Has anyone had a scary incident with illness? I have been diagnosed for 3 years and have not had so much as a cold, but I was told to have an “emergency plan.” What should I tell my poor husband? Am I going to start foaming at the mouth if I get the flu? Actually, I realize that the issue is raised BS, or low BS with limited awareness… Have you seen unreasonably high or erratic #'s with a fever or infection or whatever? Any words of experience?
Test, test, test. Have regular 7 up around in case you go low and juice is not a fav. while you are sick. I tend to have high bgs when I am sick so if I am nauseated I really don’t have to worry about eating as my bgs stay high. Test and correct and you may even have to increase your basal. Like everything with diabetes it is not an exact science and there is no exact formula for you to make adjustments. Hubby should just know how to test, give your insulin, help if you go low, etc. Drink lots of fluids.
Ahhh, one more thing. I am fighting a sinus infection right now and I am on antibiotics, which I found out in recent years can also make your bgs go high, which then leads to more infection, it can become a vicious cycle.
Lots of medications for illness and cause high bloodsugars.
Thanks Karen, I apppreciate the advice…did not need to hear about one more thing that raises BS, but no surprise, I guess.
Show your husband how to use your glucometer and tell him how to administer some form of energy if you need it.Tell him to stay calm if he sees any of the signs of low blood sugar.Eventually he might be able to tell if you’re low just by talking to you.Do you get a flu shot?I have been a diabetic for 22 years and have never had the flu.So have a good backup plan in case an emergency arises.
The poor man wants to use my glucagon shot or call 911 at the least provocation. I quess a good educating talk is called for so he feels prepared. I do get the flu shot and hope for the best…Thanks. Hope you stay healthy, too.
I have been married for 25 years and only once passed out and was revived by some juice administered by my husband. I think for the most part, diabetes is owned by the patient. We are pretty much on our own and delivering the best treatment for what ails us.
Growing up with this disease and having this disease during the dark ages and no bgs meters, I was in the ER a lot, my poor parents, but in this day and age of meters and constant testing I think we are able to fix what ails us a bit better.
Fogive me if I’ve said this before to you, but I give those of you who have dealt with this for a while so much credit. There is so much more knowledge and so many more resources now, and it is still so hard. I can only imagine what you and your parents went through.
During the few low BS scares I had early on when I was first diagnosed, I’d tell my friend with me that if I passed out, tell the EMT’s I just had 15 grams of carbs…can you imagine my poor friends, having absolutely no clue what I was talking about? I was trying to own my situation, as you say.
Lows are rough and I have many of them and I also have hypoglycemic unawareness and I so want my loved ones to get how I feel, but to many non-diabetics it is just a number. If I start to explain too much or try to convey how awful I can feel sometimes, then I sound like I am just complaining or whining. My endo did make a statement one time to me that just popped in my head. He said that with tighter control comes lows. I guess they are unavoidable at times and we just have to be aware at all times, it never gets easy. I felt it was easier, except for the many ER visits, when I treated my diabetes during the dark ages or in the unknow, because then you did not dwell on whether your bgs was good or bad, if that makes any sense. 
I hate to say it, but foaming at the mouth from the flu sounds like something Hollywood would have a diabetic character do in a movie.
JDRF has a simple webpage about what parents of a sick diabetic child should do. It sounds like the standard stuff that even us grown-up with type 1 should do.
For me, low blood sugars are my worst enemy when I am ill. I have had to give myself my glucogan shot before, as I could not get my sugars up after several tries. Everything I would swallow would come right back up. In 15 years of diabetes, I have never had to have help coming out of a low, but I have gone to the ER on 3 occassions for IV’s. I tend to throw up a lot when I’m sick and dehydration can be very dangerous. Ditto everyone’s recommendation of a flu shot. I get mine tomorrow:)
Not knowing as much probably was a whole lot easier. For good and bad, we know now what we need to be doing.
Thanks…I will have my husband read that. It made me appreciate even more what parents of kids with diabetes go through. What a challenge.
Thanks…I am going to read the glucogan instructions. It never occured to me that I might have to administer it myself.
I have to go with Karen and Dee on this one. I’ve never had the problem of being low when sick it’s always high for me and that’s been in the last 35 years! Karen your sooooo right about going threw some really bad times back in the dark ages but like you thanks to the bs moniter we’re able to do alot better with all this stuff.
It’s also worth mentioning to be careful about which over the counter medicines you take when you’re sick. A lot of them are filled with sugar. And I find that when I take medicine that makes me sleepy, I don’t notice hypo- or hyperglycemia as much. So those are more good reasons to test extra when you’re sick.
Sometimes, being sick allows you to relax, at least…Not so with diabetes, apparently. We have to remain vigilant. Thanks for your imput.
Funny you should post this right now. A couple of days ago my fasting BG went up to 105. It’s usually about 80. I just couldn’t believe I was getting sick again but sure enough, I have a full blown cold. It’s my third in a couple of months. I was out of the classroom last year and so perhaps have lost my resistance to first grade germs! I am finding that my BG is about 25-30 points higher all the time when I am sick. Not such a big deal but I do have to be a bit more careful. I had a harder time with a stomach bug I got a while ago. The BRAT diet isn’t the best for a diabetic (bananas, rice, apple sauce and toast.) I ended up cutting an apple into quarters and having a piece every hour or so. I guess chicken soup would have worked too.
Libby…did your #'s go up before you noticed symptoms of your cold? Interesting. You must be very on top of your BS control…I was just thinking that not being around kids much might be one reason that I have not been sick. I have had chicken noodle soup on hand for 3 years, now, since I was diagnosed…may need to update my pantry.
Yep, about two days before the cold developed. I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have because I just got over a cold a couple of weeks ago.