I've had my first cold as a diabetic for the last couple of days and it's making most of my post-meal numbers higher than I want and that's driving me crazy. Is there a cold medicine that is better than the others in terms of being diabetic-friendly or are they all about the same?
I am sure others will know of some good meds, but I just use standard cold meds when sick(like dayquil etc). I have never really noticed it affecting my BGs. I will say though, that when I have a cold I have to change my I:C ratio's, and run a temp basal increase until I get better, or else I will run higher.
This is kind of strange but have you ever taken dayquil at night? I looked at the nyquil label and it's 10% alcohol which makes me want to stay away from that.
When I'm sick, which I am right now, I take Theraflu. I havent noticed it affecting my BG, but like she said, it does affect your sensitivity. Your blood sugars tend to run higher when you are ill and you will typically require more insulin to process foods. Just check your BG often and keep track of what/when you are taking it so that you don't overdose.
Thanks, beacuse i'm going through my first cold and my sugar is all over the place. But then again i'm worried beacuse i've had a cold for two weeks...
Diabetes will ABSOLUTELY be affected by illness. Not only that, but it will be affected by infection of any kind.
Directly from the Mayo Clinic's website:
"Illness or stress can trigger high blood sugars because hormones produced to combat illness or stress can also cause your blood sugar to rise."
Unfortunately I am not aware of any cold medications to combat these effects, because it's part of your body's normal defense mechanisms, and you don't want those to stop working.
I would suggest changing your basal insulin (with guidance) for the duration of your illness.
I make sure to bolus a little extra or set up a temp basal (for pump users) called "Sick". Lol. That way my BG stays in range. One I start going low, i know its time to go back to normal basal. I prefer lows than highs.
My mom has always been against using most cold meds because of all the chemicals and vaccinations(I have not gotten a flu shot since I was a toodler and have only had the flu three times in my life), especially as if you read a lot of them closesly they say "not recommended for diabetes" because of the sugar content..so I usually go the herbal root when I have a cold, but sometimes take a few of the more chemical based meds when I have to.
NeoCitran for instance...it states not to use if you have diabetes. That stuff will soothe your throat but send you to the moon almost right away. I still use it, but I use half a single dose with the same amount of water as if i was drinking the whole single dose..and take a bit extra insulin.
If you are at home sick for a few days and are really high, I would call your endo. When I was home on the couch for x-mas break(a whole two weeks..i slept on the couch on x-mas eve AND new years!) two years in a row with a horrible cold mixed with the flu in highschool..my endo told my mom to not give me my long acting(which at the time was Humalog N) since I couldn't eat regularly, and just take my Humalog R more often throughout the day. It really helped surprisingly. Your endo will have some good advice as well on which medicine you should stay away from for your cold.
It's normal to go higher when you are stressed and sick..and as long as the highs don't last longer than a week, it shouldn't cause any real problem as we all have weeks where our levels are higher than we want them to be or they should be(and what is defined as "high" is different for each of us anyways depending on our control). If you aren't better in a week or your levels are still totally unmanageable..then you should go to your family doctor and your endo to get some tests done..you could have a cold and an underlying infection as well.
I find that taking Vit C pills while sick help as well, and taking herbal medicines..though sometimes they won't taste good if you get the ones without a lot of sugar..help as well. I rarely take anything more than this herbal chinese cough medicine when I have a cold(though it has quite a bit of sugar in it..it tastes like syrup yum! I usually don't have to take extra insulin for it) and some advil if I have a headache and rest.
I've taught my body to fight through colds by avoiding using those chemical medicines, and usually need to take no more than a day off work before I'm pretty much better...not the case right now..as i have teh cold virus from hell that's going around..but my bronchitis that was a result of the cold is almost 100% gone despite not taking time off work since the first week of feb when i had the cold and partying every weekend and generally not resting as much as i should have been!
+1 on what Batts said..I never take cold medicine or anything when I'm sick, only Advil or something if I have a fever to bring my temperature down. I never get real sick, just the occasional cold, but even with those short few day colds my sugars are all over the place. I usually decrease my Lantus and decrease my insulin to food ratios from 1:8 to 1:6 or 1:5. That usually works pretty well, because if I increase my Lantus I tend to go high right after eating then drop and go low a couple hours later.
Another thing, make sure to give your body time to rest. Even with the slightest cold, if I don't get my sleep and spend like one day just resting, everything gets dragged out and I end up having the cold for over a week. It's tough with school and work to be able to relax for enough time, but trust me whenever I do that my cold is gone within a couple of days.
[quote user="Brian"]
+1 on what Batts said..I never take cold medicine or anything when I'm sick, only Advil or something if I have a fever to bring my temperature down. I never get real sick, just the occasional cold, but even with those short few day colds my sugars are all over the place. I usually decrease my Lantus and decrease my insulin to food ratios from 1:8 to 1:6 or 1:5. That usually works pretty well, because if I increase my Lantus I tend to go high right after eating then drop and go low a couple hours later.
Another thing, make sure to give your body time to rest. Even with the slightest cold, if I don't get my sleep and spend like one day just resting, everything gets dragged out and I end up having the cold for over a week. It's tough with school and work to be able to relax for enough time, but trust me whenever I do that my cold is gone within a couple of days.
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Thats a real thought out solution u have there... real smart...