Sick Day Diabetes Management for Diabetic People

Posted in Introduction To Diabetesby Max PeykarPrint

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No one likes being sick and if you are diabetic, you have additional worries, but taking measures to control your sugar levels and being in touch with a doctor will help you cope up with illness easily.

Sick days can make blood sugars hard to control. When a person becomes ill, their body fights the disease through many mechanisms, including changes in hormone levels, increased activity of anti-virus or anti-bacteria components in the blood, and even an elevated temperature, at times. Your blood glucose also goes up. Particularly symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration, can trigger either diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) or Hyperosmolar Hyperglycemic State (HHS). Here are some things you can do to speed up your recovery.

By planning ahead with your health-care team before you become sick, you can avoid serious troubles. You should learn on how to manage your blood sugar, when to test for ketones, and, most important, when to seek medical help.

When you are sick, you may not have the energy to learn and recollect all the things you need to do. So train one or two family members or friends in blood glucose monitoring and other ways to help when you are sick. Keep a box filled with medicines and easy-to-fix foods.

Keep adequate supplies of test strips, ketone strips, and insulin on hand (if insulin is part of your sick-day treatment), and make sure to store them properly.

Vomiting, diarrhea and fever cause you to loose fluids and you need to replace them to prevent dehydration. So drink plenty of fluids. Drinking small sips of liquid often is better than drinking a large amount at once.

Your drinks must be sugar free if you are eating your normal carbs. But if you can’t eat, you have to take your carbs in liquid form. If vomiting, avoid solid foods until vomiting has stopped.

Check your blood glucose level and test your urine for ketones once every four hours and continue checking both even in night times.

You can keep your regular insulin and pill intakes until your blood glucose level is below 250 mg/dl and your urine shows no ketones. But consult your doctor if your blood glucose level rises above 250 mg/dl, and your urine tests positive for ketones. You may need some insulin even if you are not taking it when you are healthy.

Treat the underlying illness. Be sure to consult your health-care team and follow their directions for treating any sickness. This may mean taking a course of antibiotics if you have a bacterial infection.

Even though you’re not eating or keeping food down, your blood glucose may still be high because of the action of the counter regulatory hormones. So never skip an insulin dose because of loss of appetite, nausea, or vomiting. But surely you may need to adjust your insulin dose with the help of your doctor depending upon the dehydration and other symptoms of your illness.

The following foods are some of the recommended for diabetic people on a sick day

• ½ (4oz) cup juice ½ sugar-free pudding
• 1 cup (8oz) Gatorade 1 cup (8oz) skim or low-fat milk
• ½ cup (4oz) regular pop ½ cup ice cream or frozen yogurt
• ½ cup regular gelatin 6 oz light yogurt
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce ¼ cup sherbet
• 1 slice toast ½ – 1 up cold cereal (unsweetened)
• 1 cup soup ½ cup hot cereal (unsweetened)
• 6 saltine crackers 1/3 cup rice
• 3 square graham crackers ½ cup mashed potatoes

You must call a doctor when, you have high fever for 24 hours, persistent hyperglycemia (over 300mg/dl), diarrhea continues for more than 8 hours and if vomiting obstructs you to take fluids for over 4 hours. Severe abdominal pain, difficulty breathing, moderate to large ketones are some other symptoms to be look for type1 diabetic patients.

Preventing illness is always better. Diabetic patients must get influenza vaccination yearly, get pneumococcal vaccination.

In conclusion we can summarize the sick day care as taking regular sugar tests, staying hydrated with drinking lots of water and other liquids, eating a healthful diet, having plenty of rest and avoid smoking.

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