Diabetes and Illness

I have a pump which continuously delivers insulin 24/7. Whenever I'm ill with an infection or whatever, I may have to DOUBLE my background rate, which means 30 units a day instead of the usual 15. I also have to increase meal boluses because insulin resistance is prone to increase in response to an infection.

So yes, and it can be quite surprising how much you have to increase your dosage by. But you don't say what insulin regime you're on which will be unique to you, so be a bit careful about arbitrarily increasing your doses. Also remember to test more regularly while you're ill to make sure you're not going too low or high.

If you're experiencing symptoms of ketoacidosis and you're not getting control of your BS readings then seeing your doctor urgently is a good idea. Have you not done a ketone test since your readings went up? We keep a supply of blood ketone test strips at home, whenever Jess becomes unwell and her readings go up we start monitoring ketones.

Hi,

I have just come down with my first bout of illness and my blood sugar levels shot up as well- its awful isnt in. I dont like taking lots of insulin though so my trick is to climb stairs! It works incredibly well. Especially since the insulin doesnt seem to be doing much of a good job at the moment. I came down with the sick bug on my bday- a year after diagnosed- great! Although my parents got me the perfect present- a stepper- so now when lm at home if my BS is high l will just just climb a few flights of stairs! Perfect x

Hi timewind, i know its awful when we are ill.I remember having flu last year i was so ill i couldnt move out of the bed., but like everthing else us poor diabetics still have to suffer more than people without diabetes when they get flu.My sugar was also very high up to even 20 and its awful because you still have to get out of bed all the time to go to the loo because our sugar level goes that high.We are told to stay in bed test blood sugars regularly make sure we have plenty of fluids.Who wants to do blood tests when we are so ill anyway.I and probably many others end up so exhausted (one is with flu anyway)with getting in and out of bed so often it must be so much easier if you get flu and do not have diabetes because you can just drink and sleep when you want :evil: :evil:I know i must sound bitter but when someone tells me they were ill with flu (i know its really bad anyway)i always think imagine if they had diabetes as well as flu at least they can rest with it dont have to testblood sugars and have long sleeps and lie ins!!!!Anyway timewind thats my moan for the day i hope you are feeling better and your blood sugars are near to normal.

Hi timewind, i know its awful when we are ill.I remember having flu last year i was so ill i couldnt move out of the bed., but like everthing else us poor diabetics still have to suffer more than people without diabetes when they get flu.My sugar was also very high up to even 20 and its awful because you still have to get out of bed all the time to go to the loo because our sugar level goes that high.

We are told to stay in bed test blood sugars regularly make sure we have plenty of fluids.Who wants to do blood tests when we are so ill anyway.I and probably many others end up so exhausted (one is with flu anyway)with getting in and out of bed so often it must be so much easier if you get flu and do not have diabetes because you can just drink and sleep when you want :evil: :evil:I know i must sound bitter but when someone tells me they were ill with flu (i know its really bad anyway)i always think imagine if they had diabetes as well as flu at least they can rest with it dont have to testblood sugars and have long sleeps and lie ins!!!!Anyway timewind thats my moan for the day i hope you are feeling better and your blood sugars are near to normal.

Can l ask how long has it taken for people's blood sugar to get back under control after being ill? I have had to increase my insulin by a fair amount and its still high. I still have a bit of a cough and only yesterday did my first bit of exercise since being ill. It really gets you down though the high blood sugars. Is it a fight to get them back down to what they were before?

Khaleb has had several infection/illnesses that involve really high bsl's. He is just getting over one at the moment so I know what you are going through. I've been doubling his normal correction dose to keep levels somewhere reasonable but I've still had 2 levels above 20 and slightly increased his basal also. Today I've only had 2 levels above 10 so we are getting back on track. I often find after this type of illness that he will have highs for several days after and then I will get some out of the blue hypos. I imagine this is his body putting the stores back that it lost during the illness. This usually happens about 2am, of course. :roll:

Well, I've been up in the night at 10pm, 12am, 2am, 4am and 6am and really looking forward to some decent sleep. It's times like this that I think a pump would be great instead of extra needles.
[we need a sleepy smiley]

Jen

Hi,

Sorry to hear that- it must be so difficult to try to sort those out- its hard enough when its yourself.
Big shot of smiles to you. x

Yep - not fun with sick kids even without the bsl's to contend. I can't be too heavy handed with the insulin pen for fear of a hypo with a sleepy, uncooperative child whose not eating and not heavy enough and the levels shoot through the roof. Diabetes can be a very frustrating thing at times. As long as I can avoid DKA I just accept that levels are going to be high for a few days. I don't find it makes any difference to his overall control and surely kids without diabetes run higher bsl's when sick - just nobody has to do anything about it.

I find the repeated illnesses over Winter have an impact on a1c but as Khaleb gets older I really hope he doesn't get as many.