It is always extraordinary to me how quickly—and how much—basal needs change when you are sick:slight_smile:
The boy is down with a small virus, and I find myself tuning his basal up +60%… It is not even serious at all.
So I am curious: what foods do you go for during sick days, and why?
I can’t speak to the foods, because I’d probably just go with anything low-carb like dairy-free yogurt with chia seeds and stevia (yum), but last week I think I was fighting something off. I didn’t feel sick, but my insulin needs peaked enormously. I ran a +200% basal rate for about eight hours one day! For me it’s hard to tell what’s going on lately because I have a new schedule and new environment and allergies and it’s cold season and weather changes and hormones…but I think that was the first time I’ve done such an extreme increase in basal (running three times normal), so I can only assume my body was fighting off one of the colds everyone around me is getting.
I hope your son feels better soon!
Bummer - sorry to hear. Hope he is feeling better soon.
G2 Gatorade.
Eggs.
Gatorade (the low carb version) because drinking fluids is the best way to stay out of the hospital. A bit of flavor helps it go down.
Eggs because it is minimal impact on BG but still get some nutrition. Easy to cook some, get picked at, maybe throw half away and then repeat a bit later. Eggs also seem easy on a sick system and stomach.
@Jen – +200%, goodness gracious! That is really shocking.
Great thoughts.
Yeah, I’m not sure what’s up. Today’s been another day of persistent highs. I even did a rage bolus of 8 units with no real results. So I’m back to running a +200% basal. Hopefully whatever is causing this goes away or at least reveals itself soon!
Whatever it takes. Either bump the basal or bump the bolus. At the end of the day - what’s the difference. Benefit of bumping the basal is don’t have to remember to give another bolus every 2 hrs.
It would appear we are also in a sick day. Currently keep hitting the bolus for 2 or 3 units every 2 hrs and basal up to 150%. At least no throwing up - that is always super nice to avoid.
Yeah, already bumped my ratios to 1:8 (from 1:10) for carbs and 1:1.5 (from 1:2.0) for correction. My blood sugar has just been crazy lately, even more crazy than usual. I don’t even feel sick (which I suppose isn’t a bad thing)!
thank God for that. 
imagine how miserable you would feel if you felt sick on top of all the other crap you are doing for yourself. what a bummer.
feel better soon
@Jen, I am keeping my fingers crossed for you. Hugs.
@Thomas, is your daughter better? These are always difficult moments for parents: we can never help our kids as much as we wish we would.
Nope. Another sick day. Still @ 150% temp basal andand 2 or 3 units every 2 hrs.
If the BG does not start dropping within the next 2 hours, we should switch to injection with new vial in case there is a pump or site or insulin issue. I doubt that is the issue - as this is what we are used to with a “sick day” (ie - crazy high BG) but I don’t want to take the chance for “two issues” at the same time (ie - sick and bad infusion set) and missing something.
How is your boy doing today?
Has he recovered or is he still ill as well?
His symptoms are mostly gone, but his insulin needs are still very high. I kept him home this morning but will send him to school this afternoon.
In general, his insulin needs remain high multiple days after symptoms are gone. It makes his days at school more challenging because BGs are much harder to manage.
We are getting some BG decrease (maybe 75 pts per hour decrease) but still ways to go. I think rather than trying to remember to bolus another 2 or 3 units every 2 hrs (with 150% basal), I will do an extended bolus. 18 units over 12 hrs @ 0% up front and 100% extended. Then if this gets in the upper end of our range then I can kill the extended bolus and perhaps the IOB at that point will continue to pull it down to the lower end of the range. Leaving the temp basal in place perhaps will level this out.
Kinda shooting in the dark. But really - what else is there.
@Thomas, that’s what we do too. In fact, He has been trying to come down and eat for 2 hours, and is on an aggressive extended bolus: my idea is the same as yours, every minute he does not come down means that he needs more insulin, and the extended bolus gives him that.
Of course, you pretty much always end up off anyway on one side or the other.
Also we just changed the pump site. Same insulin vial. Based on the research from @Eric it sounds most improbable that we happened to have bad insulin. On the other hand, it seems issues with infusion sites are relatively common.
So, new site. 150% basal. Extended Bolus running at 1.5 unit per hour. As low carb eating as possible except for the G2 Gatoride.
Good luck with your son.
And if we overshoot badly, I believe my daughter might be on board for a mini-Glucagon dose. Again - based entirely from research and sustained encouragement from @Eric.
EDIT: Tandem only allows maximum 8 hrs extended bolus so we are running 12 units extended bolus over 8 hrs w/ 0% up front and 100% extended. Which of course is 1.5 units per hour spread over 8 hrs to be cancelled when we hit the upper end of “in range”.
We overshot badly last night after being too high for 4 hours and trying to schedule dinner. My husband was up until 2am giving my son sugar and milk.
These will be great stories some day, when our kids have kids 
Well here is my dumb diabetes moment of hte year…
I took a picture of my pump to text to a friend to show her the screen dimming. While looking at the picture, I noticed that the time was set to AM rather than PM. Every time I change batteries with this pump I need to reset the time, and I did that a week or so ago… So here’s hoping this solves my crazy blood sugars!!!
Oh gosh, this IS crazy! Hopefully that totally explain it!
I am shuddering because this could happen to any of us. What a great catch!
