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Insulin resistance can be temporary during having a cold?

corbanwolf

Active Member
Messages
40
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hey.
I caught a cold some days ago. I'm feeling terrible. What's more. I have noticed that I go to take a **** very often and my sugar levels are very often high even after taking insuling. Can this be caused be the fact I have a cold, and infection and my organism tries to fight that. Can this be temporary?
 
There are many things that affect BG - food is the obvious one. But BG is also affected by time of day, month, year, illness, stress, drugs, alcohol, exercise, ...

Typically, when I am ill, my BG rises, I need extra insulin (either corrective bolus doses, increased basal or both) to keep my BG down. Unfortunately, for me, a high BG will magnify any aches, sniffles, coughs, ... so it definitely helps to keep my BG under control which means lots more testing.

Enough about me. The answer to your questions are that high BG can be caused by your cold and this is temporary - get rid of your cold and your BG will come down.
In the meantime, test, test, correct, test, correct, ... do not be afraid to increase your basal slightly whilst you are under the weather.
 
corbanwolf said:
Can this be caused be the fact I have a cold,
Click to expand...
Hi Corban,
I am always hesitant to offer any advice when it comes to T1 as I am not aware of all the nuances associated.

But typically a cold can raise bg.
  • Raised bg will make you pee more as your body try's to get rid of some of the excess bg.
  • This causes you to lose electrolytes and become dehydrated.
  • Dehydration causes you blood glucose to rise.
This is why we are told to drink more fluids when were ill.

Drinking more water, sports water if you have it, and eating some thing which replenishes electrolytes like fruit, if you can handle it, or carrots should help.

It's an old wives tale to eat chicken broth to cure a cold.
Chicken broth is packed with electrolytes.
 
Are you following the sick day rules @cubanwolf? Here's a copy of the sick day rules for reference - http://www.nhslanarkshire.org.uk/Se...Sick Day Rules for Type 1 Diabetes Oct 16.pdf

I don't think having a cold makes you insulin resistant, but it can raise your blood sugar and give you ketones and correcting the ketones can eat up the insulin without lowering the blood sugar and high blood sugar can make you insulin resistant - all the glucose wants to be in the cells so it's crowding round the cells, if you inject insulin when your high the insulin the has to get into the cells before it can start to work, to do that it has to elbow it's way through the crowds of glucose before it can do anything to lower your blood sugar.

The sick day rules do suggest increasing your basal insulin if an illness is lasting and you know it's sending you high. Correction doses might not currently seem to be doing a lot if they are preventing rises and doing some of the work that should be being done by your basal.

Feel better.
 
****.. People please help! These are my sugar levels from recent hours:
18:00 sugar 10.5
21:00 sugar 16 and 6 units of insulin taken
22:00 sugar 16.7 and 6 units of insulin taken
22:30 sugar 17.5
23:00 sugar 17.1

During these hours I haven't eaten anything. Only before 18:00 i eaten and taken insulin. I tried to drink water as much as I can. I am desperate. I don't know what to do. Should I go to hospital now? These sugar levels are high and I am cold so I won't get well soon, ****. I am terrified. I am afraid to even eat cuz my sugar level will jump even higher. I am concerned about my kidneys. Should I wait till get rid of cold or should I seek medical help immediately. People please. I'm taking insulin but it doesn't work. Looks like it doesn't work at all. I am using Humalog so it's rapid acting but, argh. i don;t know. I am just 21 and I had diabetes for nearly 2 years. Is it possible that I got insulin resistance after just 2 years? I am not obese. I don't do much physical activity and my diet is poor but could I get IR so quickly??????
 
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