1 wk friend post-op high sugar, high BP

My friend had her sleeve surgery last Monday and she is still in the hospital with high blood pressure and unstable sugars. She was only pre-diabetic and never had high blood pressure before. What the heck can be going on? She can't wait to go home to be with her children. I feel so bad for her. (Oh, and they did a sonogram... no clots thank god)

-Mary

I can't speak for her BP but I'm a Type I diabetic for 21 years and my blood sugars were high for about 2 weeks post op. That's generally an immune reaction to your body have trauma and it healing itself. After about 2 weeks they tanked and I'm now taking a very small amount of insulin compared to my pre-surgery numbers. The same thing happens when I'm sick, a large increase.

Being Type I will never be off insulin fully, but it's nice to take 5-6 units per day vs 60!

Glad to hear about your decrease in insulin. I know the surgery can be a godsend for diabetics. I am hoping it is just her body's reaction to the trauma. I can't believe she is still in the hospital after a whole week.

What do the doctors say is going on? Hopefully her surgeon is involved.

Not sure. They were gonna check her upper GI today, but I haven't heard back from her. Yes, the surgeon has been involved.

I hope she gets better and can go home soon. As long as her surgeon is involved, she should be getting good medical help. Hard to speculate from this side. Our bodies all respond differently.

Hi,

Just my experience, no particular insight or explanation: I was pre-diabetic going into VSG but immediately had elevated blood sugars that required insulin in hospital. I knew that physical stress can cause increased sugars and commented on this to the surgeon's resident. He said something to the effect that no, that wasn't correct in my case. He said that immediately afte WLS, diabetics have lower blood sugars, not higher.

I asked really? just after surgery? even in VSG? He stood by what he said, that I was unusual. He specifically said I wasn't considered diabetic before surgery and my body was not behaving like a typical diabetic post WLS despite needing insulin. He even said something like he knew I wasn't diabetic from the way my sugars went up. I found this (and still do) very confusing considering the hospital was giving me insulin. He said he didn't know why but wasn't very concerned, we would just treat the numbers and he didn't think it would last.

Anyhoo, I was discharged with insulin on hand but with instructions to use it only if Blood sugars reached a certain level. I used it once (maybe twice) in the first couple of weeks and then never again.

I did have high blood pressure before surgery, it didn't go up after surgery. So, not like your friend in that case.

Eventually, this will be just a vague memory. My 1st set up labs showed beautifully controlled blood sugars. Best wishes for your friend's journey.

Shel

Thank you Shel. I was looking for a response like this. Her sugars were 100 today so pretty good YAY. Her BP is still elevated so they put her on a BP med. She has been in the hospital for over a week now, but the surgeon said she should be going home tomorrow. He FINALLY stepped her diet up to clear bariatric liquids and she is finally getting something to taste other than ice chips or water. Her chicken broth should taste like filet mignon at this point!