You’re worried about your blood sugar and now, you are sick with the flu or COVID and you don’t know how you’ll control your sugars with this infection.
Hey, I get it.
Well, you can’t. Your body will need the extra sugar (food) to get the energy to fight the infection.
But there are a few things you can do to have a quicker recovery.
A quicker recovery means your sugars get back to normal faster.
When sugars get back to normal faster, your A1c will not spike as badly on your next A1c test.
Here’s what 2 diabetic sick-with-infections will look like in my clinic
Patient A, let’s call her Debbie, comes into my clinic.
She complains of a low fever, a headache, and a cough.
She is only 32 years old and normally healthy, except she has diabetes.
But her diabetes runs about 6.7.
Still, I know her sugars are going to run high because she’s infected with the flu.
I just don’t want her to get upset about it because there is nothing she can do about it right now but get better quicker.
When I walk into the exam room, Debbie is sitting on the exam table.
She is talking in full sentences, needs a note for work, and has no nausea or vomiting.
Jenny tells me about her symptoms, she’s good with over-the-counter congestion medication.
We know that these contain sugar, but trying to find the one that works over the ones that don’t have sugar is hard.
Especially since the labeling industry has over 30 words they can use for “sugar” to try and fool us.
I still test Debbie for the flu and COVID because she is a diabetic.
Debbie gets her work note and recovers just fine.
I still her the “rules” about a quick recovery from the flu or COVID. Grab your free copy here.
However, when Debbie gets her next A1c, I warn her that it might be a little higher than it was last time.
Reason? We know the A1c is based on a 3-month daily average of blood sugars.
In this event, the infection will cause it to be higher.
Patient B, let’s call him Sam, comes into my clinic.
Sam also complains of a low fever, a headache, and a cough.
He is only 42 years old and normally healthy, except he, too, has diabetes.
His A1c runs about 8.4.
Sam is not doing well.
He is lying not sitting on the exam table.
Now I take extra time with Sam.
But I do want to keep him safe.
I am worried about his blood sugar.
I ask him if he is watching his sugars on a daily basis.
He’s just staring at me.
It takes him time to answer.
His wife tells me he is not thinking clearly.
I ask the nurse to do a finger stick.
Sam’s sugar is 300.
I know from his last A1c that his sugars should run about 170.
I have two choices with Sam.
I can send him to the Emergency room where they might admit him to get his sugars down or I can send him home with Paxlovid if he is positive for Covid.
If he is positive for the flu, I can send him home with Tamiflu or to the Emergency Room.
Both infections are quite serious because of Sam’s sugar spike.
We test Sam.
He is positive for the flu.
We have to get Sam over this flu quicker so I go over the rules I need him to follow.
His wife agrees to help. I give her “the rules” for a quick recovery.
See my free Get Your Health Back Quicker Tracker here.
I then tell Sam that his A1c will be much higher than the last time he had it done because of his “flu-sugars” this week.
I suggest no A1c labs for at least three months. It will be a waste of money and time because we know it will be affected by his “flu-infection” week.