Hi my son who has just recently been diagnosed came down with his first cold. I know that he must stay away from liquid syrups like Nyquil because of the sugar content but he was told most cold tablets are ok. Is there something that is effective that doesn’t affect the BG?
Sorry to hear about your son.
What works for me is a little more rest and plenty of fluids; and the fluids I usually use are water or hot tea with plenty of lemon.
Yes, there are lozenges safe for persons with diabetes to sooth a dry / sore throat but it has been so long since I bought any that I don’t remember the name.
I know I’m coming to this conversation late. Hopefully your son’s better now and you figured things out. But just in case…
Honestly, I’ve never bothered with diabetes-safe cold medications. When I was in college the school nurse recommended a cough syrup that wouldn’t affect my blood sugar, but it was so disgusting I couldn’t swallow it. (I was literally convulsing on the floor of my dorm room after trying to eat it, that’s how disgusting it was.) It also made my cough worse. Then when I called my-dad-the-doctor he told me that the medicine she told me to avoid would’ve helped more for the dry cough I had and that I’ve taken it for colds my whole life with no problem.
Everyone metabolizes sugar and insulin differently, but I think so long as you monitor his blood sugars carefully and adjust his insulin doses accordingly, it shouldn’t matter what kind of cold medicine he takes. We always increased the number of times I checked my blood sugar and ketone levels when I was sick anyway because they tended to go up regardless of what I was taking. And I second that sugar-free fluids and lots of rest will help as much as anything else.