High-Risk Pregnancy
Loribelle73
member
GD and stomach virus
Loribelle73
member
I am waiting for my endocrinologist to call me back, but I realized after I started throwing up last night, that no one ever discussed with me what I am supposed to do about my blood sugars when I have a stomach virus. Last night, after I threw up the first time, my sugar dropped all the way down to 57. I tried drinking a glass of grape juice with no change, so I ate a couple of cookies- sugar went up to 78. I felt better only for a few minutes, and then spent the next couple of hours feeling miserable and fighting it until I finally threw that stuff up too. I have been trying to suck on ice chips, but even that makes me feel awful. Anyone have any advice? I really don't want to end up in the hospital. I didn't take my breakfast insulin this morning because I can't eat, but some websites I looked at said you should still be taking insulin as normal whether you are eating or not.
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Re: GD and stomach virus
This is what we teach people with diabetes in the hospital about sick days:
Take your long acting insulin (if you are prescribed any) as usual. If you aren't eating a meal/food I would not plan on taking your meal (short acting) insulin, but test your blood sugar more frequently. If your blood sugar becomes very high I would call your doctor.
Keep full sugar drinks on hand and sip on those (my favorite is regular ginger ale which I used when I had a stomach virus in my first trimester)
I would also keep some saltines or crackers around. Try to keep hydrated, becoming dehydrated can be very dangerous.
I ended up in the hospital for this as a precaution (took 3 separate doses of insulin without realizing that with nothing in my system I should not be taking the insulin at all- it was my first week on insulin and I had no clue). Drink as much water as you possibly can keep down to stay hydrated since that is one of the biggest scares during pregnancy, GD or not. If ice chips are working, then thats good.
I'd say put in a call to your OB as well as your endo, just to be safe and see what they say as well. I believe your OB would be the one to ultimately make the call of whether you should go in to L&D or not.
I was advised not to take insulin if I could not keep anything down- but check with your team first. Please don't just follow internet advice! I tried eating anything and it all came back up. My sugars never dropped, oddly enough, but ran high (I wasn't sick, I was having a lot of stress due to my grandmother's surgery). I did go to the hospital just to be monitored. They had me on an IV of fluids for a few hours and sent me home with anti-nausea pills which I can't remember the name of right now.
I did call my OB as well, and it's been over an hour and they still haven't called me back. Endo just said to see what the OB says. I just wish I knew why people at my doctors' offices are incapable of answering phones. I usually never look at stuff on the internet, but I am really frustrated that I can't seem to get advice from a doctor when I really need it. If I ever get pregnant again I am finding an OB who has someone in the office who can answer a phone.
Thanks for the advice, ladies.