Comments on Clinical Cases and Images: Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA): Typical Laboratory Fi...

Thank you for your comments.

2008-11-28T19:42:00.000-05:00

Thank you for your comments.

Infections can trigger DKA so don't forget to look...

2008-11-28T19:38:00.000-05:00

Infections can trigger DKA so don't forget to look for UTIs, pneumonias, etc. esp in patients who are compliant with their insulin.

Withholding phosphate to avoid tetany is like with...

2006-08-30T08:05:00.000-04:00

Withholding phosphate to avoid tetany is like withholding insulin to avoid hypoglycemia: both are simply a matter of using the right amount. Published cases of hypocalcemic tetany due to PO4 replacement all involve excessive PO4 doses. If you know of even a single case of tetany resulting from standard PO4 amounts (i.e., 50% of K replacement as K phosphate) please post and publish.

PS: note that the time is stamped but neither date nor year. I have no idea if this was posted yesterday or 3 years ago.

A better glucose target is 200 mg/dL, as it "alway...

2006-01-18T20:59:00.000-05:00

A better glucose target is 200 mg/dL, as it "always" drops lower than expected.

Phosphate will nearly always be low, but replacement will often trigger very unpleasant tetany about the time the patient becomes quite alert. They don't like it.
The serum phosphate rises on the second day from phosphate moving back out of cells into the serum.