Infusion set replacement | Emergency sugar correction | Exacerbation of chronic diseases | Physical exertion | Stress | Festive feasts and drinking
Over time, every diabetic chooses for himself a convenient format for self-monitoring of blood sugar. Some have to do tests daily; many patients choose control days (2-3 times a week). But there are circumstances when this is not enough, and you need to carefully monitor the level of glucose in the blood.
Let’s look at the most common situations when you need to be vigilant and more often measure blood sugar.
When replacing the infusion set
If there are problems with the infusion system and you need to install a new one or the time has come for a planned replacement. It is important to make sure that insulin is supplied adequately, and the sugar does not jump during the time when there were problems with the drug.
If you need emergency sugar correction
Often when we stop hypoglycemia or compensate for high sugar, we play it safe. The result – the glucose level starts to jump at a frantic pace. In such a situation, it is difficult to stabilize sugar without additional control.
Note! It is necessary to increase the number of tests for sugar correction regardless of whether you use a continuous monitoring system or not. For 10-15 minutes of delay, a dangerous deterioration is possible. The meter gives objective information and in critical condition is indispensable.
To control the level of glucose in the blood, it is now better to choose glucometers, first of all, at the price of test strips. Since other functionals – memory, weight, measurement speed, a drop of blood on a test strip – all glucometers are almost the same.
During exacerbation of chronic diseases, during colds
When inflammatory processes develop in the body, the temperature rises – the biochemical composition of the blood changes, sugar growth is quite likely. But the more dangerous is that reducing the amount of glucose becomes more difficult. It is necessary to increase doses, but their volume is not easy to calculate.
To avoid a sharp drop in sugar due to the excess dose or its growth due to insufficient compensation, it is worth doing blood tests more often.
With intense physical exertion, playing sports
When playing sports, you need to more closely monitor the level of sugar.
With intense physical exertion, it does not matter if you do sports or household chores, energy consumption increases, respectively, glucose in the body is consumed faster. If you do not monitor your blood sugar, hypoglycemia may develop. To stop hypoglycemia, use effective means – sweets, fruit drinks and HypoFree gels, as well as special Dextrose candies.
But the opposite situation is also possible, with excessive, transcendental loads (for example, running a long distance), fats begin to be converted into energy and at this time a sharp increase in glucose is possible.
In any case, when playing sports, you need to more closely monitor the level of sugar.
With mental and emotional stress
The largest consumer of energy in the body is the brain, it consumes up to 70% of all glucose. Therefore, if mental workloads, such as recertification or exams, work on a complex project are coming up, it is worthwhile to closely monitor sugar.
In stressful situations, the opposite situation arises. The body needs more energy to overcome the problem. Cortisol and glucagon are released into the bloodstream, which stimulate the synthesis of glucose in the liver and provoke its release into the blood. The result is a spike in sugar.
Since glucose levels fluctuate with high intensity, it is difficult to calculate the dose of insulin. To avoid dangerous complications, you need to monitor sugar more often.
During festive feasts and after drinking in large quantities
Alcohol is the enemy of diabetes. Alcohol can trigger hypoglycemia. Eating fatty foods, on the contrary, slows down the absorption of carbohydrates and can cause delayed hyperglycemia. Unfortunately, during the festive feasts it will not be possible to balance the carbohydrate metabolism. On the contrary, glycemic curves descend, varying from critically low to dangerously high values. Particularly smooth the effects will help special modes on the insulin pump: double and square wave boluses. But this is not a cure. Dangerous complications can only be prevented through careful monitoring.