The Guy is sick

I spent the day in bed, fighting what seems to be a very strong cold or seasonal flu. But there is probably nothing notable in just being ill. What is notable though, is the effects my illness had on my blood sugars.

The typical literature for sick day management with Diabetes alerts of higher blood sugar levels when ill. Well, for some reason, in my case the effects have been exactly the opposite. While I’ve been monitoring my condition pretty closely (including ketone testing and all) the reality is that I’ve been using about half the insulin that I normally would. In all fairness, I’m also eating a lot less, but even with semi accurate carb counting my insulin to carb ratios are very skewed compare to what’s normal for me.

I do have a number of theories, but the one that is gaining more strength in my mind is the one that says that my body is still producing some insulin and because I’m suddenly very relaxed and eating less, this insulin may be enough to cover a bigger proportion of my daily needs. That said, is sort of useless to have a theory that has no effect on real life, so I’ll leave it at that.

I can only hope that this cold goes away soon enough, in time for my pump start next week. I would hate to see that being ill is a limiting factor on what could be the most important step in my diabetes management to date, but that is a story for a different day.

Stay tuned….