Cold relief?

[blacklightmike]

Any tips on how to deal with a bad cold? One of the things I did that sent my A1C into orbit was take a lot of Nyquil two months ago. I now have a dreaful cold, and have taken nothing but occasional Tylenol and some sugar-free cough drops, and my fasting sugar is 35 points higher than normal!

Any suggestions regarding relief would be greatly appreciated, as I also have COPD in the form of Pulmonary Sarcoidosis, and breathing is a big pain right now. Bedrest is not an option, unfortunately.

[princesslinda]

Mike, hope you start feeling better soon. I have been fortunate not to have a cold (knock on wood) since my diagnosis last August. My BIL , however, recently had a bad case of brochitis (he's on Lantus and a couple of oral meds for diabetes). The doc gave him a Z-pack (antibiotic/zithromycin) and Tylenol III with codeine for his cough, as OTC cough meds ran his BS through the roof, as well as his blood pressure. Maybe this is something you can ask the doctor about. Also, have you considered a vaporizer at night to help with your breathing?

Linda

[DeusXM]

It's less a case of medication causing a BG rise and more a case of being ill that's doing it. Illness causes your liver to dump glucose and you'll also have more stress hormones wiggling around, causing an increase in insulin resistance.

Most OTC meds won't have too much of an effect on your BG - and in any case you might want to consider that since your BGs are going to be all over the place anyway, the odd extra mmol/l here or there isn't going to make much of a difference given the trade-off in symptom relief.

[KritterMom]

Hope you get to feeling better! Tell your wife you want to be pampered right now! Take care!

[blacklightmike]

Thanks for the input, folks... off to the Sudafed.

[Jill-O]

Since I'm new to this, I asked my doctor when I saw him last month about what I could take when I get a cold, and he said anything used to take (in my case, that's Dayquil / Nyquil).

[slipperyelm]

I really think you need to ask your doctor about this, including your pulmonologist, if you see one. I don't know how advanced your sarcoidosis is, but if you have developed COPD, you have an increased danger when you have a cold. I mean a danger that most of us other Type 2s don't have. Your lungs form little pockets which do not have good air exchange and in which secrtetions can pool up. During a cold secretions can be greater not only in your nose and upper airway, but in your lungs. Those mucous secretions can themselves become the environment for further infection, including bacterial pneumonia. So your colds may need to be treated more agressively than mine.

On the other hand regardless of Type 2, not just any over the counter medicine is appropriate for colds with sarcoidosis if you are on medicines for the sarcoid. You might be on a steroid, for example. You need to ask your dctor what you can take for a cold. You also need to know when to go in for an office visit. It might be that they want you to come in any time you have a cold! Are you on oxygen? Dop you have a home nebulizer? If so definitely call that M.D. to find out how to deal with colds.

[ladytaz]

Thanks for the input, folks... off to the Sudafed.

make sure you get the REAL Sudafed Mike!! You'll have to ask for it, as they keep it behind the counter nowadays. That 'new' **** doesn't do a thing at all!!! Sudafed doesn't make my BG's raise up either ;) Then I get the store brand of Tussin DM. works great for me, again, no rise in BG.

Fortunately too, so far, I've not had any probs with my BG raising when I've been sick. and I get colds a LOT and they last me a good 3 weeks to a month usually :)

Hope you feel better soon!

[kgm0612]

Sorry you're not feeling well, Mike.

I do well with Nyquil & Dayquil liqui-gels and also Alka Selza cold tablets. Let us know how you do with the Sudafed.

Karen

[blacklightmike]

Thanks to everyone who replied! I took a 'cocktail' of Nyquil and Sudafed PE last night before bed, and woke up feeling a lot better. My fasting BG was 110! Thanks for clearing this issue up, it feels good to breathe again.