Flue symptoms & Blood glucose reading.

[Silent Sands]

Hi, recently started with flu symptoms and noticed my BG was abnormally and unusually high for the time of day.
I had been eating small meals and not drinking much with a normal insulin regime.
Is this normal, BG 17.1 & 13.3 respectively, when i expected 6 - 8?

 

[Leadinglights]

Infection can increase blood glucose level and people find they may need to increase their insulin dose.

 

[gll]

When I'm Ill I tend to firefight with correction doses (short acting) and see how it plays out.
If after a few days I am still unwell I will consider a temporary basal (long acting) increase but have to be very much on the ball with recognising when it is no longer needed.
This is with a sensor on which is much easier to make the call on when and what to increase. I'm less confidant when it is just fingerpricks.

 

[Inka]

Hi, recently started with flu symptoms and noticed my BG was abnormally and unusually high for the time of day.
I had been eating small meals and not drinking much with a normal insulin regime.
Is this normal, BG 17.1 & 13.3 respectively, when i expected 6 - 8?

What insulins do you take @Silent Sands ? Have you been told how to do correction doses? Yes, illness can often cause high blood sugars. I find moving about/exercising makes them worse rather than better like usual. So, rest and keep hydrated. If you know how to correct with your insulin, do it cautiously to start with.

 

[Tdm]

Thanks for that, am in same position as op, first illness since diagnosis (just a cold though) and i think the attempt to walk off the high bs was rather a mistake.

 

[Inka]

Thanks for that, am in same position as op, first illness since diagnosis (just a cold though) and i think the attempt to walk off the high bs was rather a mistake.

Yes, it’s weird, isn’t it? I get it with most colds too. Even pottering about the house causes a rise. It must be our bodies under physical stress from the illness and the activity just makes things worse.

 

[helli]

I find exercise raises a high blood sugar. At high levels, exercise is stressful to my body.
At an lower levels (8 or less), exercise reduces my levels.

 

[Inka]

I don’t exercise if I’m above 13 (because of ketones) but I haven’t yet found an exercise that raises my blood sugar - not that I do a wide variety of exercise. It generally lowers it. Lots of other things raise it though 🙄

But this is something I’ve found specific to illness (YDMMV). Even if my blood sugar is, say, 7 and I’m ill, pottering about or walking around puts it higher whereas normally it would drop. I once had a persistent virus and even when my blood sugar was basically back to normal, I still had this strange response. I had to sit on the sofa far more than I would normally because even things like putting the washing away would push it up, eg it would jump from 6 to 9 or 10 very quickly, even if I walked around slowly. So weird.

 

[SB2015]

I think with illness my insulin sensitivity is reduced and I just need more insulin to firefight high levels. As others have said, it can be useful to do corrections initially using quick acting insulin, keeping a watch on BGs, and if it turns into a more prolonged illness I wouod have then added in a change to basal doses.

@Tdm and @Silent Sands have you been given sick day rules. Most of them come as a flow chart and are based round checking for ketones as well as measuring BG levels at regular intervals, even though when I’ll it can be the last thing you want to do. I hope you both feel a lot better soon.

 

[SB2015]

I find exercise raises a high blood sugar. At high levels, exercise is stressful to my body.
At an lower levels (8 or less), exercise reduces my levels.

I was surprised, when I heard a talk by Prof Rob Andrews, about using exercise to raise BG. I then tried it and found that if my levels were a bit lower than I liked on route to an exercise class, if I jogged there (about 20 min) it increased my BG enough to do just over an hour of exercise, without needing JBs.

Our bodies are truly weird and then don’t always stick to the same rules!

 

[Silent Sands]

Evening @Inka, the basal insulin is a split dose of Humulin I (20 mornings, 7 eves) - this wasn't increased when my illness was very feverish, and less so now. The bolus insulin is Humulin S and is different amounts per meal as you'd expect, no change was administered.

@SB2015, No, I haven't been given any information regarding other ailments whether in short/long duration. I was thinking if the fever continued much longer, I would have to increase insulin levels but as of today, my fever has subsided and my BG levels are, Pre-meal, around the normalized levels I would be expecting.

I was just too ill to exercise, and it's only been today that I've been anywhere near normal. Exercise is still minimal due to dizziness.

 

[gll]

glad you are on the mend @Silent Sands 🙂

Its worth having a chat with your nurse / getting a copy of your sick day rules so you are better prepared for next time.

 

[SB2015]

@SB2015, No, I haven't been given any information regarding other ailments whether in short/long duration. I was thinking if the fever continued much longer, I would have to increase insulin levels but as of today, my fever has subsided and my BG levels are, Pre-meal, around the normalized levels I would be expecting.

So glad that you are on the mend. Definitely worth talking to your nurse about Sick Day Rules. I find them useful as if I am very I’ll I don’t want to have to think too much so just following a set of rules works for me.

 

[johntheterrier]

Hi, recently started with flu symptoms and noticed my BG was abnormally and unusually high for the time of day.
I had been eating small meals and not drinking much with a normal insulin regime.
Is this normal, BG 17.1 & 13.3 respectively, when i expected 6 - 8?

Hi, I've had a urine infection recently, just getting over it with help of antibiotics. My blood sugars were consistently very high despite taking industrial levels of Novorapid. Felt terrible, constantly dehydrated despite drinking loads of water. Awful night sweats/shivers. Thankfully getting back to something like normal now. Not an experience I'd like to repeat. Hope you're also feeling better now.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi, I've had a urine infection recently, just getting over it with help of antibiotics. My blood sugars were consistently very high despite taking industrial levels of Novorapid. Felt terrible, constantly dehydrated despite drinking loads of water. Awful night sweats/shivers. Thankfully getting back to something like normal now. Not an experience I'd like to repeat. Hope you're also feeling better now.

UTIs are fairly common if your blood glucose is high and can be quite nasty making people feel awful. They do need particular antibiotics specific for UTI so they act in the correct place. Often people are given the wrong ones to start with so the infection can take a while to clear up. I hope you are feeling better now.

 

[StephanieMLW]

Another person here in the same boat as op. My first illness since diagnosis…thought I had got away with my sugars being lovely and normal despite being ill, but they have shot up overnight and are refusing to budge below 12. Normal correction doses simply not working! Very useful to know not to exercise, walking off high sugars is my normal go-to.
I hope you’re feeling better @Silent Sands and thanks for posting, this has been a useful thread 🙂

 

[Silent Sands]

Another person here in the same boat as op. My first illness since diagnosis…thought I had got away with my sugars being lovely and normal despite being ill, but they have shot up overnight and are refusing to budge below 12. Normal correction doses simply not working! Very useful to know not to exercise, walking off high sugars is my normal go-to.
I hope you’re feeling better @Silent Sands and thanks for posting, this has been a useful thread 🙂

Thank you and you're welcome, I am feeling a little better and my BG's have returned to normal-ish levels.
I have been in contact with my DSN and have to contact them again should it happen again in the future, which it will sadly.