I'll respond to the sibling poster with the same content—yes, DKA won't cause coma as quickly as insulin overdose but it can indeed come on acutely and it absolutely does kill people.
I'm a bit frustrated by the number of people on this page who are saying that high BG readings aren't an emergency; the timeline to death isn't weeks or months or 'next time I get to urgent care' but instead 'later today' or 'early tomorrow'.
DKA may be precipitated by infection (like the seasonal flu), and in that setting, worsened further by an unreliable CGM.
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40811481/ (pregnant women can have DKA irrespective of blood glucose readings due to changes in normal range attributable to pregnancy)
I'm a bit frustrated by the number of people on this page who are saying that high BG readings aren't an emergency; the timeline to death isn't weeks or months or 'next time I get to urgent care' but instead 'later today' or 'early tomorrow'.
DKA may be precipitated by infection (like the seasonal flu), and in that setting, worsened further by an unreliable CGM.
Here are some case reports that relate to this:
- https://sci-hub.box/10.2337/diacare.6.6.622b (note two patients who were 'intelligent' presented with DKA despite multiple normal readings)
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40811481/ (pregnant women can have DKA irrespective of blood glucose readings due to changes in normal range attributable to pregnancy)
You can read many more of these kinds of cases:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=(diabetic%20ketoacidos...