Disease Management

Through my work in a family medical facility, I have had the opportunity of
providing care to adults with different health complications. One of my most recent
encounters was with a male patient aged 49. The patient was rushed to the hospital in a coma.
The wife, who had brought him to the hospital, informed us that the patient had been
diagnosed with diabetes two years earlier. With this information, the patient’s blood sugar
level was quickly taken. The tests found that the patient had extremely high blood sugar
levels or hyperglycemia and had experienced diabetic coma. The doctor quickly administered
insulin and intravenous fluids to the patient. He also gave him sodium and potassium, which
aided in the patient regaining their consciousness.

Diabetic coma is a serious complication among people with diabetes and causes the
affected patient to lose consciousness (Waluyo et al., 2019). Before losing consciousness,
some of the common symptoms that patients experience include shortness of breath, rapid
heartbeat, stomach pain, fatigue, and nausea and vomiting (Waluyo et al., 2019). The
condition can be fatal if a patient is not attended to in time. According to Khalifa, Al-Ahmari
& Fahad (2020), treatment for diabetes includes administering insulin, intravenous fluids,
sodium, and potassium to the patient.

Diabetic coma, an acute condition, and the diabetes that causes it can cause many
other chronic illnesses. One of these conditions is chronic kidney disease. Also called chronic
kidney failure, the condition is characterized by gradual loss of kidney function (Webster et
al., 2017). The kidney filters excess fluids and wastes from the blood. The excess fluids and
wastes are then excreted in the urine. For patients with chronic kidney failure, the functioning
of the kidney is impaired and, therefore, not all of the blood’s excess fluids and wastes are

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filtered from the blood. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes have been found to be major risk
factors of chronic kidney disease (Webster et al., 2017). Thus, poor management of diabetes
can quickly result in chronic kidney failure.

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References

Khalifa, A. F. M., Al-Ahmari, O. A., & Fahad, S. (2020). Management of diabetic coma
cases in emergency rooms in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Age, 21(34), 28-6.

Waluyo, K. O., Muafiro, A., Christiany, I., & Fitria, H. N. (2019). The Accuracy of the
Treatment and the Incidence of Diabetic Coma. Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine
& Toxicology, 13(4), 1726-1730.

Webster, A. C., Nagler, E. V., Morton, R. L., & Masson, P. (2017). Chronic kidney
disease. The lancet, 389(10075), 1238-1252.