Student Jones, Faculty Kreider Publish Article in Women's Healthcare

Erin Jones, MSN and endocrinology specialty student, and Kathryn Kreider, associate professor, published "On the Case: Diabetic Gastroparesis in Pregnancy" in Women's Healthcare journal. 

Introduction

SB, a 25-year-old Black female with type 1 diabetes presents to the emergency department with complaints of nausea, vomiting, and blood glucose levels upward of 285 mg/dL. A pregnancy test at this visit is positive, with an ultrasound providing an estimated gestational age of 10 weeks.  

Health history 

SB tells the healthcare provider she sees in the emergency department she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus at the age of 12 years after experiencing excessive bouts of thirst. She discloses a lengthy history of difficulty controlling her diabetes. She was unable to manage an insulin pump due to its complexity and also thought it made her look unattractive. Additionally, she often has trouble remembering to administer her subcutaneous injections when she is busy socializing with her friends. Furthermore, SB reports three hospital admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) within the past year. She also reports more frequent urinary tract infections, increased fatigue, loss of appetite, as well as worsening peripheral neuropathies and retinopathy. 

She tells the provider that she decided to come to the emergency department today because she has not been able to tolerate food or fluids for the last few weeks and that the nausea and vomiting she has been experiencing is getting worse. She has also started having some abdominal pain that she rates as 8/10. She says she suspected she might be pregnant and is worried because she has been losing weight. This is a first pregnancy for SB.