The End of Diabetes: The Eat to Live Plan to Prevent and Reverse Diabetes

Have you noticed that your blood glucose levels get harder to manage when you are ailing? When we get sick, the body releases various stress hormones, some of which cause blood glucose levels to rise. You may easily find that you require more insulin to maintain your blood sugar in your usual range—and that your blood sugar generally acts in an unpredictable manner. The symptoms of sickness may make it more tricky to eat or drink, frustrating your standard management habits.

Even typical illnesses like stomach bugs, colds, and the flu can get dangerous for folks with diabetes, particularly those with type 1 diabetes and insulin-treated type 2 diabetes.

High blood glucose levels over a prolonged period can put people with diabetes at danger of intense and serious dehydration, especially in the presence of vomiting or diarrhea. Eventually, this can lead to a potentially life-threatening situation of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).

Your diabetes educator, endocrinologist, or primary care physician have likely stressed to you the importance of having a ill day plan in place. A indisposed day plan is simply your plan of action for managing diabetes on those occasions when you might feel unwell or have an infection.

What ought to Be Included in a ill Day Plan?

A ill day plan traditionally guides the management of your diabetes when you are unwell. Consider it an action plan that will make it easier to make decisions if things get bad—especially when to call a doctor, and when to visit a hospital.

A ill day plan might also include health information that will facilitate others make decisions for you, ought to it be necessary. Some of the information you may wish to include in a sick day plan includes:

• An emergency contact person who you have discussed this plan with and would like to be informed in the event of an emergency.
• Contact details of your healthcare team such as an endocrinologist, diabetes educator, primary care physician, or diabetes clinic.
• List of any allergies.
• List of any medications currently being taken, for diabetes and otherwise.
• Some basic instructions to manage your diabetes, both normally and when you are unwell, such as insulin or medication

When Should You Start Following Your Sick Day Plan?

You should stick to a sick day plan when you feel unwell, or when you first begin to notice typical symptoms of an illness developing. Other indications to follow a sick day plan may include:

• When your blood glucose levels have been greater than 270 mg/dL (15 mmol/L) for more than six hours.
• When ketones are present in people with insulin-dependent diabetes (“+” result on a urine ketone strip or >0.6 mmol/L on a blood ketone strip).

It may also be helpful to inform a loved one, who may be capable to look out for you while you are unwell.

General Sick Day instructions for People with Type 1 Diabetes

Your sick day guidelines should always be determined with the help of your medical team. Consider the following to be merely general ideas; a medical professional can help you choose precise blood sugar targets and dosage adjustments.

• Check your blood glucose levels much more habitually than usual, and correct hyperglycemia with insulin utilizing normal correction ratios.
• Check for ketones every 4-6 hours using urine ketone strips or a blood ketone meter.
• If you are struggling with persistently high blood sugars, consider taking more basal insulin, either by taking a slightly increased dose of long-acting insulin or, for pump users, setting a temporary basal rate. The IDFE suggests increasing basal rates by 10%.
• You may also need to take larger boluses of rapid-acting insulin for meals.
• Drink fluids every hour (water is best) to keep your body hydrated, or consider a rehydration solution to help replace fluid and electrolytes. Regular fluids can also help to flush out any ketones through the urine.
• Treat hypoglycemia with sugary fluids if you are unable to keep solid food down.

It remains absolutely critical to continue using insulin. If your illness makes it difficult to use insulin normally—for example, if you want to use less insulin because you cannot eat and your blood sugar is getting too low—you should seek immediate medical attention.

General Sick Day Guidelines for People with Type 2 Diabetes

People that use insulin to treat their type 2 diabetes are at an enhanced risk of complications from sickness and might consider using some of the more aggressive recommendations listed above (for type 1 diabetes).

If you don’t use insulin, you are at a much lower risk of DKA.

• Check your blood glucose levels more frequently than usual.
• Continue taking your diabetes medications as usual.
• Your physician may ask you to stop taking metformin if you have a severe infection, or if there is a chance of dehydration.
• Drink fluids frequently (water is best) to keep your body hydrated, or consider a rehydration solution to help replace fluid and electrolytes. Dehydration is a common cause of higher blood glucose levels.
• Treat hypoglycemia with sugary fluids if you are unable to keep solid food down.

When Do You Need Medical Treatment?

An important part of a sick day plan is deciding, ahead of time, when to seek medical attention. If you have standards in place before your illness begins, it will be much easier to commit to calling your doctor.

It may be worth calling your doctor if any of the following occur:

• Mild vomiting or diarrhea
• Difficulty managing blood sugar
• Low levels of ketones in the urine
• Fever

The CDC provides a thorough list of instances that should prompt an immediate trip to the hospital:

• You’re having trouble breathing.
• You have moderate to high ketone levels in your urine.
• You can’t keep any liquids down for more than 4 hours.
• You lose 5 pounds or more during the illness.
• Your blood sugar is lower than 60 mg/dl.
• You feel too sick to eat normally and are unable to keep down food for more than 24 hours.
• You have vomiting and/or severe diarrhea for more than 6 hours.
• Your temperature is over 101 degrees F for 24 hours.
• You feel sleepy or can’t think clearly. Have someone else call your doctor or take you to the emergency room.

When Would a Sick Day Plan Come in Handy?

Given that many of us don’t have to deal with sick days too often, it can be easy to lose touch with these strategies. While most of us picture the self-management of a sick day from the comfort of our own lounge room, the reality may not be as cozy. Emergencies or sudden situations could happen at any given time, increasing our chances of needing to put sick day knowledge into practice. Here are just a few examples:

• Emergencies or natural disasters
• Travel
• Embarking on a new or unfamiliar activity
• Situations where you are alone
• Situations where you are away from familiar people or surroundings
• Hospital admission or physical injury
• Loss or damage to diabetes medication or insulin
• Loss or failure of diabetes technology

It is well worth putting a plan in place to guide the management of your diabetes in an emergency, and having a conversation about it with your loved ones. You may find yourself in a situation where you need to be your own advocate, or where you may need to rely on a loved one to act as your advocate.

Takeaway

When you have diabetes, even common illnesses can get serious fast.

Putting a sick day plan in place will allow you to make good decisions in a stressful situation—including when to call a doctor, and when to seek immediate medical attention.

A good sick day plan leaves you far more prepared to manage your diabetes should the unexpected happen.

Diabetes Daily

The End of Diabetes: The Eat to Live Plan to Prevent and Reverse Diabetes