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Food poisoning help!

D

DaveDisco

Member
Hi
I'm having my first bout of food poisoning as a diabetic, have not been able to keep anything down at all (not even one sip of water) for about 12 hours. I didn't tale my lantus yesterday as didn't want to contend with hypos as well as constant vomiting.

I've stopped vomiting as frequently now (about 3 hours vomit free) and have managed one weetabix and a glass of orange juice.

However just tested keytones and was +++ (8), my blood sugar was 5.6, the book I have suggests this is dangerous and needs treatment, but is it just because I didn't take lantus yesterday? I don't want to go to hospital and look stupid when they tell me that!!

Any advice appreciated
 
Hi Dave,
Hope you start to fell better soon - food poisioning is no fun for anyone - I would advise against the orange juice as it very acidic - and no dairy either - very irritaitng to the stomach - try blander foods like porridge made with water or lightly scrambled egg and toast - (no milk in the egg) - don't be tempted to take big drinks of water - little sips very often is better

sorry I can't really help regards the insulin etc as I am T2 but you could give NHS direct a ring and they will advise you on what to do - hopefully someone with more knowledge will be along soon that can help regards your keytones etc
 
As lovinglife suggests, I would ring NHS direct and ask for their advice.

In general though, even with a bout of food poisoning, I would continue taking my lantus (as this deals with the background energy that your body needs to keep you alive) and just stop taking my fast acting insulin if I were unable to eat.

If I was unable to eat for more than a day, I would reduce my lantus slightly for day 2.

But that's just how I would do it, best to give NHS a ring.
 
Hi Dave,
Hope you're feeling better, you have my sympathy- I had awful food poisoning earlier this year after a dodgy cauliflower dish from my local take-away, put me off Indian take-away for life unfortunately, as I adore chicken korma. I felt like absolute death, and like you, had constant vomitting.
You should never stop taking a basal analogue insulin when you have food poisoning or any illness.
I'm puzzled by the +++ ketones in your case, especially as your BG was normal at the time- why did you check for ketones? Might sound a stupid question, but as someone who's never had ketones and I've had a few bouts of food poisoning and flu over my 22 years being type-1; I thought you only got them when your BG is really high. :?
Keep monitoring your BGs and keep taking your basal dose of insulin analogue. You should contact your out of hours GP service if you have any concerns, NHS direct can be pretty clueless about most things and will probably only suggest you go to casualty.
all the best
Jus
 
Hi all thanks for thoughts
I decided to go to a and e in the end and risk looking stupid. I ended up with a drip in my arm for three hours! Turns out normal sugar+high ketones meant severe dehydration!
Tested ketones as had it drilled in to me to always test if feeling unwell. Good job I did! Diabetes did me a favour for a change!
Returned to lantus next day and survived on energy drinks as couldn't bear food for few days
 
Been through the vomit bug with my son. It isn't usual to not have your long acting insulin and my sick day plan is to reduce it by 40% for a bug that means no eating. They have some good drugs to stop the vomits so if you can get some of them from the hospital you can manage to get some fluid and/or food in before the drug wears off. My son still ended up with heaps of ketones by the third day but as he was getting better by then I gave him a glucose hit and a heap of insulin to match and he came out of that process heading to DKA. Worst 3 days and nights ever but avoided the hospital admission. Hope you are all better now.
 
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