5 Reasons Why People with Diabetes Get Sicker Than Others

The first reason is that people with diabetes often have delayed healing. Why is that? Well, part of it is circulation, because when we have high blood sugar there's inflammation and it damages the veins and the arteries.  So we don't get good blood flow to different areas.

Two, people who have type two diabetes are prone to more infections. Why is that? Because of high blood sugar!

Three, some organisms are more virulent or they seriously harm you more in the presence of high blood sugar.

Four, sugar damages our gut bacteria. That's a problem because over 70% of our immune function is in our gut and that bacteria - it's so important that it's healthy. And with all that sugar and inflammation, it can really compromise the work of that part of our immune function.

And finally, because of inflammation, people who have type two diabetes have less cells that kill off pathogens and get rid of the debris.

So what's the common denominator here? Well, it's high blood sugar!

If you're worried about infections like COVID, you need to think about how to take care of yourself so that you don't have serious complications.  So whether it's a severe infection like COVID or any infection that you get, you need to do all you can to take care of yourself.

As someone who has diabetes, there are some things that you can do. 

One - monitor your numbers, make sure you check your blood sugar often and at regular intervals. I recommend to my patients to check their blood sugar as soon as they wake up in the morning, after they eat or take in some fluid, an hour and a half or two hours after lunch and finally right before bed. These are four times that I'm suggesting that you do.  You should talk to your doctor to see if they want you to test it more often so you can get that blood sugar down.

Now, how are you going to do that? Well, the second thing is you want to monitor what you're eating. Many people, when they're sick, don't want to eat anything. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Just make sure that you take plenty of fluids. And if you're on any kind of diabetic medication and/or insulin, definitely make sure you contact your physician and make any kind of adjustments they recommend to you.

Get good sleep. Sleep? Yes, sleep is so important! We're going to go into that again in another talk, but suffice it to say that so many regulatory things happen during sleep. And when we don't get good sleep, those systems are messed up. Remember people who have type two diabetes already have an imbalance in their metabolic system, so there's already some problems there. Making sure you get good sleep is really important.

Finally, call your doctor, make sure that he or she knows what's going on with you. If you can give them your numbers that you've been monitoring, that will be a huge help for them in determining what are some next steps for you.

Download my free 30 day guide to managing or reversing your type two diabetes. There's a link below. I also invite you to sign up for a free diabetes assessment call. I'm happy to talk with you about your situation and see if there's anything that I can do to support you. There's a link below on that as well.

Thank you so much for listening.

Dr. Elaine

Download my free 30 Day Guide to Manage or Reverse Type 2 Diabetes: https://www.drelainestewart.com/30-day-guide

Schedule a Free Diabetes Assessment Call:

https://www.drelainestewart.com/diabetes-assessment-call

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider for advice about a specific medical condition.

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