That's just sick!

I have a head cold.

I really hate being sick. I don't know too many people who enjoy being sick, actually, but for diabetics in particular it really sucks. For starters, try reading the label on that cough or cold medicine sometime.  Do you know how much sugar they put in that stuff to make it "taste good"? Fortunately, there's stuff like this on the market:

 It tastes bad and usually costs more, like everything that's good for you.

 

I've actually given myself a really massively high blood sugar sucking on throat lozenges, which are often little more than medicine flavored candies. As I usually feel awful when I have a high blood sugar to begin with, adding the sniffles to it only makes it worse. And while my body is fighting off this cold with an already weakened immune system, my blood sugar is going to be naturally higher because apparently you burn calories when your immune system goes to war with germs. It's almost Mother Nature's way of kicking me while I'm down.

 

Fortunately, this is only a head cold. The stomach flu is infinitely worse for me, even if you don't take into account that I'd rather watch an episode of Barney than throw up on any given day.

 

 

Actually, that pretty much equals the same amount of barfing.

 

 

Imagine, if you will, giving yourself a dosage of insulin to cover the food you just ate like a good little diabetic. Now imagine your body has decided the food you just ate is not welcome to stay in your stomach, and after making a donation to the porcelain god, you now have insulin coursing through your system with nothing to do except make your blood sugar sink down lower and lower while it looks around for the food that is no longer there. The thought of eating anything makes you want to double down on that donation you made earlier. What do you do?

 

 

Always good advice.

 

You stay calm, get some anti nausea liquid and pray that the toast stays down long enough to make a difference, that's what. The towel you should always have anyway.

 

My biggest problem with being sick is that being sick always breaks any good habits I've managed to get started. When was the last time I exercised? Before I started dealing with this head cold, which I've actually been fighting off now for over a week. How's my diet going? Feed a cold and starve a fever, man....and I don't have a fever. It takes a while to get a good habit going, and one bout with the sniffles to send it packin'. That is annoying.

 



Even more annoying than this. Seriously.





 

So being sick makes my blood sugar go high, can be hard to treat with regular over the counter medicines, throws off my groove, and makes me feel sick. Being a sick diabetic takes a little more planning than grabbing the tissues and watching daytime TV in your TARDIS robe all day. Luckily I've had plenty of years to learn what to do and how to compensate. Doesn't mean I have to like it.

 

For those of you keeping score, that's another Hitchhiker's Guide graphic, an Animaniacs video,  andThe Emperor's New Groove and Doctor Who mentions. Barney doesn't count.