Diabetes Care Illness

Diabetes tips when you are sick

• Check your blood glucose level every 4 hours and note down the reading.
• Keep taking your diabetes medicines, even if you can’t keep food down.
• Drink at least one cup of water or other calorie-free, caffeine-free liquid every hour while you’re awake.
• If you can’t eat your usual food, try drinking juice or eating crackers, popsicles, or soup, because you still need calories. Also if you can’t eat enough, you increase your risk of low blood glucose, also called hypoglycemia.
• In people with type 1 diabetes, when blood glucose is high, the body produces ketones. Ketones can make you sick. Test your urine or blood for ketones if
  • your blood glucose is above 240
  • you can’t keep food or liquids down

Urgent symptoms - immediately call healthy care provider

• your blood glucose has been above 240 for longer than a day
• you have ketones
• you feel sleepier than usual
• you have trouble breathing
• you can’t think clearly
• you throw up more than once
• you’ve had diarrhea for more than 6 hours

Next: Diabetes care School