The pregnant, diabetic head cold

There are few experiences that can make you feel less in control of your health then when a diabetic person gets sick. Before pregnancy, I never really had the traditional 'sick day' effect, when blood sugars spiral out of control, in one direction or the other, as your body both succumbs to then fights off an infection.

However, in the last three weeks I've had two mind blowing head colds, both of which sent my blood sugars to the moon as they were taking hold regardless of how much insulin I threw at them, then made my levels plummet a day of two later. It's a drag!

Usually when I feel this badly, I stock up on Nyquil and the like, treat my symptoms aggressively and try to sleep it off. But there are so MANY medications that are not approved for pregnancy, it's kind of hard to find anything at all to take. So, for the duration of these sicknesses I've experimented with some other remedies including the wildly effective salt water gargle for sore throat, neti pot for nasal congestion and post-nasal drip and chicken noodle soup for grouchiness (personal recommendation: buy in bulk).

With each virus, my blood sugars stabilized within a day or two without my needing to go to the hospital. My doctor recommended I check for ketones, a sign that blood sugars are so high your body is going into ketoacidosis and you need help fast. And, as always, sick days require more blood sugar tests than other days. I know, I know. You're a pregnant diabetic woman, you're already finger sticking eight or more times a day. Well, hopefully there are only a few weeks left!