No increased BG during illness?

#1

So I’m still honeymooning, though not strongly. My I:C i 1:12, and if I don’t carefully bolus, my BG can spike very easily. I also do notice a waking-up phenomenon sometimes (no dawn phenomenon though). Also, a while ago, I was at the mall, and suddenly noticed that my phone was missing, which scared and stressed me a lot, and this I did notice easily in my BG curves (the BG shot up from ~85 to ~170 in no time). Given these facts, I’d expect to see some BG increase during an illness, like the one I have now (I have a cold). And yet, I see zero effect on the BG…?

Does anybody else here experience this? As said, I very much doubt the honeymoon phase is strong enough to completely handle any illness induced BG increase on its own, since from what I’ve read, the BG can skyrocket due to the stress hormones that are released during illness. So can it happen that some people just don’t experience high BGs during illness?

#2

Sometimes yes - sometimes no.

More often than not, illness (for us) will cause a sustained increase in BG which often times requires significantly extra insulin just to try and keep out of the 300~400 range.

But not always.

Some times with illness we see no change in BG.

No idea why mostly yes and occasionally no.

#3

I have not witnessed any consistent pattern with blood glucose related to illness with one major exception. If I have any flareup of infection, my BG will march slowly and surely upward, uninfluenced by correction doses. That characteristic BG rise has been a faithful symptom for me to detect an infection.

#4

I am not really that sick that often, but I have only had ONE time my BG raised when I was sick.
I was prepared to have a nightmarish time trying to adjust for it when I got sick, and it just doesn’t happen for me.
I think the one time was a fluke. Could have been something else at the same time.

#5

You are probably still honeymooning more than you think, but it’s different for everyone either way. I notice bigger spikes and slightly increased basal needs when sick, but nothing too dramatic. Stress/anxiety is much worse for me than being sick.

#6

I get “cold” symptoms regularly; presumably some minor viral infection. They go away after a few (as in 2-3) days and I notice no significant effect on blood glucose requirements.

Over the years I really haven’t ever had a more serious infection; I have always figured it was the benefit of having an auto-immune disorder. I do know that stress does affect my blood sugar (positively, as in it goes up) and lots of other things do too, so I probably wouldn’t notice if an infection that I could deal with was having effects on my BG control.

John Bowler jbowler@acm.org

#7

I also don’t notice an increase in blood sugars when I have a cold. It doesn’t happen often but I just do things as normal. The only time blood sugars get wonky for me is stomach bugs. When you have the problem of eating or not eating or taking insulin and than not keeping food down. Such fun! But colds never seem to be a problem! Thank goodness for the little things, right?!

#8

For a simple cold, I may or may not notice an increase. Often, if there is one, it’s not horrible and is pretty easy to handle.

It’s when it’s more than a cold (like something where I’m mostly in bed resting) that I get very high blood sugar that can be difficult to come down.

#9

Type 1 for 57 years. BG does not spike with illness. Stress,
yes. You’d think they would be the same.

Every body is different.

#10

Wow, my BGs go through the roof whenever I’m sick. Never fails. I have to increase my basal dramatically and I’m still persistently high. I don’t know whether it is stress or illness, but the result is the same. High BGs.

#11

Same here (55yrs)

Only things that spike my BG are:

a) Bad infusion sites
b) Lupus flares
c) Prednisone

#12

Steroids. Couple of times.

#13

I’ve got a cold and have been running 170 to 250 since yesterday. I had temp of 100 last night but it’s normal today, and I do have a couple of autoimmune diseases. I’ve been struggling to get the BG down, but then I’m pretty new to insulin and have been struggling with it anyway. :slightly_smiling_face:

#14

I’ve never noticed a huge increase while sick, but I have huge spikes when I get stressed. I also noticed I get sick less often than others. My brother and I both work with kids, and one weekend he was staying at my house, and woke up with full blown chicken pox. He was sleeping 3 or 4 feet from me, but I never got sick. My doctor tested for chickenpox antibodies, but the test said I never got it, even a mild version. I guess that’s the benefit to an autoimmune disease. For myself, I rarely worry about illness, but I try to avoid stress whenever possible because it never ends well.