flu and high blood sugar

Hi Chops1971 Can only tell you my experience over Christmas and New Year I went down with Flu and the doctor said that this can send my BG readings a bit high

Hi there,

It's very normal, very common! I can always tell if I'm coming down with something if my sugars are high for no reason. Just keep a very close eye on your levels and what you eat. You're going to have to keep a tight control on everything.

Hi, @Chops1971
Welcome to the forum.
Yes you do little rises in your blood glucose levels when ill!
Do drink plenty of water.
Be wary of meds for colds and flu as most of them have sugars in them to give you a sugary buzz to try and make you feel better, for diabetics they don't!

I've tagged @daisy1 to give you the newcomers welcome information.

Hi @Chops1971 and welcome to the forum! From what I've read on here any infection or illness is likely to push up your BG levels. I have had a sore throat and mild cold over the last few days and my morning readings have gone up. I hope it's only due to being under the weather, and they will improve.
I hope you feel better soon.

@Chops1971

Hello and welcome to the forum Here is the information we give to new members and I hope this will help you to get your levels down while you have that awful flu, and to help you to stabilise them when you are better as well. Ask more questions and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Chops1971 said:

Thank you for replying .
I've being feeling shocking .
I've also been slightly worried . It's not very often my reading goes over 7.4 .

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Try not to worry either - stress can also raise your glucose levels. I hope you're feeling better soon, and maybe next autumn think about getting a flu jab to avoid a repeat occurrence.

Robbity

My BG is between 5-7 normally, when I have any sort of infection my BG runs into double figures 9-13 last week it frustrating but realistically there nothing that I can do, I chatted to my GP last week, it maybe that as a coping strategy I take Glimepiride when i have a infection or virus to bring down the number, I ditched my diabetic meds back in November in favour of a LCHF diet, which has been great, my only problem seems to be raised BG in time of illness.

@Chops1971 Your BGs might go up and down while you are unwell. My sore throat has gone, but I still have a runny nose.
But my reading this morning was 9.3, the highest since I've been testing.

Chops1971 said:

I feel normal now . It's just scary when it happens for the first time .
I have lost my voice though . X

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Hi Chops1971 I had the flu jab 2 weeks ago and woke up the next morning with a sore throat and ending up with another cold.

Chops1971 said:

Robbity,
I had the flu jab I've woke up to no voice this morning .

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It took me around 4 weeks before I felt better after my jab - the only consolation was thinking how much worse it might have been if I'd not had it!

Robbity

I have had a really sore throat for the last two days and now my nose is starting to run just tested my BG and it is 9.3 usually I am in the 5/6's so yes it does go up when you are unwell

Chops1971 said:

Hello everyone.
Over the last few days I've come down with flu like symptoms and my blood sugar seems to be very up and down. More on the up to be honest.
I was just wondering if it's normal to experience a high reading when unwell

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Diagnosed Oct 2015 T2. I came down with a chest infection and flu like symptoms over Christmas. Wife said I was like a zombie on Christmas Day. Illness causes physical/bodily stress. Blood sugar goes up. Lemsip definitely did not help.

Whenever I have flu my bloody sugar levels go through the roof instantly and I find it very hard to bring them down. Recently though I've been throwing up quite a lot which I put down to just a bug as when I did check my blood sugars they were at 5.3 and rarely changed when I kept checking them every two hours