Sick Days for Diabetics
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I started feeling sick a week ago on a Monday evening. I felt exhausted to drive home. I barely drove with enough energy to reach home and get into the leather couch in front of the television. I wished somebody to remove my shoes and cuddle me up with a blanket, and make some hot tea with lemon and honey. But, everybody was still at work and I did not want to move from where I was.
I attributed the tiredness to being on my feet all day at work. Watching some show, I dozed off for what it felt like an eternity before my son came home. I felt feverish, sore and itching in my throat as if I was about to cough. I asked for a cup of tea and fell asleep again before I got my cup. For the next few days I was in bed not moving an inch. Luckily, it was weekend and I didn't have to go to work for rest of next week. Eventually, my tiredness led to more coughing, fever, body pains and was worse by the middle of next week.
It is a well known fact that diabetics have to work harder than normal patients when they get sick in order to keep their sugars under control and get healthy fast. When diabetics, like me, get sick, the stress on our bodies contributes to not only out of range blood sugar levels, but also a suppressed immune system that could lead to more adverse effects like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, and production of ketone bodies in urine due to uncontrolled sugars in the blood.
When we get sick we do not eat proper food or drink enough fluids naturally. But for diabetics, skipping one thing or the other is not an options. Even though it is a natural tendency to not feel like keeping up with diet and nutrition, we need to be aware of our body's condition and blood sugar levels. It just doesn't seem fair that we have to keep an eye on our glucose numbers even though we are sick instead of just taking it easy on them. But the alternatives are not very good either.
Lack of activities, uneven timings for food intake, mental depression, irregular timings for medications could all lead to increased stress on the body. Diabetics need to understand that, rain or shine, we need to be religious about our routine diet and medications plans.
We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
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