At 97, he is a medical miracle
Published: September 20, 2005
Usmangani Qureshi (97) is something of a medical miracle. His first visit to the hospital on September 10 was in a comatose condition caused by an onslaught of glucose on his body, threatening his vital systems — a condition termed by doctors as “terminal”.
But the nonagenarian who learnt he had diabetes when it was at its worst, conquered it. Qureshi had never been admitted to a hospital.
When doctors examined him, they were stumped to find a glucose count of 1,200 mg per cent against the normal range of 80 mg per cent to 140 mg per cent. Anything above 500-600 mg per cent is considered dangerous.
“It was almost as if he had jaggery flowing in his veins. Most patients do not live to see such high blood sugar levels. They slip into coma and succumb,” an attending doctor at Apollo hospitals, Amin Hamidani, told TOI.
Qureshi was brought to the hospital in super-osmolar coma with both his kidneys having failed and suffering from septicaemia. His blood pressure had dipped to 80/40 and his potassium levels were high, indicating danger to his heart too.
“We got the levels retested and surprisingly, Qureshi responded well to the treatment and has survived,” says Hamidani.
Experts concede that while there are exceptions in patients recording extremely high blood sugar levels, even over 1,000 mg per cent, surviving it at an age of 97 is surely not very common.
Qureshi’s family say that the man has never fallen ill and did not even know that he suffered diabetes.
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