Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) can be life-threatening if it is left untreated. Therefore, only those treatment methods that allow patients to recover quickly are adopted. Generally, a patient is treated in three steps:
- Rehydration: In diabetics suffering from DKA, ketones pass out from the body with urine, resulting in great water loss (dehydration) and high concentration of glucose in blood. So, initially, patients are rehydrated so that the amount of glucose in their blood is brought back to safe levels.
A patient can be rehydrated either orally or through intravenous (IV) fluid replacement, which is, as the name suggests, provided through veins.
- Replenishing Electrolytes: During dehydration, a lot of minerals, such as potassium, sodium and chloride, are also lost from the body. Electrolytes are vital for the proper functioning of different body organs, such as the heart, the brain and the muscles. That’s why they must be replaced. This is usually done through IV fluid replacement.
- Insulin Therapy: Finally, IV insulin therapy is adopted to give insulin to the blood. This insulin will lower blood glucose level and also prevent any more formation of ketones. However, the insulin therapy must be carefully controlled so that the patient does not reach hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).
The above methods will yield the best results only if they adopted as soon as DKA is diagnosed.
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