I got home from the Dayton hospital after a heart cathertization/angioplasty, and while there the semigood control I had over my blood sugar went through the roof.
Hospitals use what they call a "sliding scale" as far as how much insulin they'll give. That's bad enough, but add to it the fact that they test you after you've eaten (I'm used to testing/dosing myself up to a half-hour before a meal when I can).
What really gets me is: if my hometown docs have prescribed certain meds---why the $%^& can't the hospital give me the same pills?!? They know I take them regularly (unless they didn't read the charts!) Hardly ever got them. They say I'm allowed to take them the day of the procedure so they can't be contraindicated, can they? OK, the one that reduces my heart rate would, I'd think, be perfect for a time like this. No nitrate, beta blocker, etc either. They sometimes gave me doses of the quick-acting insulin; as far as the 24 hour kind, I'm not sure I ever got it. Laying in a hospital bed after a cath/AP/stent placement isn't going to burn up a lot of calories obviously. So I can't buy the idea I might have a hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) reaction.
The procedure was needed considering what they found in the angioplasty, but any food/meds/sleep/activity regimen I had going in is always shot by the time I get out.