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How Illness and Injury Affect Diabetes
How Illness and Injury Affect DiabetesAnyone who is feeling under the weather, for whatever reason, knows that being sick is no fun.But when you have diabetes, you need to be especially careful when you are sick because illness has a directimpact on your blood glucose level.When your body is under stress, as it is when you have an illness, like a cold, or the flu; an infection, like aurinary tract infection, ear infection or eye infection; an injury, such as having a broken bone, a foot ulcer orare recovering from surgery; or even sometimes during difficult emotional times, hormones are released tohelp your body handle the stress.These hormones often cause symptoms that signal they are fighting the stressor, such as a rise in yourtemperature.Another common result of these hormones is a rise in blood glucose, sometimes to extremely high anddangerous levels.It is also possible for your body to be fighting an infection without having any obvious symptoms. If you noticeyour blood glucose is high and there is no other reason for the change, you may be fighting an illness orinfection.With or without symptoms, high blood glucose will make it harder for your body to fight the illness.If you don’t take action, your illness will probably get worse, which can raise your blood glucose even more.If this damaging cycle of illness and high blood glucose is not controlled, you can end up in the emergencyroom, or even in the intensive care unit of the hospital.Take action against your illness, infection or injury by checking your temperature regularly, staying warm,getting plenty of rest and drinking lots of fluids.Talk to your healthcare provider about ways to manage your blood glucose even when you are sick so you canfeel better and maintain good diabetes health.This program is for informational purposes only. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness,or suitability of this video for medical decision making. For all health related issues please contact your healthcare provider.PRG10168B EN HowIllnessAndInjuryAffectDiabetes.pdf© The Wellness NetworkPage 1 of 1
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