Insulin Sensitivity Changes From Being Sick?

Hi everyone!
I have an interesting situation that I thought I'd bring up, to see if anyone else has run into this.

First, background - Type 2, insulin pump since July 2013, and love it.

I came down with a head cold over this past weekend, and was sick up through Tuesday. But since Tuesday, I've been running into what appears to be a change in my insulin sensitivity. The thing is, it's the opposite of what I've seen previously when sick.

When I've been sick previously, my BGs would always run higher than normal, and I would have to compensate with additional boluses. This time though, my BGs are constantly running low, sometimes barely rising above 100 after meals. I've had several low episodes in the last three days, and am finding that my BGs are just staying low (which is probably a good thing, but just different).

I have not been taking any cold medicine since Tuesday, so I cannot attribute it to that. The only other real change in my behavior is that I've been drinking a good bit of hot tea. I wasn't exercising at all while I was sick, and yesterday (Wednesday) was the first day that I felt like getting out to walk.

My infusion site is no different from what I normally use, so I cannot seem to associate it with a better connection. And this has been verified with both CGM and meter.

Any ideas or similar situations from you all?

Mostly we hear of being hi when sick but I guess it could be the other way around. I'm wondering if your carb count is limited due to illness causing a loss of appetite.

Could your carb intake be so low that your limited pancreas function is able to handle it. If that's the case then maybe no external insulin would be needed and any added will just bring BG down lower.

This may be farfetched but its the best I can do. I hope you feel better soon.

Thanks, Gary.
I’m actually better now, but still experiencing a positive reaction to my insulin.

I don’t think the carb count was an issue - if anything my carb intake went up for a few days while I was sick. I couldn’t help it - saltines made me feel better. :wink:

I went back to my normal eating habits a couple of days ago, with the exception of the hot tea that I’ve continued to drink. And this is tea that I’ve drank before, although not in the same quantities, so it would surprise me if this was to credit.

This is really an interesting challenge; I just want to try to better understand the cause and effect here, so that maybe I can replicate it going forward. :slight_smile:

I have heard that tea could lower blood sugar.