Fighting the Unseen: Life With Diabetes

With the holiday season upon us, no matter which holiday you celebrate, there is typically an abundance of foods and a surplus of family and friends around us.  What do you do during this time of year?

Here are a few questions to ask your Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) to help you get through this fun, but taxing season:

1. During the holiday season, are there limitations to what kinds of sweets you can eat, and what are your carb ratios for those sweets? Typically carb ratios do not change regardless of what kinds of carbs you eat (a carb is a carb is a carb), but when you eat sweets or anything high in fat content, it creates a different kind of "spike" in your BG levels. Ask the CDE how the fat and sweet break down should be handled by your injection timing and dosages.

2. If you're going to stay up later, to spend time with visiting family, should you change the time that you are going to inject your basal (if you're still on MDI - multiple daily injections). If you're on the pump, the only thing you need to consider is if your basal rate should change due to your being awake. You may need a different basal dosage because your body is still burning carbs due to being awake.

3. If you were to become ill during this season, how should you handle your insulin intake? I know that when I'm sick I'm, firstly, not very hungry, and secondly, my BG will rise up to 200 or 250 without any food/drink consumption- and won't come down until the sickness has gone away. Consider asking your CDE if you should be concerned with this (should it happen) and if you should change your intake regimen / carb ratio / correction bolus.

Hopefully these questions will open up the podium and get you and your CDE discussing other issues that may be arising.

Merry christmas and here's to good health!