Hi!! Does anyone have advice for being sick because this past week i had some sort of flu bug and got really sick which caused my blood sugar to spike and i had a lot of trouble trying to keep it down. it was basically in the 200-400 range for 3 days. my mom talked to my doctor and we adjusted my doses so i was taking more fast acting insulin w food and my correction dosing changed which helped a little. i made sure i was checking for keytones. i’m better now and no longer sick but if anyone has some tips on how to manage your numbers while being sick that would be great 
Hi there Megan @meganhjermstad! I haven’t had to deal with sick day management for a (very long) while, but I can say that you did the right thing by getting in contact with your doctor when things got a bit hairy in terms of blood sugar and ketones. Everyone’s diabetes is a bit (or very) different and I imagine how sick you are determines how difficult it is to manage your blood sugars while you are sick, so it’s hard to say what you might have done differently. Of course if changing your insulin dosage helped a little, my first reaction if I was in your shoes would be to talk with my doctor and change them even more until I"m running reasonably level at range. Or alternatively, correcting every four hours (or whatever your active insulin time) to try to bring it down as much as possible without stacking corrections (putting you at risk for going low).
As long as you aren’t vomiting and your ketones aren’t getting dangerously high (which means you’re hopefully avoiding DKA), lots of fluids and rest goes a long way in addition to watching what you eat while you are sick and being super vigilant about your blood sugar (having a CGM is a huge help) and your insulin dosages.
Of course, I’m not a doctor, so everything above goes with a huge grain of salt. Be sure to find out what works best for you for diabetes sick-day management and if it is relevant, record what you did while you were sick to help you in the future. Above all, stay in contact with your doctor during times like what you just went through (which you seem to already know) and don’t be afraid to voice any concerns or questions you may have.
Glad your feeling better and I wish you a year where you hopefully don’t have to use your sick-day management skills!
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hi Megan @meganhjermstad,
Like Chance @Chancey I am not a medical doctor but between us we have many years [for me 60] managing diabetes. Interesting that more than 50 years ago I was given advice for establishing a “sick day” protocol which has when necessary worked well for me - I’ve modified that plan now to accomodated the newer types of insulin.
What it involves is taking additional insulin doses every 4 hours even when not eating - although the formula has worked very well for me I advise caution. Note too, that BGL 400 - 500 does not necessarily indicate DKA but as you were doing, it is extremely wise to check. What would you have done if you found raised ketones? It is important to avoid any but very moderate activity when BG gets “high” because that activity could likely cause your body to start breaking down - leading to DKA.
Take good care of yourself, please.
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