What is the highest blood sugar you have seen in a walky talky patient?

Nurses General Nursing

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Had a guy come in to the ED yesterday who said that he had been to the doctor on Friday and that he had lab work done as he had been very fatigued lately. He stated that he went home after lab draw and went straight to bed where he slept until Sunday morning only getting up to urinate. Being asleep he missed the message left on his machine Friday afternoon by the office nurse to go straight to the ED as his blood sugar was very high. When he woke up on Sunday morning and checked his messages he got ready and DROVE HIMSELF to the ED. I pulled the lab work that the pt had done on Friday as we have access to our in house cards records. His sugar was 886 on Friday! When we did an accu check his sugar was too high for the machine to register so a serum glucose was drawn. Get this, it was 989! His Hgb A-1C was 14.5! I have never seen any one functioning with a sugar that high. He had no idea what diabetes was. Needless to say he bought an insulin drip and an ICU bed.

700 on a patient I had in clinical. his wife kept sneaking him those huney bun things that are like dough and sugar. did I mention the lovely wife was also a RN!!!!!!

The highest I saw was about 900, and the lowest 12. And this was the same pt. He could switch between 600 and 60 in a shift. A very sick and unstable pt. It took 3-4 weeks just to control his suger. THEN we had to deal with his heart.:uhoh21:

My son also can swing like this...he's always been very fragile. If 0.5 of a unit of insulin can make up to a 200 point difference in his blood sugar...you should see how indepth his pump is set to try to keep him normal. The other day, he ate 4 ritz crackers without bolusing with insulin and his blood sugar went up 100 points....crazy.

Cassi

You guys are going to think I'm kidding, this was CRAZY! Had a pt. with blood glucose of 1400 (found on a bmet). when the tech tried to get a blood sugar on the accucheck it kept reading "HIGH". Pt. was alert and oriented with NO COMPLAINTS! 45 y/o, long time diabetic on dialysis with chronic HTN. So I gave him like 30 something units of Novolog, and I think it was 10 units of Lantus. This was around 2200. Around 0300 gave him a snack, was feeling fine (BS at this point was 400). Around 0600, pt. UNRESPONSIVE, blood sugar was 22!!!!!!!! What a night, no IV access (he had one in his thigh that fell out, couldn't get one anywhere else, ended up having to access his dialysis tessio to give an amp of dextrose, gave 2 shots of glucagon. Pt. came back, lethargic but AWAKE! This was 0700, when I left at 0730 as I was walking off the unit I heard someone say "his blood sugar is 42. Oh lord, I had to get out of there, hehe.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.......1930!!!!! I thought it was a lab error. Next day was 1450. Actually took himself to the hospital because he wasn't feeling well, ya think? Came to see me outpatient a week later was still 450, in my office. He stopped by the other day, A1C 5.8%!!!!! Is doing great. I named him Lucky.

so far, have seen a 500+ on our accucheck machine. i redid the test....came out high. same doofus eats all this junk food.....and has serums of 1000. his liver is going, too....plus the kidneys will go...eyes are already yellow.

i, personally, have dropped to 56 and 49. non diabetic.....1 hour after lunch. :p

suebird

Specializes in Critical Care.

>1100 in an unresponsive, non-diagnosed patient who ended up dying from rhabdomylosis

:p

give me 100 days of a high bloodsugar (in the 600's) rather than one hypoglycemic (low) event. i just can't deal with them. it is so obvious that your close to death. i always seem to be alone or my husband is being a total jerk on that particular day. i know i have to get my shaky,confused, panicky feeling butt to the fridge, and can't seem to get there fast enough.:uhoh3:

oh hairstylingnurse, chronic blood sugar of 600+ is really taxing on your body. it damages all those tiny blood vessels that supply your kidneys, heart, legs, and eyes. that's why some people with diabetes end up blind, with amputations and heart attacks and on kidney dialysis and suffer an early death.

i, have diabetes and know what you mean about low blood sugar. that is one of the worst feelings in the world, but how about a goal of blood sugar around 150 rather than 600.

also, i keep glucose tablets everywhere - purse, bedside table, by my chair, in the glove box of the car, in my desk drawer, etc, etc. the tablets i use come from walmart, are raspberry flavored (they have other flavors as well) and cost about a $1.25 for 10 or 15. 1 or 2 tablets will raise your blood sugar quickly, are easy to use, melt fast and you don't have to shuffle to the fridge and scrounge for something.

use the rule of 15 for hypoglycemia. take 15 grams of glucose and re-check blood sugar in 15 minutes. if it isn't high enough take another 15 grams of glucose and re-check blood sugar in 15 minutes.

also, i never go to bed with a blood sugar of less than 110. that helps prevent highs in the middle of the night.

1095 on a little old guy suffering from a case of HHNK. Then too rapid of IV fluid administration put him in heart failure and rapid afib. It was crazy.

Specializes in Emergency Room.

great kid named chris, long blond hair, used to come in with his mom. age14 (about 9 years ago). Used to come in with sugars in the 1200's all the time. very polite, cool kid. BUT, used to go out to the patio to smoke with his mom. Don't know what happened to him...............

Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

Knew a type 1 diabetic that could not get is glucose under 400 with insulin for almost a week after a doctor gave the guy a cortisone injection (knowing he was type 1 diabetic):angryfire

I have an embarrassing story regarding BS. I was a new grad working in a LTC facility. In those days we used these green strips. You put a drop of blood on the strip and compare it to the color chart.

My guy had a BS of 900. I freaked! I sent him to ER via 911.

ER called me, his BS was 110.

Who knew I was color deficient?? I don't see greens or reds as others do. I could'a sworn he was dying!

Live and learn. Needless to say I can do BGs now that the results come out on a monitor in big 'ol numbers. Lucky for me my patient adored me and quickly forgave me when I told him what happened.

Specializes in geriatric.

1165 and it was my father. he had a massive staff infection. non-compliant type 2 diabetic. he suddenly went off his glynase. he never allowed anyone to check his blood sugar. wound up in the hospital with a hole in his neck big enough to put your fist in. mom said it started out as a carbuncle. he refused to go to the doc until it hurt so much he couldnt stand it. he gave him bactrim po and vicodin es and sent him home. said if it didn't get better to come back. then he went to er. found out his bs was 1165 and his electolytes were all out of whack. they debrided it several times in the hospital. put him on novolin n twice a day. he now lets my mom check his sugar 2-4 times a day. his bs is now usually under 200 and his wound is healing very nicely. soon my mom will not even have to do twice a day dressings.

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