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When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
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In 45 years with T1D, I have been able to manage my blood glucose changes on my own. The worst has been when taking steroids. I run alternate profiles on my pump in which I increased my insulin levels as much as four times my routine insulin levels.
However, usually, when I have a flu or another infection, I may increase my insulin levels as needed to bring my blood glucose levels down to normal levels.
I have several T1 friends but also the FB community The Juicebox has lots of well versed people willing to share what they do in similar situations (knowing the caveat that it’s not medical advice)
Trial and error. Best teaching program.
The resources I use in managing my glucose levels once sick is my own personal experience after living with t1d for 46 years
Juicebox Podcast Facebook Group
Thankfully, I haven’t got ill in a very, very long while. But, the last time I needed help from my endo., he was there for me at 2am to adjust my temp. basal rate.
Just did what makes sense to me- eating less carbs, watching blood glucose more often and taking corrections as needed. Also some level of activity if possible.
I follow clarity constantly to keep my sugars as low as possible when I’m sick
Been type 1 since the early 80’s learned self management as therapies changed. Unless hospitalized(which I never am anymore) I decide how much insulin to put in my body based on my on going experience with the 1000’s of reasons I may need more or less of it. I do love my pump, insulin and CGM so I guess I have to tell the doctor what I do once a year. .. I just keep throwing info and facts he isn’t up on till he gets a glazed over look on his face and writes my scripts. I find the most inconvenient part of diabetes is all the people that want to help but don’t know much about everyday life with the disease. And NO I do not want to join a discussion group!
I remember getting a “sick day” pamphlet when I was first diagnosed decades ago. As others have said, I rely on experience and trial-and-error to manage BGs that are out of the ordinary. I was amused when my sports medicine doctor told me to ask my primary care doctor what to do when I told her that cortisone injections would raise my BG. (At first, she insisted that steroids wouldn’t affect my BG unless I was “unusually sensitive.”)
Ha ha! Sports medicine doctor. lol.
I experienced a very similar situation when I had an ingrown tooth and my dentist refused to treat me because I was taking steroids … NOT anything like prednisone, but a long-standing steroid, called Fludrocortisone, which stimulates the adrenal glands to push up my blood pressure, and also when I WAS taking prednisone and was admitted to hospital, and my doses were being titrated to a lower level, and some clown doctor requested the ward staff to increase my insulin doses. I tried to explain to the doctor that he’d got it wrong, and that because my prednisone was being titrated downwards I would require less insulin, NOT more. Of course, the clown wouldn’t listen to me, stating that he was the one ‘with the bit of paper’, until a doctor had to be summoned from the Accident and Emergency department during the night as I was convulsing with a severely low blood glucose level.
Many times I have needed to adjust insulin intake amount in order to cope with illness, but only rarely needed outside help. In the early 1970’s I made some mistakes managing influenza. My BG went very high (no meter available for testing at home), and I ended up in the hospital then.
My illnesses are rarely bad enough to eliminate ALL movement, but missing workouts does impact my #’s. I try to walk more.
I do know that antibiotics (Zpack comes to mind) shoots sugar up a ton. Anything like prednisone/other steroids do the same.
What to do? Avoid any illness, seek Heath&Wellness coach who helps me stay committed and accountable for implementing my wellness vision and related behaviors. It works! My A1C has been below 6.2 for years.
only time that I have been sick was when I got COVID during Jan ’22. my sugars were going crazy high and I couldn’t understand why but when I tested positive for COVID, in retrospect it made sense.
A combination of DexCom G6 and an insulin pump provide adequate management.
Except for those brand new at this, we all know the drill. We know that we need to be flexible, make adjustments, and pay attention.
I selected “My health care provider – calling, emailing, or going to their office to ask questions”, but I also use my own knowledge, from what I’ve learned about diabetes over the last 40-odd years. 😉
Only “illness” that makes it really difficult to control my blood sugar is getting steroid injections into my cervical spine or fingers. I leave my basal rate on my pump at 250% and need much higher bolus doses and many “extra” doses if my blood sugar remains really high. I tell the MD’s that it turns my insulin into tap water and try to avoid it, experience with having gotten these injections over the past few years has helped, but having blood sugars of 400-500 despite much higher basal and bolus dosing is so frustrating!
My experience having had diabetes for 29 years.
1. Contact primary care physician. 2. Only time I had an intestinal infection, I kept a can of sugar Sprite by my side and drank it according to my BG’s.
Fortunately that hasn’t been an issue for quite some time. If I need help beyond what I’ve learned from 67 years of previous experience, I’d contact my endo or CDE.
When I had surgery last year and couldn’t exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn’t have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn’t have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
I had a stomach upset a few
Days ago. Couldn’t eat and wasn’t drinking much. BS went way up. Just covered with insulated. Resolved the next day
I am fortunate that I am a Master’s degree trained RN with a clinical specialty in diabetes care and education. That said, my fellow colleagues in the diabetes care profession who are also living with T1D, and my own common sense after living with T1D for over 60 years are resources that serve me well when I experience illness or a health crisis challenge.
I wish there had been a response for “I don’t get sick” — that’s me. More than 50 years with T1D and I can sincerely said that the number of times I have been “sick” is fewer than ten. Less than that if you count official diagnoses (strep, flu, shingles (do not recommend!)).
I like to say “My immune system pretty much killed off my islet cells and is still kicking butt all these years later.” Really, and truly… I do not get sick. (And yes, I do count my blessings daily and do NOT take that for granted.)
I’ve not had so bad an illness that I’ve had trouble managing blood sugars (thank God!). At 56 years T1D starting at age 6, I have a plan for illness. I did call my endo this month when I was COVID positive, but only had a bad cough…. no bad BGs.
I really don’t refer to any “resources” when I’m sick at this point. With over 50 years having T1D, I know what to do! When I was younger my parents consulted with my endocrine. When I was first on my own, I did the same, or called my mom. But now, I know how to handle it.
As many others answered, I have learned over the years to manage illness-related too-high blood sugars on my own. This question rang a bell, as I’d tested positive for COVID just last month with the predictable blood-sugar climb – and resistance to responding in a normal fashion to extra insulin.
I’ve consulted with my endo when this occurred in the distant past but after 50-plus years as a Type 1 know to cautiously increase my insulin dosage until a return to normal.
I was put on a new medication to lower my blood pressure and it lowered my blood sugar radically for 2 days. I stopped taking it and researched the problem on the web while I waited for a response from my endo and from my PCP.
I have lived with T1D since age 15 and I’m now age 60. I have gotten viral infections, including COVID, and have learned to manage my BG without bothering my physician about my T1D management. I even know that when I have persistent elevated BG (over 180 mg/dl) and it is not a pump problem, then I may have a asymptomatic UTI. So, I contact my physician for a same day appointment and get my urine tested for bacteria. Usually, I’m able to catch an infection in the early stages – hence asymptomatic. Fortunately, I’ve not had that in years. Fingers crossed moving forward!