Ketoacidosis (DKA) - Metabolisms Gone Wild Vol. 3

Looking at the analytics of this blog to date, I'm gonna assume this is the one billionth diabetes blog and all of them aren't being read. I have a very personal reason for continuing. All the things I'm writing now are the very things I wish I'd learned when I was younger. Not the partial information that's given in the most common diabetes education. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. "You could lose a foot." "You could go blind." Wanna know what they skip completely? HOW IT ALL HAPPENS! 

Yeah, not my usual attempt at a humorous opening, but I'm having a bit of a rough day. Every day is rough, but this one's a bit rougher. I'll try to lighten up before I end this post.

So today's subject: diabetic ketoacidosis. My last two posts discussed the symptoms of high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) and too many ketones in the blood (ketosis). The next step is when you finally reach this state from Mr. Hypo:

"That silly clown" is officially

trying to kill you now.

Well, he's not killing you. You're killing you. If you're skipping insulin, eating sugary crap, and all-around ignoring the fact that you have diabetes, you are actively killing yourself. And you're not doing it quickly. It's suicide in slow motion.

Now let me contradict that last paragraph. Very few people die from diabetes. The majority dies from the complications of diabetes. That said, there are two ways diabetes can kill. The first, which I'm not covering this time around, is extreme hypoglycemia. The other is diabetic ketoacidosis, also known as DKA, 

Review time! No insulin leads to an increase in blood glucose and a reduction in cellular energy. The cells demand fuel. The diabetic eats. Food gets broken down into more sugar, and the blood sugar levels rise even higher. The kidneys desperately try to keep up with the retrieval of glucose, but can’t. The body responds by increasing the fluid intake and the need to urinate to flush out the extra sugar. Throughout all of this, the body is getting tired. It needs the sugar it’s receiving but cannot use. As the body demands more, the diabetic tries to meet those needs, but can't meet them met no matter how hard they try because... No insulin leads to... 

Rinse and repeat. 

When deprived of sugar, one of the products the liver provides in an attempt to fuel the body is acetone. Acetone. Sound familiar? It's the very chemical that’s used in nail polish remover and will successfully ruin the painted finish of a car. It's used as an industrial solvent! And if a diabetic lets things progress far enough, their blood starts becoming acidic. Their body is literally being poisoned.

I'll personalize this so that it's my experiences and doesn't sound like it's coming off a Wikipedia page.

When I would enter DKA, I couldn't drink enough fluids, (polydipsia, extreme thirst). My mouth felt nearly as dry as a desert. I would need to pee every 10 to 15 minutes, (polyuria, frequent urination). On rare occasion, I'd feel the need to stuff my face, (polyphagia, extreme hunger), but this was very rare. There was also Kussmaul breathing, which involved me taking uncontrollable deep breathes; this is another method of trying to purge the acid and the source of the "fruity" breath smell. 

And finally... Nausea and vomiting. This symptom gets its very own paragraph because of how extreme it would become. I'd be vomiting even when there was nothing left but digestive juices. Puking so hard I'd burst capillaries - very small blood vessels - in my face. With or without diabetes, I'm sure everyone knows what it's like to throw up. It can really wipe a person out. So imagine how tired I'd get from puking repeatedly while I was already exhausted! I would occasionally lose consciousness during any breaks in the vomit marathon.

Between the ages of 12 and 20, I'd become acidotic, (the state of being in DKA), countless times because I was DUUUUUMB! It took decades for me to get my diabetes act together, but by then it was very much a case of closing the barn doors after all of the horses had escaped.

Hmmm... Looks like I wasn't able top locate the funny in today's post. Probably because of the extreme guilt I feel of purposely making myself sick throughout my adolescence. Yes, all of the above...? Did it on purpose. "Why?" That, my friends, is a story for another day.