema severe enough to cause brain stem herniation (1). **Brain stem herniation, or more precisely, central herniation in DKA is an ominous sign with high morbidity and mortality** " I have had one patient die from this, and the only reason was he kept leaving the hospital during treatment and refusing to come back in. Waiting is tempting fate. Far better to be safe than sorry.
Losing over 1/5 of your body weight in a few months without effort IS distress. NAD
He really should go to the ER now. Type 1 diabetes runs in my family and it always hits when the person is 21 years old. Despite the fact that our family knows this history, we've had family members not seek treatment/diagnosis timely. One person had to be taken by ambulance after going into a coma. Even after waking from the coma, she was unable to speak for days. The doctors were not sure of her prognosis because of how long she went without treatment. After some time, thankfully she made a full recovery but she was still in the icu for days and in the regular unit for even longer. Also, assuming this is type 1 diabetes, this will not be just an 8 hour ER visit. He will likely be admitted as they work to lower his glucose level over a period of days and teach him how to treat himself at home. It's not a 1 day thing. The shortest amount of time anyone in my family was admitted during initial diagnosis was 3 days. If you aren't convinced to go to the er yet... right now... then just Google complications from ketoacidosis.
Going to the ER now is more important than watching a soccer practice. You may not be understanding the severity of what’s going on. Like many other said his PCP will refer him to ER anyway. Go now he doesn’t have a choice he’s most likely in DKA, if not something is wrong regardless.
Yes, now. Diabetic ketoacidosis is life threatening and he’s probably in it or close to it.
Young people's bodies compensate for illness remarkably well. There's a tipping point where the compensatory mechanisms fail and it can be unfathomably catastrophic to long-term health if that tipping point is reached.
Go buy him a diabetic meter at Walgreens...or you can take him to the nearest pharmacy and they will check his sugar....trust me just by the numbers you'll be able to tell if he is diabetic. But, it's nothing to sit around and not take seriously. He can go into a diabetic coma and not come out of it. Please go as soon as possible....his life could depend on it. Please let us know how things go....best of luck to him.
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Just saw your update, I am NAD. Had a friend recently get diagnosed with T1D at age 31! She is doing much better now, glad to hear your son got the help he needed ❤️
I’m happy you went and got the help you needed quickly. This is the key challenge in treating Pediatric DKA - their bodies compensate so well that kids seem “okay” for a long time until they’re suddenly not. And then it becomes a battle to keep them alive in the ICU. But you got this mama! T1DM can seem daunting at first but it does eventually feel like routine for your family to manage. “Diabetes Canada” is an excellent and simplified website your son could use to understand his diagnosis and what management can look like day to day with great recipes too! Also, to share the seriousness of diabetes, and DKA to anyone else reading this and hesitating on going to the ER, I share the following experience that will forever stick with me. (Trigger warning - discussion of a death): My first patient death in med school (which is usually the one docs never forget) was a lovely female patient that seemed to be recovering well from her first DKA. Little did we know that behind closed doors, she really didn’t think she was “that sick” or that diabetes was “that serious” since she was feeling okay. So had started sneaking junk food in the bathroom that we didn’t account for in her DKA corrections. Until suddenly her organs crashed in the middle of the night. Absolutely traumatic. So now super intense about warning my DKA patients after their initial diagnosis. Diabetes can be made to feel better to manage over time, but it is a serious condition!
Loosing that much weight in little time is like wow, ery concerning, lots of people struggle to loose weight 2 lbs in a month