Sick Day Rules

[justlikethehotels]

Just a quickie for those of you who are actually diabetic rather than just a parent like me ...

Can you remember your first cold after diagnosis? G's gone and caught herself man flu from her dad ... she does look quite rough but has always had her flu jab so we know it's unlikely to be real flu... anyway, I digress ...

I can't tell if she's actually more poorly than I'd expect with a cold or just hoping I'll go easy on her and let her stay at home... does illness (of any type) hit diabetics harder than non-diabetics?

Does "sick day rules" mean "vomit day rules" or "poorly day rules"?

Am I being mean making her go to school dosed up with paracetamol? She's missed a lot of school since her diagnosis through hospitalisation, hospital appointments, psychologist appointments, hypos during the night, hypos and anxiety at school etc ...

Any suggestions gratefully received ...

 

[Northerner]

I've only had the odd mild cold since diagnosis, so can't offer any great personal examples. My understanding, and what little experience I do have, is that blood glucose levels are higher than usual which can add to the misery of a cold, plus I also find it very difficult to calculate the insulin adjustments needed to counteract the raised levels, so my blood glucose tends to swing more than it otherwise would.

So I would say yes, it does make things worse than if you weren't diabetic, but for me, not hugely so.

Hope she is feeling much better soon! 🙂

 

[trophywench]

Sick day = Poorly day LOL

Like in Oz they say, 'Sorry to hear you've been sick' when we'd say, 'Sorry ... you've been ill'.

 

[Tina63]

Sorry, I am 'just a parent' like you, but thought I would add a few comments here. Interestingly, my son barely ever had colds before diagnosis, one every 2/3 years was normal for him and then very mild. He has been diagnosed just 13 months, and in that time has had no less then 8 colds! Bizarre or what???

Anyway, with him, they don't seem to affect his levels. We were told sick day rules were for predominantly vomiting, but with certain infections levels can rise, so implement them then. I guess if you start seeing levels rocket, that's when you would need to act anyway, so personally I would just see how the levels go.

I know what you mean about your child missing too much school too. We went through that, so I tended to do like you, shove him out the door if at all humanly possible. At the end of the day, school will phone if they deem them too ill to remain there (well you would hope so anyway) so if she is willing to go, I would just carry on and send her.

 

[trophywench]

Oh yes, it is all about BG levels and very little to do with what might actually be wrong with you - if you are producing ketones then they are essential. But in any case, the instructions all specifically relate to BG levels and relative ketone values, don't they? - so you wouldn't be using the Rules anyway otherwise, would you?

 

[Copepod]

What Justlikethehotels needs to know about is "Sick Day Rules" for children - which includes the aspect of whether to send child to school or keep them at home, which doesn't apply to adults, as variables for deciding to go to work or not are different. I didn't have diabetes as a child, and these days, my decisions about whether or not to take a sick day with a cold depend on what job I am doing, so that I can protect myself and people at work eg I can go to work outdoors in a park or indoors in an office, but not if working in a healthcare setting, where I might pass a cold to a seriously ill person who couldn't cope with the infection if I passed to them.

As others have said, Sick Day Rules are Poorly Day Rules, but there are specific actions to take in case of vomiting / unable to keep food down / unable to keep fluids down - if child can't eat normal food, then, try anything eg yogurt, ice cream, drinks of whatever temperature they can tolerate etc.

As you say, it's a bigger picture question, and although this may not sound helpful, it is genuinely the best approach - trust your instincts as a parent. You know what's best for your child - not just health, but education, social, friendships etc. So, it seems appropriate to send her to school with appropriate paracetamol, if she feels she can cope, and with the back up plan, that she can come home if she doesn't feel she can stay. However, sometimes one day off can mean a shorter recovery period overall.

 

[novorapidboi26]

For me sick day rules are all about ketone control...........

If I am too ill to eat, or even if I am not, and the ketones are building up, the sick day rules provides the tools to calculate a dose appropriate to the amount of ketones that are present.......

So whether you feel really bad or feel OK, the rules are there to process ketones produced because of effects of the infection/virus..........

Time off school would really be a personal choice, if she doesn't feel up to it, fine, however she may feel OK but producing ketones, that need to be managed by someone who knows how..........

Get well soon............

 

[justlikethehotels]

Thanks all ...

G was "sent home" from school yesterday ... I've put that in quotes as the school called me, I spoke to G and she made the decision that she should come home. I collected her, she sat in front of the TV and was fine. She had forgotten to take paracetamol with her and I suspected that she'd have been OK if she'd had them ...

Anyway - today she went back in, completely of her own accord, saying she felt much better.

This evening however she's rough again - she's actually been sick and did her bloods - 10.0 - which is high for her recently and given that she's actually feeling grim she did her keytones - 0.1. So although a bit high for her, her levels are OK really and her keytones fine, but she's actually grim! And now she's back to not being able to inject her insulin because she's getting worked up again because she feels so rough ...

Oh God, it's so hard isn't it ...

I guess we'll play tomorrow by ear, see if she's well enough for school, not worry if she's not and try not to cause any more stress than she already has ...

Diabetes can be horrid can't it x

 

[Tina63]

Oh I do feel for you. It really does feel like one hurdle after another for a start. Things will settle down in time, but it's still early days for your daughter yet. I know that's no consolation, it can be very disruptive for the child and the parents. I am lucky enough to work from home so at least am here if my son is not too well, but I don't have a car and school is a 20 min walk away so not exactly ideal if he is taken ill at school.

Hopefully by Monday she will be feeling much better and her bloods calm down again, and hopefully then she will start injecting more readily again. It's all these extra problems (the resistance to the injecting etc) that make it even more complicated than it already is. Maybe you could mention to her that not injecting will only make her feel worse, and more sick, so it really is worth doing.

Good luck, and hope G feels much better soon.

Tina

 

[Ruth Goode]

Carly just discharged from hospital today, she had bad cold then ear and eye infection then croup that send her B.M over 20s I couldn't bring it down with sick rules that she was admitted in hospital when ketones developed. They told me if B.M over 14, check ketone and if there's ketone then follow the sick rule - hope that make sense 🙂