Diabetic And Had Heart Surgery. Took Some Wrong Insulin And Experiencing Sweating And Skin Clammy. What To Do?

Posted on Sat, 27 Jul 2013

Question: My father-in-law is a diabetic and has had heart surgery. The first of the week he got his insulin mixed up and took the wrong one. For the past few days after he wakes in the morning he has been breaking out in a sweat and his skin is clammy. Does this have something to do with taking wrong insulin or could it be something else? I checked his BP yesterday morning after the sweats were gone and it was 144/74. This morning I checked while he was having sweats and it was 111/82. He is 83.

Answered by Dr. Anantharamakrishnan (31 minutes later)

Hi friend,
Welcome to Health Care Magic

Take your father-in-law to his doctor!

It is about a week – so it is unlikely to have anything to do with the ‘wrong insulin’

1) the blood sugar could be low at morning time / or it could have been lower in the night leading to a reactive overshoot in the morning (Somogyi / XXXXXXX phenomenon)
2) It may be atypical angina -

He must be seen by his doctor –
- His sugar needs to be tested several times / especially during the episodes and in night...
- He needs a HOLTER (24 to 48 hour ambulatory monitoring) to detect silent (no symptom) ischemia and/or arrhythmia (irregular beats)
if a routine ECG does not show, thallium stress ECG may have to be done

Take care
Wishing speedy recovery
God bless
Good luck

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar