Case Study: A 30-Year-Old Man With Metformin-Treated Newly Diagnosed Diabetes and Abdominal Pain

M.P. is a 30-year-old man who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 2 weeks before admission to the hospital. He has a strong family history of type 2 diabetes. He smokes heavily (> 20 cigarettes/day) and admits to some alcohol consumption. His primary care physician had started him on metformin, 500 mg three times daily. There were no complications of diabetes at the time of presentation. Two days before his admission, he developed generalized abdominal discomfort, watery diarrhea, and bilious vomiting. He denied any history suggestive of food poisoning or recent surgery. He was apyrexial on admission. His blood pressure was 170/101 mmHg, pulse was 100 bpm, and temperature was 98.9°F. There were no signs suggestive of peritonitis, and his abdomen was soft without guarding. He had deep-seated tenderness in the epigastric region. Initial investigations showed a white blood count of 25.9 × 109, hemoglobin of 15.8 g/dl, and C-reactive protein (CRP) of 200 mg. Renal functions were normal, and liver function tests were normal except for an increased lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) level of 848 IU/l. Figure 1. Chest X-ray showing air under diaphragm (arrows). His metformin was stopped because his gastrointestinal symptoms were …