There are inevitably many concerns about making “real people” sick with type 1 diabetes, as severe viruses, colds, or infections can have a major impact on blood sugar levels and insulin needs.
This article should explain the need to manage type 1 diabetes and overall health when you come down with a cold, flu, or stomach virus.
During the cold
The effect that a cold can have on your diabetes is insulin resistance, so you may need to temporarily increase your background/basal insulin dose.
This increase could range from 10-25% of normal background/basal insulin needs, suggests Gary Scheiner, CDE of integrated diabetes.
This is an important decision to make with your healthcare team. Call them When you realize that your illness is affecting your diabetes.
You may also need faster insulin in your diet.
If you notice that your blood sugar levels are stubbornly high, talk to your medical team about adjusting your insulin dose.
Of course, if a cold has a serious effect on your appetite and you are eating significantly less than usual, you may actually find that you need to reduce your base/background insulin.
For medications, use a sugar-free coughing agent to check with your pharmacist that other cold medicines are sugar-free.
Influenza
At the beginning of the flu, you can ask your doctor for a prescription for a newly approved medication xofluzaIt is designed to prevent the flu from fully establishing it, especially in people with diabetes, where the flu is extremely dangerous!
In the case of more traditional matches of the flu (including fever, whole body pain, and fatigue), it is important to work with your healthcare team as fighting a severe virus like the flu can lead to ketoacidosis.
Failure to deal with these ketones early can escalate into full-scale diabetic ketosidosis that can be life-threatening and could potentially land in hospitals.
- Take acetaminophen or ibuprofen to manage your fever, as directed by your doctor.
- Drink lots of water – all day!
- Check the temperature – anything above 101 degrees should be guaranteed to call your doctor.
- Check your blood sugar frequently. Anything above 240mg/dl should be guaranteed to call your doctor.
- I drink a dehydrated Gatorade. Getting your body is important Some Especially if you’re not eating much food, along with carbohydrates along with the right insulin.
- Be sure to eat it! If you don’t eat or drink Some Starved ketones develop on carbohydrates, disease-induced ketones. This can escalate and become dangerous.
- Test ketones with urine strips in the morning and evening.
- If you are testing “small” ketones (bright pink on strips): Eat carbohydrates, take insulin as prescribed, and drink plenty of liquids!
- If you are testing “moderate” to “large” ketones, contact your healthcare team. They may recommend taking a small bolus of insulin that will help eliminate ketones (even if your blood sugar levels are not high).
- If you’re testing “large” ketones and starting to feel nauseous, visit your nearest emergency or emergency care centre.
- If your blood sugar levels are too stubborn to manage at home, visit your nearest emergency or emergency care centre.
In the stomach virus (with vomiting)
Vomiting once or twice from a rotten demon egg is usually not a big deal, but stomach viruses in people with type 1 diabetes can be life-threatening if not dealt quickly and properly.
If you start vomiting and can’t control fluids or glucose tabs, you can absorb fast or rapid insulin that is active in the bloodstream without absorbing the fast or rapid insulin you recently administered recently.
If you start vomiting and can’t contain the liquid, but you don’t have excessive insulin on board, the next obstacle will ultimately be diabetic ketosis and stasis dehydration and inability to eat hunger ketones.
In either situation, if you are unable to drink water because you are repeatedly vomiting and are unable to drink water, you should visit your nearest emergency room to receive intravenous fluid. Combine dairy products (such as saline, electrolytes, etc.) and glucose or insulin depending on your blood glucose level on arrival.
- Gatorade (with or without sugar)
- Apple juice, ginger ale, etc.
- Pedialyte
Buy these things now – Find the complete list of suggestions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US. Don’t wait until you get sick and struggle to manage diabetes on stomach virus. Collect these items now and store them in other medical supplies as part of your Illness Day Management Toolkit.
Important: When vomiting, you should take background/basal insulin – recommended by National Diabetes, Digestive Diseases, Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). As a person with type 1 diabetes, you need to call your medical team to adjust your medication, but you still need it Some Always insulin in your system every other day in your life.
You will need to have a glucagon kit you have on hand for the flu and stomach bug season.
Even if you don’t have to use the Glucagon kit before, if you suddenly get a terrible stomach bug, you can save your life (and reduce panic).
The glucagon kit contains a hormone that transmits the liver to release glycogen (a stored glucose) which is converted to glucose, causing blood sugar levels to rise.
If you start vomiting a massive dinner you just ate and your blood sugar levels start to plummet due to the insulin you ingested in that meal, glucagon will save your life and head there to stay hydrated after vomiting and you’ll be a much more gentle trip to the emergency room.
Tip: If you are conscious and are using your own glucagon kit, you probably don’t need a full dose of the glucagon kit. Instead, use a syringe to pull out 10 or 20 units to treat the approaching hypoglycemia and head to the hospital (driving with a friend or via an ambulance).
How about vomit drugs like Zofran?
These medications are designed with good intentions, but unless you take the kind inserted into Annaly, you will be back as soon as you vomit. If you are fighting a true stomach virus, Zofran will not be properly digested to prevent vomiting.
Instead, it is more effective when used for pregnancy-related nausea and marine sensations.
Consult your doctor about insulin dose adjustments
Above all, talk to your doctor about adjusting your insulin dose during a serious illness. Runny nose is not likely to change your insulin needs, Anything Otherwise you may need it more or few Insulin depending on the various variables.
If you are not eating a normal diet, you do not need to take your usual fast or rapid insulin dose. You may also need to reduce your long-acting/basal insulin dose.
Even after you recover, if your illness causes a few pounds of weight loss, you may need to reduce your background insulin dose.
Check your blood sugar levels frequently and work closely with your medical team to safely get through illness games!
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