hi annie & keri

[Guest guest]

hi annie, hi keri! wanted to say welcome. i'm sorry to hear about

your hardships. i can only think thank goodness you were able to act

for your kids. hugs for y'all.

rach

> I have joined a few other diabetes groups also, so I am going to

just copy

> and paste my intro so if you are on one of the other lists it will

be a repeat

> ;-)

>

> My name is Keri. I am a single Mom with 4 kids. My 7 yr (almost

8~ 7/31)

> was just diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on June 24th. He spent a

week in the

> hospital. I initially took him to the ER after diabetes symptoms

persisted

> even after medication changes.

>

> See, he also has the challange of Bipolar Disorder. He was placed

on a

> antipsychotic drug called Zyprexa to stabilize a severe manic

episode the end of

> May. Within a few days he was experiencing thirst and frequent

urination. This

> escalated and I called his pdoc (pyschiatrist). She decided that

since a

> rare (or so she claimed) side effect of Zyprexa is diabetes, she

decided to

> remove him from it immediately and start a new drug called Abilify

this was June

> 11. She assured me the symptoms of the diabetes would subside.

>

> They continued to get worse with each day instead of subsiding.

He began

> wetting the bed at night as well as trips to the potty and huge

glasses of water

> about every 20 minutes. I called the pdoc again and they blew me

off. Never

> called back. So on Thursday the 24th when I could barely keep him

awake I

> called Kaiser and tried to get him in with his regular pedi. They

had no

> openings. I was so frustrated and angry and scared. I am on and

off the Atkins diet

> from time to time and keep ketosticks on hand. So I had him pee

in a cup and

> he was spilling massive ketones. I know about diabetes from other

family

> members and also because I had gestational diabetes with each

child...so I knew

> we were in deep doo doo at this point.

>

> I called Kaiser back and told them in no uncertain terms I was

going to the

> ER and the closest one...not Kaiser. As soon as we got to triage

they did his

> vitals and took a history then did a finger poke and she grabbed

him and

> ran...telling me to follow. The next 20 minutes was a rush of

docs, techs, nurses

> and controlled chaos. They told me that he was in critical

condition and

> that he was in ketoacidosis and definitely type one diabetes.

They said he was

> just hours from coma status. He had zero traces of insulin in his

body and

> huge #'s of antibodies to his islet cells.

>

> Later that evening we were transferred to Kaiser Peds unit and

stayed there

> for a week. He came home July 1st. He is currently getting

Lantus at night

> and Novalog and Novalin R at meals and also has been needing

middle of the

> night dose of Novalog too.

>

> I found this group through an invite...I assuming from someone on

another

> diabetes group. I am hoping to find informaton and support and to

offer support

> to others as I learn more.

>

> Hugs

> Keri

>

>

>