Symptoms of diabetic lactic acidosis in the elderly

Many people may say that diabetes is the immortal cancer. For patients with diabetes, controlling diet is a very painful thing, and they need to take medicine and inject insulin all year round to maintain their lives. They must be very careful about what they eat, and they should not eat fruits with too high sugar content. They can eat apples, oranges, pears, etc. But they cannot eat too much at the same time, and they should not drink beer or smoke, which are very harmful to the body.

As we all know, for diabetics, diet is the most important thing to pay attention to, but diabetics are generally willing to be hungry and can only eat small meals frequently. The symptoms of diabetic lactic acid poisoning in the elderly are still very dangerous, usually with dizziness, confusion, nausea, lack of strength, etc. Severe cases may also cause the patient to faint and become comatose.

Symptoms and Signs: Lactic acidosis develops rapidly, but symptoms and signs may not be specific. Clinically, the manifestations of lactic acidosis are often masked by primary or induced diseases, which may lead to misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis. The clinical manifestations of mild cases are not obvious, and there may only be slightly deeper and faster breathing. Moderate and severe cases may cause fatigue, nausea, anorexia, or even vomiting, deep and rapid breathing without ketone odor, lower blood pressure and body temperature, and often drowsiness, lethargy, confusion, and lethargy. In severe cases, the patient may fall into a deep coma or go into shock.

New perspective: The key to diagnosing lactic acidosis is to be sufficiently vigilant about this disease. Patients with acidosis in shock state can be diagnosed with lactic acidosis without blood lactate measurement; however, the diagnosis of acidosis in patients without poor tissue perfusion needs to be based on blood lactate measurement. New key points in the diagnosis of diabetic lactic acidosis include:

1. Most patients have a history of diabetes, but their blood sugar is not very high and there is no significant ketoacidosis.

2. Evidence of acidosis such as pH <7.35, blood bicarbonate <20mmol/L, anion gap >18mmol/L, etc. If diagnoses such as ketoacidosis and renal failure can be ruled out, the possibility of lactic acidosis should be highly considered.

3. Blood lactate level is elevated above 1.8mmol/L. When the blood lactate level is between 2 and 5 mmol/L, patients often show compensatory acidosis. This type of condition in which only lactate is too high but there is no acidosis is called hyperlactatemia. The blood lactate level of patients with lactic acidosis is often more than 5mmol/L, which is the main basis for the diagnosis of lactic acidosis.

Diabetic patients should have a good living environment, take appropriate walks outdoors, pay attention to a nutritious and healthy diet, pay attention to rest and ensure good sleep, do not eat foods with high sugar content or spicy foods, have a good mood every day, take medicine on time, and go to the hospital for regular physical examinations.