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Illness and not sure what to do

Chloelox

Well-Known Member
Messages
133
Location
North Wales
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi!

me again I currently have a stomach bug that I’ve managed to catch off my daughter. I’m drinking 200ml of water an hour, I’m keeping small carb snacks down like biscuits and dry bread.. my sugars are struggling to go below 11.

I can’t get hold of my diabetes team as they finished at 5pm so I’m looking to you guys for advice.

I have read through the sick day rules and luckily my script for ketone and blood sticks came in today! So I’m equipped to test regularly.. how often do I need to test?

Also, What’s glucagon? as I’ve read it may be beneficial to have in the house for periods of illness? But my diabetes team have never mentioned it or supplied me with it?

TIA
 

Chloelox - I'm not T1, so wouldn't like to guide you, but hopefully one of my colleagues @Juicyj or @Jaylee might be around to help.

If not, please stay safe. If in doubt, call NHS 111, they should be able to address any concerns you have.
 

Hi,

Sorry you're feeling unwell..
Glucogon. Is a form of fast rapid acting carbs in the form of injection should you be low enough nor cognitive to orally intake or unconscious to treat youself from hypoglycemia?
I have to be honest & say, I've never been issued this kit myself or needed it to that extent of a low BG..
 
Usually when you become sick, catch an infection or viruses your blood glucose increase and your insulin sensitive decreases. So you would need more insulin to drop your blood glucose. --- This is from my own personal experience, this can vary from person to person and gender to gender.

You should carefully monitor your blood every now and then so it's not going too high and not going too low, because it can be fluctuating a lot during illnesses. And during illnesses you have harder times being aware of your hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia.
 
Thank you for the reply, I was starting to panic that it was something mandatory to obtain for periods of illness!

my blood sugar seems stable at 10 which I don’t think is to bad so I’ll try rest and stay hydrated, small amounts of carbs and hopefully I feel better tomorrow!
 
Chloelox said:
... What’s glucagon? ...
Click to expand...
Glucagon is a hormone made by alpha cells in the pancreas that converts glycogen stored in the liver to glucose. It can also be injected if the the patient is not responding so that blood glucose is increased without having to eat anything. It is often used by paramedics to deal with hypos and is not required for self-treatment of moderate hypos. Controlled use of insulin and regular testing while ill helps avoid the need for glucagon.
 
Glucagon https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/glucagon.html is for if you're unconscious and it works pretty well in nature the body makes it to raise our blood sugars when needed but as a T1 with injected insulin causing the hypo the T1 can't make enough, hence the injection.
 

Glucagon is not essential to have with you. It is a hormone which increases blood sugar in case of a severe hypoglycaemia (one where you can’t help yourself so someone has to save you). Glucagon is only to be administered by someone else in emergency situations. Glucagon kits are useful for people caring for others with T1D e.g. mother caring for diabetic child, it’s not something people usually carry around with them all the time— usually given to schools or kept at home
 
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