Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard (nee Tackett) has dedicated her career to supporting the T1D community ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Manager of Marketing at T1D Exchange.
Sarah and her husband live in NYC with their cat Gracie. In her spare time, she enjoys doing comedy, taking dance classes, visiting art museums, and exploring different neighborhoods in NYC.
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When you have a mild illness such as the common cold, do you have elevated blood glucose levels? Cancel reply
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Anytime I can’t be active my sugars rise and are very difficult to get back in range
If my sugar stays high for more than couple days. and just won’t come down it means I have cough a virus
Sometimes the first tip that I’ve caught a cold or something is an unexplained unusually high blood sugar. If that’s followed in the next 12 to 24 hours by a scratchy throat or vague body ache or thick respiratory mucous, I just stay in bed for 24 hours to beat it. That usually works. To prevent side effects of COVID vaccine shot #2, I followed written advice to take Ibuprofen an hour prior to injection. I had no side effects following the second shot.
Since I give close oversight via G6 I would correct if C-IQ correction wasn’t enough. If I was really acutely ill I would note a rise in bg but handle via Tandem t:slim x2 & Dexcom G6 C-IQ.
I have persistent allergies. It’s hard to know when I have a cold or just another allergy. I can usually tell it’s a cold if my blood sugars rise.
I answered “yes, sometimes” because I am assuming I do experience higher bg’s if I am ill. But I aggressively micromanage my T1D (e.g. if I have no IOB and I reach 120 bg, I correct). Basically I don’t give the bg a chance to rise very much. Grateful for my healthcare team: Tandem BIQ and Dexcom G6
Yes, often
For me it seems to be all about how active I am. If I’m sick and don’t move around as much my BG goes up. If I can maintain my usually level of activity there is very little effect.
I said other as I haven’t had a cold in a while and I never had an “aha” moment before correlating a cold with higher sugars.
I would assume that the disease process is having some effect on my glucose tolerance, but not feeling well also has an effect on your behavior: you may not engage in regular exercise, you may go to bed more, etc. So, it is unclear if the disease is having a direct effect. as has been traditionally stated.
For the most part, any elevated blood sugars are the result of the OTC medication I’m taking. The cold usually doesn’t raise my blood sugars.
Never have colds, usually get the flu shot. No mild illness, one serious requiring hospitalization. They gave me lower carb meals and I adjusted my own doses. They had to check my blood glucose and I did too with Omnipod meter, shared results, they noted on my chart.
Yes but it’s usually because I’ve taken medication.
Sometimes usually caused by decreased physical activity due to illness.