Illness and Dehydration

[Ivy]

I've posted before about how down I get about my inability to recover from illness. Whenever I get any sort of illness that makes me vomit, once I get dehydrated I get even more sick and end up in hospital on a drip every single time. I didn't used to be like this when I was younger but I think my body is weaker now from me not looking after my diabetes as a teenager, even though my Hba1c is 7.4% now.

So anyway all of last week I had crippling diarrhea and on Thursday I started vomiting too. By Friday I was in hospital with severe dehydration. I was in until Sunday. The doctor said I probably had some form of viral gastroenteritis and the diarrhea caused me to become dehydrated, which lead to me vomiting and being even more ill.

I know he's right because It's happened so many times before - the more dehydrated I am, the more I vomit. But it doesn't even make sense - is my body determined to kill itself? Will I ever be able to live a normal life and recover from illness by myself at home? My veins are even collapsing from havings IVs in them all the time. Just feeling a little sorry for myself. If I get this ill from a little bug how can I ever do big things that a normal woman could like have a baby?

 

[Northerner]

Hi Ivy, I'm really sorry to hear that you have been suffering so much I don't really know what I can say, it does sound like you are prone to these kinds of infections. Do you have any idea where you picked it up from? Actually, I wouldn't say it was just a little infection, it sounds pretty much like the one I had that put me in hospital when I was diagnosed so I can imagine how you must have been feeling.

I think all you can do really is to try and keep yourself as fit and healthy as possible so that you are giving lots of support to your immune system when it tries to fight off these bugs. Also, do you check for ketones and have you been taught about 'sick day rules' for when you are ill? A build up of ketones will have the effect of making you feel very sick, so it may actually be the ketones caused by the infections rather than the infections themselves.

I hope that you get well soon, and that this doesn't happen again any time soon (or ever!).

 

[Cleo]

hello ivy
Please dont be too hard on yourself 🙂
I suffered from dehydration and vomiting when I was on holiday in Australia and Turkey, (I was even hospitalised in Australia - sadly!) so please don't feel alone ! The doctors told me its our body's way of telling us that things really arent balanced properly and thats it 'unhappy'. Maybe you can try to identify what sets it off? Also, I dont believe that these things are necessarily diabetes related, yes we *may* be more prone to certain things, but non Ds get these sorts of things as well. Dont worry about pregnancy - again some women get morning sickness and some don't. Thats just down to pregnancy hormones and has nothing to do with your ability to manage your D, and even if you did get it then it wouldn't be a reflection on how well you're managing your D.
chin up !
x