Illness and high blood sugar

SKB_9 said:

Hi everyone

I haven't yet been ill since I was diagnosed 5 months ago. I wondered how unwell people generally get before they notice an impact on their glucose levels. I have been generally feeling quite good the last few weeks with readings between 5 and 8 which is a great improvement for me.

This week however I've had mostly 9s and 10s even more than two hours after eating anything, which is a noticeable increase. I am feeling a bit ill this week and I heard that being unwell can increase your glucose levels. I'm really not that unwell thought, I'd have thought I'd need to feel a fair bit worse before my BG is affected but maybe not.

Anyone got any experience of this they can share?
Thanks!

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Hi @SKB_9 based on my experiences it can go either way - suddenly run lower than usual or run higher than usual. I still haven;t determined the main factor if any in regard to why higher than lower and vice versa.

The random BG behaviors tend to start with me a couple of days before I actually start feeling like I have a cold or something. My best advice would be to just test yourself more often during those times so you can keep on top of it.

It's one of those things you get used to over time and tends to be common among many Type 1s.

Hope you feel better soon!

There are many things which affect our BG. The most obvious one is food and drink. But also exercise, time of day, month, year, drugs, stress, illness, weather, ... The list seems to be endless. Unfortunately.

The illness one is your body releasing extra glucose to fight off the nasty bugs. Our bodies are amazingly clever and may detect these nasties before we are aware of them and experience any obvious symptoms. As a result, a high BG may be the first indication that you are about to become ill ... or not if your defenses are good enough to stave off the lurgy.
On the other hand some illnesses, such as food poisoning are so sudden that you don't get that build up - it's straight in (or out?) to sickness.

So when it comes to how poorly you need to be before it affects your BG, it depends.
I know that's not a great answer but when you get a sudden bout, you know and you can immediately align it to your BG levels. And when the malady is a slow burner, your BG is likely to creep up over a few days.

I can say with certainty that the worse I feel, the higher my BG goes. And the higher my BG goes, the worse I feel. It gets to the point I can't tell whether my poorliness is making my BG rise or my BG rise is making my poorliness worse. Whichever it is, I guess the treatment is the same: test, test, test and lost of correction doses.
For me, the more my BG is under control, the faster I get better.

Of course, the best thing to do is to avoid getting ill in the first place. I don't believe I have been ill more often since I have had diabetes or that any illness has lasted longer. However, managing BG rises at the same time as a runny nose, for example, is harder than just managing the runny nose so I try to avoid it.
For example, I take up the flu jab every year and, if you haven't already, I recommend contacting your GP to do so. (Although you may need to get over your illness first.)

Hope you feel better soon.

Only have been diagnosed with diabetes for about a year and thusfar I have noticed that even a very slight fever with a cold makes my bg go up, bringing the fever down with paracetamol makes my bg come down as well, so I have to be careful correcting with insulin. My feverish brain found it hilarious that I could regulate my bg with paracetamol I havent had any worse illnesses in the past year (fingers crossed), so can't help you with that. Hope you'll feel better soon!

Hi @SKB_9 As you're only 5 months in the best advice at this stage is to keep monitoring your readings carefully, drink lots of fluids and just take things easy, if your levels are starting to climb above 12 mmol/l then there are sick day rules you can follow, but let us know how you are first ?