Day 3 of being sick

Warning, this is just going to be me complaining about feeling sick, so there's nothing important.






Two mornings ago, I woke up with a fever of 101.5, a cough, and soreness to the high heavens. Thus began the juggling act of being sick with diabetes.

Long story short, because of diabetes, when I get sick my body flips out. I have to micro-manage my blood sugar and ketone levels (basically when my body freaks out if there's too much sugar in my body. It tries getting rid of it in any way possible) while keeping my fever down, because if that's high I might as well give up. I have to check my blood sugar about every two hours, and then check ketones and temperature about every five.

My fever is now at a steady 102.4 unless I take Tylenol (which I can't be on ALL day). I have a chest cough that gets worse when I lie down along with that super oppressive feeling where you just can't do anything. Like, even watching tv feels like too much work sometimes. I need to drink constantly because of the fever and ketone risk, but if I put something in my stomach too fast I want to throw up (which brings up the additional problem of I don't feel like I can eat - but I'll get to that later).

As to my sleep schedule, I still haven't been able to sleep for more than three hours at a time. I keep waking up from my cough, my fever, or diabetes making me feel like crap. Tonight I got about seven hours of sleep (divided by one hour of staying awake) which was a new record.

Now, to the juggling.

I need to keep the fever down as much as possible as to not get so dehydrated that I get ketones. Now, like I said, Tylenol helps, but I can't be on it all day because of the daily dose maxes. My kidney struggles enough with diabetes, I'm not going to poke a bear with a stick. So, I need to balance my doses so my fever stays down while I'm asleep (I'll specify more later), which means of course I have a fever of over 102 for at least part of the day. Joy. This factor is fairly independent (it's not effected by anything else), but if I drop it then eeeeverything else falls apart.

My blood sugar is a major problem because it is effected by the fever and effects the ketones. It's also effected by the fact that I can't eat. Without eating, my body is faced with a schedule it doesn't recognize. My blood sugar is already crazy just because it flips out when I'm sick, so when I don't eat I have no idea what's going to happen. If I have a fever, then my blood sugar is going to run high. If my blood sugar is high, I'm going to have ketones, basically no matter what. This is why I have to check every two hours - to make sure my blood sugar isn't going to go haywire just because it feels like it.

Now, the doozy. Ketones are the end-game. If I have ketones, I feel even worse, I get extremely dehydrated, and there is a solid chance I'm going to throw up. Now, when I'm sick, there are three main things that will give me ketones. A high blood sugar, not drinking enough, and not eating. You can see the problem. I've managed to keep the ketones down during the day through the micro-managing of blood sugar and steady intake of fluids. I've had to eat something obviously, but it's mostly been small doses of fruit. At night, though, I'm a sitting duck. If I have a fever at night, I'm screwed because that's an auto-dehydrate and I'll have large ketones (the highest amount). However, the problem still stands that when I'm sleeping, I can't check my blood sugar, I'm not drinking, and I'm not eating. I haven't managed to go a single night without getting at least small ketones. 

If I have any of the three, I feel even worse. If, god forbid, I have all three, I basically just sit around, staring at the wall while listening to soft music.

Also, much less important, but I get dizzy when I stand up and have a very slight headache. In addition, whenever I sleep I have really vivid but disorienting dreams, and it's almost like I'm still dreaming as I'm waking up. Sorry, just had to get all the complaints out.

So, that is my rant. Sorry if you've read it, I know it's a drag. I just like complaining, so I had to get it out somehow. If you have any questions about my diabetes babble, feel free to ask.