Fighting an illness is never easy, but it can be even more difficult if you’re diabetic. When you’re sick, your body fights infection by releasing hormones that raise blood sugar levels and interfere with the effects of insulin.

It’s harder to manage your blood sugar levels and urine ketones if you have a fever or experience nausea, diarrhea or dehydration. If you don’t properly manage your glucose levels, you could end up in a diabetic coma.

People with Type 1 Diabetes may be at risk to develop ketoacidosis, while those with Type 2 Diabetes, especially older adults, may be more susceptible to a similar condition called hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic coma. Both of these conditions can be life-threatening. Don’t let a minor illness turn into a major one: develop a sick day action plan and stick to it when the time comes.

Be Prepared: Make a Sick Day Plan Before You’re Sick

The best way to fight an illness when you have diabetes is to be prepared with a plan. That way, when you become sick, you will know what to do and have what you need on hand to manage your symptoms. Be sure to consult your doctor, diabetes educator and dietician for their input, and have their phone numbers handy in case you need to reach them at night or during holidays and weekends.

Your sick day action plan should include instructions regarding:

• How often to measure your blood sugar
• How often to measure your urine ketones
• What you should eat and/or drink and when
• What medicines you should (and shouldn’t) take
• When you should call your doctor

Measuring Your Blood Sugar and Ketones

Your health care professional is the most informed person with respect to the proper testing regimen for you.  However, as a good rule of thumb, if you have Type 1 Diabetes and you’re ill, you should consider measuring your blood glucose and ketones approximately every four hours. For those with Type 2 Diabetes, you should check your glucose levels at least four times a day. If your blood sugar is higher than 300, it is important to monitor your ketone levels as well.

It’s important to measure your ketones because they are more likely to build up if you’re sick, especially if you have an upset stomach. Any time you have an upset stomach, you should check your ketones. If left unchecked, the accumulation of these waste products can lead to ketoacidosis.

You can check ketone levels with urine test strips or a blood test.  The blood test is better mode of testing because urine ketones will always lag behind blood ketone levels.

Be sure to keep a record of all your glucose and ketone levels, noting the time of day and how you were feeling or what symptoms you were experiencing at the time and advise your doctor of any changes.

What to Eat and Drink

Even though you may not feel like it, it’s important to stick to your normal meal plan when you’re sick. If you need to modify meals, eat foods that are easy on your stomach, such as soup, crackers, regular (non-diet) gelatin. Be sure to eat enough so you consume your normal number of daily calories.

It’s also important to stay hydrated because fluids help to eliminate the excess glucose in your blood. If you’re able to maintain your normal meal plan, you should drink a lot of non-caloric liquids such as water and diet soft drinks.

If you’re not able to keep food down, you should drink liquids containing carbohydrates – approximately 50 grams of carbs every 3 to 4 hours. This includes juice, regular (non-diet) soft drinks and broth. Other choices include semi-liquids such as frozen juice bars, sherbet, yogurt and pudding.

Medicines You Should (and Shouldn’t) Take

Whatever you do, do NOT stop taking your diabetes medicines when you’re sick. You need your insulin or diabetes medication to counteract the increased blood sugar your body makes when you’re sick.

If you have Type 1 Diabetes, you may need to increase your insulin. If you have Type 2 Diabetes, you might need to increase your medication strength or dosage or supplement with insulin. Check with your doctor and to determine what is best for you based on your symptoms.

Before you buy or take any over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, check the label to see if they contain sugar. Small doses containing sugar may be okay, but you may want to ask your pharmacist or physician if there are any sugar-free alternatives.

Be aware, some OTC and prescription medicines that don’t contain sugar can also affect your blood sugar. If taken in large doses, aspirin can lower blood glucose levels, as can some antibiotics for those who have Type 2 Diabetes and take diabetes medication. Certain cold products, such as decongestants, can raise your blood sugars.

If you have to see a doctor other than your own, be sure to mention your Diabetes and what medicines you’re taking.

Know When to Call Your Doctor

If you have diabetes and you’re sick, call your doctor if you experience any of the following:

You’ve had a fever for 2 days and aren’t getting better You’ve been vomiting or had diarrhea for more than 6 hours You have moderate to large amounts of ketones in your urine You’ve increased your insulin but your blood sugar levels are still higher than 240 You take pills for your diabetes and your glucose level increases to more than 240 before meals and stays there for more than 24 hours You have symptoms of ketoacidosis or dehydration or some other serious condition (for example, your chest hurts, you are having trouble breathing, your breath smells fruity, or your lips or tongue are dry and cracked) You’re not sure what to do to take care of yourself

Your doctor will want to know how long you’ve been sick, what medicines and dosages you’ve taken, if you’ve been eating and keeping food down, if you’ve lost weight and what your temperature, glucose and ketone levels are, so make sure you keep an accurate journal of all the details while you’re sick.

Some people just don’t like to exercise at a gym, some people cannot exercise outside when it’s hot (or  cold, raining,snowing,etc)  Here is the perfect solution, if you can walk, then you can do this in a few square feet of your room, in front of the TV. 

Some people have not exercised in a long time, but are thinking about it, or want to do it, but don’t know where to start.  Start right here with Leslie, she cues you and encourages you, the moves are simple marching, walking in place, basic kicks, nothing fancy, nothing you can’t do at your own pace.   

Ske knows about Diabetes and will talk to you about that as you walk with her.  I think you’ll love her style.  I am a big fan of Leslie Sansone’s walking DVD’s.  You can walk for miles with Leslie and not get tired of her.  She gives encouragement, and imparts some knowledge, all in her sensible, easy going style. 

You know you want to exercise, your family wants you to exercise, your doctor wants you to exercise.  This DVD is perfect for someone who hasn’t exercised in a while.  You can do this with Leslie Sansone. 

Here is a link to Amazon for her Walk Down Your Blood Sugar At Home DVD

Let me know how you like it, and if you would also recommend it!

This inexpensive product (less than $20 US Dollars) will change the way healthcare professionals and patients manage diabetes

I have a friend that drinks alcohol (not the hard stuff) but he has diabetes. I don’t know what to do because I’m really close to this friend. He always reacts the worst to me out of everyone only when he drinks. I just need some help on how to deal with him and what happens to him with it? Plus how can I get him to stop drinking. Oh I should add that he drinks a 12 pack of Natural Light.

We introduced our health feature on diabetes last week when we looked at the factors promoting the rise of this condition. Key among them was lifestyle. This week, we have invited a doctor specialising on the treatment of diabetes to our studio. Indeed Dr. Eva Njenga will be answering some of the questions about diabetes that you have raised within the week. But first here are some tips on how to manage diabetes.

What is diabetes?? One of a series of educational videos brought to you by Baylor Healthcare Systems’ Juanita J. Craft Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute, and mycareconnect.com. Produced by AHA clips (www.ahaclips.com)

Right now I’m sort of seeing the man I hope to marry and the other day we brought up the subject of babies. We discussing that there may be a high risk if we had children that one of our babies would have diabetes. Diabetes runs in my family and I believe it runs in his. He is a diabetic and I’m not. We figure we are in a very high risk category, but since at this time we’re not married or planning to have kids yet we haven’t asked a doctor. We would both like your opinions and answers.

 What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a defect in the body’s ability to convert glucose to energy. It is caused due to insufficient production of glucose by the pancreas. In diabetes patients, the production of glucose is impaired.

What are the symptoms of Diabetes?

Patients with Type-1 diabetes usually develop symptoms over a short period of time, and the condition is often diagnosed in an emergency setting.

Symptoms of type 1 diabetes:

Increased thirst
Fatigue
Nausea
Increased urination
Weight loss in spite of increased appetite
Vomiting

However, because Type-2 diabetes develops slowly, some people with high blood sugar experience no symptoms at all.

Symptoms of type 2 diabetes:

Increased thirst
Impotence in men
Increased appetite
Increased urination
Blurred vision
Fatigue
Slow-healing infections

How to diagnose diabetes?

The diagnosis of diabetes is made by a simple blood test measuring blood glucose level. Usually blood glucose level tests are repeated on a subsequent day to confirm the diagnosis. Your health care team may also request that you have a glucose tolerance test. If two hours after taking the glucose drink your glucose level is 200 or above, you will be diagnosed as having diabetes.

How can I control diabetes?

Gather all the information about diabetes, its symptoms and causes
Check your blood glucose level regularly
If find any symptom of diabetes, visit your health care team for diagnosis of diabetes
Ask your health care team about how to check blood glucose level at home
Stop smoking
Exercise daily
Follow a healthy meal plan
Check your vision at regular intervals, If found blurred visit your health care team
Check your feet regularly for checking the occurrence of diabetes
If you are diabetic, monitor you diabetes regularly
Follow instructions of health care team strictly
Avoid sweet ingredients, use sugar free food

Can diabetes be cured?

As yet, there is no treatment for either type of diabetes, although there are many ways of keeping diabetes in control. Studies have shown that good control of blood glucose (blood sugar) is the key to avoid diabetic complications later.

What are the treatment options to cure diabetes?

Diabetes is incurable. The only option is to prevent ourselves from diabetes or to keep diabetes under control.

Is diabetes a hereditary disease?

You are at higher risk of Type 2 diabetes if you have a parent, brother or sister with diabetes.

Complications of Diabetes

If you have diabetes, you are much more likely to have a risk of stroke, heart disease, or a heart attack. In fact, 2 out of 3 people with diabetes die from stroke or heart disease. There are three conditions that make people with diabetes vulnerable to foot problems. These are vascular disease and foot deformities. About 30 percent of patients with Type 1 diabetes and 10 to 40 percent of those with Type 2 diabetes eventually will suffer from kidney failure. Diabetes also may cause damage to nerves in your body.

The problem of childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the Latino community. This might be caused by some genetic factors, but mainly the causes are cultural, social, economic, and environmental. The Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University, is working to educate the community on healthier behaviors, by teaching them how to make better choices, and not only manage diabetes, but also prevent it.

what is diabetes type two? animated…