Colds and glucose scores

[Gerald]

I've been on insulin and actively monitoring my diabetes for almost a year now. This is the first time I've gotten a cold since I've started the regime and I'm finding my glucose scores are consistently higher by a point or two then they were just a few days previously. For example, I normally test between 6 and 7 before lunch but the last couple of days was in the high eights. The only other unusual aspect was that the other morning before breakfest I was 3.7 which is really weird considering I've never been below 7.5 in the morning and am usually in the 8 to 10 range.

I'm still eating the same though obviously I have not done any vigorous excerise for a couple of days. Do others find that there glucose scores trend higher when sick? After my experience of getting DKA while having pneumonia I'm watching my scores pretty carefully during this bout and would appreciate some input from those who've been doing this for awhile.

[Cyborg]

Higher bg while fighting a cold is very common. As a pumper, I can simply up run a higher basal rate using the temp basal feature. If you are on a basal insulin only, you could increase the dosage a bit or perform correction boluses if using a fast acting insulin.

[UpNorth]

It's normal to run higher when your body is fighting an infection of some kind. I had a cold the other week, and had to inject more insulin all the time to keep my sugars somewhat controlled- i was in the 10-20's a LOT, and normally i can stay below 10...

[Gerald]

Thanks guys, good to hear that as I was wondering what was going on.

[kgm0612]

Get well soon!

Karen

[Lizzie G]

im home sick with some kind of sickness too (hence why im on the net all day long!), struggling with raging blood sugars and many needles!

[Jill-O]

I know a cold can make your numbers higher. Any kind of illness or stress can do it.

Hope you are feeling better soon!

[kgm0612]

Well.........I've come down with a chest cold myself. It feels like a huge elephant is sitting on top of my chest. I have an annoying cough but no runny nose or sneezing. I started taking Dayquil & Nyquil liqui-gel caps and they seem to be working. My BS is running a tad higher, but not by much. I put a call into my PCP for a chest x-ray and I'm awaiting the script in the mail.

Karen