Contents:
- Medical Video: Obesity & Diabetes Explained: The Overflow Phenomenon
- What is diabetes?
- So, what are the dangers of flu for diabetics?
- Need diabetic patients to get an influenza vaccine?
- What should I do to avoid the flu?
- A guide for people with diabetes when they catch the flu
Medical Video: Obesity & Diabetes Explained: The Overflow Phenomenon
For normal people, flu can be a relatively mild disease. However, if you have diabetes, flu can be one of the diseases that you need to be aware of. The danger of flu for diabetics can lead to other complications that aggravate the condition of diabetes. Here's the explanation.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a condition where a person's blood sugar levels become high. The high blood sugar level is caused by the inability of insulin to help glucose during the metabolic process. As a result, the sugar that should be broken down in the body's cells into energy becomes free flowing in the bloodstream.
Diabetes cannot be cured. This disease can only be controlled to prevent various complications that arise. When diabetes is not controlled, blood sugar that is too long to flow in the blood throughout the body will have an adverse effect on the whole body, for example the appearance of fat blockages in blood vessels (atherosclerosis) which make blood vessels stiff.
When a person is diagnosed with diabetes (type 2 diabetes), then throughout his life he must maintain his diet and live a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise. That way, sugar levels in the blood of diabetics can remain within normal limits. When blood sugar can no longer be controlled by a healthy diet and lifestyle, it takes drugs and maybe even inject insulin to help control blood sugar.
Even so, there is an exception for type 1 diabetics, another type of diabetes. People with type 1 diabetes need insulin since the first day of diagnosis because beta cells in their pancreas are damaged so they cannot produce insulin.
So, what are the dangers of flu for diabetics?
Basically, almost every disease has its own dangers, including influenza or more commonly called the flu. However, in diabetics the impact of flu can be three times greater than those who do not have diabetes.
People with diabetes generally have a greater risk of getting the flu compared to those who don't have diabetes. Diabetics (people with diabetes) who have the flu may have to deal with the difficulty of controlling blood sugar.
Flu is a viral infection that can easily infect anyone. Transmission is usually by air or in contact. The flu itself is of various types, but the most common is the type A flu type. Some flu symptoms that may no longer be foreign to you are pain and aches in the joints, hot eyes, fever, coughing, sore throat, runny nose, and headaches.
The danger of flu for diabetics, like other viral infections, can cause high blood sugar levels and increase the risk of serious short-term complications, such as hypoglycemia. People with diabetes who get the flu and find their blood sugar levels above 250 mg / dl, you should also do a test to find out the amount of ketones in the body. If left unchecked, the amount of excess ketone can cause ketoacidosis which leads to coma or even death.
Diabetics usually have a lower immune system compared to healthy people to fight infection. In normal people, flu may be cured without drugs and only rely on the immune system. However, diabetics need extra attention in treating this disease. In fact, you might get hospital treatment due to flu.
Need diabetic patients to get an influenza vaccine?
The danger of flu for diabetics is a higher risk of triggering serious complications due to flu. One complication that can occur due to flu is a lung infection that can develop into pneumonia. Other complications that can occur, although in very rare cases, are tonsillitis, meningitis, and encephalitis.
Seeing the dangers of flu for those with diabetes, aka complications that might arise, receiving influenza vaccines is important for diabetics. Giving an influenza vaccine in diabetics should be done once a year considering that immunity will continue to decrease with age.
As reported on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website, giving influenza vaccines regularly has been shown to reduce the risk of developing flu in diabetics. Giving a flu vaccine is also known to reduce the rate of hospitalization in diabetics by 79 percent.
What should I do to avoid the flu?
Getting an influenza vaccine is one wise step in reducing the risk of getting a cold and avoiding the dangers of flu for diabetics. Even so, it must be realized that flu is the most contagious disease just by breathing in from the same place. For that, you should be able to do a number of additional precautions, such as closing your mouth while coughing, diligently washing your hands, and avoiding many places infected with the flu virus. Raise your endurance by eating healthy foods you can also do.
A guide for people with diabetes when they catch the flu
If you have diabetes, are well controlled or not, and have colds, follow the following guidelines so as not to add to the dangers of flu for diabetics and avoid complications, namely:
- Be sure to keep taking your diabetes medications, including insulin, in addition to your cold medicine. Consult your doctor about how to take better medication, especially if you cannot eat because of the flu you are suffering from
- Check your blood sugar levels every four hours
- Eat fluids (drink lots) more than usual and try to eat according to the usual portion. If you can't eat, consume fluids that also contain carbohydrates. This is to ensure that you get the calorie intake needed to prevent the risk of hypoglycemia
- Monitor your weight. Losing weight without doing anything is one sign of high blood sugar levels
- Also check your body temperature every morning and night. Fever is a sign of an infection that can be more difficult to cure in diabetics
Some people with diabetes usually don't feel hungry or thirsty when they have the flu. However, still eating healthy foods and drinking enough water can help keep your blood sugar levels stable. Obey the treatment recommended by your doctor while continuing to treat your diabetes. Some flu treatments can cause an increase in blood sugar levels, so it's important to monitor your blood sugar condition regularly.
You should check blood sugar levels more often than usual because the flu also affects blood sugar levels. The sooner you realize your blood sugar is in a number that is not supposed to be, the sooner you can handle and prevent the danger of flu in diabetics who can trigger complications.
