BOF: 17
A 25 year old male who is
known to have insulin dependent diabetes mellitus presents with nausea, vomiting
and abdominal pain. He has a tachycardia, a postural drop in blood pressure. He
is hyperglycaemic and has ketonuria. The clinical feature that will help
differentiate abdominal pain due to diabetic ketoacidosis from a surgical
emergency is:
a) Postural hypotension
b) The presence of diarrhoea
c) Abdominal pain preceding the onset of vomiting
d) Vomiting preceding the onset of abdominal pain
e) Colicky pain in the right iliac fossa
