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Cold and Flu Season

Regular reader Tracy writes:

Emily seems to be sick all the time! She started Junior Kindergarten in September and she seems to pick up all the colds. She has a runny nose, sneezing, chest congestion, and coughing (especially at night). We have taken her to the doctor and they just said it was a cold. Once they gave us low sugar amoxicillin, but it still didn’t clear things up.

Maybe it’s just winter and cold season. But of course having her with a cold just makes her numbers out of wack. Does your child take vitamin C or anything? Emily takes a Flintstones Children’s Vitamin in the morning, but vitamin C tablets are just full of sugar. Do you have any advice to get us through this cold season?

My thoughts:

If this is Emily’s first year of being around kids in a school setting, it’s probably common to get colds a lot.

Halls Defense Vitamin C Drops are sugar-free. But read the label because it might have sugar alcohols which can give some people diarrhea, upset their tummy, or affect blood sugars weirdly. I looked at the label of the Centrum Kids Multivitamin we have in our cabinet and each vitamin contains 100% of the recommended vitamin C.

We never ask for sugar-free antibiotics. But the pharmacist suggested to us that the tablet form of acetaminophen, ibuprofen, etc. is likely to have less sugar than the syrup. The reality is that most of these products contain artificial sweetener, not sugar. Read the labels, I only realized this after worrying about it!

My best advice is to get vaccinated as early as possible each year against the flu. (Read the posts Diabetes and Vaccinating against H1N1 and My H1N1 Vaccine Questions Answered; I talk about our sick days.)

And of course follow your care team’s recommendations for sick day management. I find that sometimes I see blood sugars rising before the first symptoms of a cold. When blood sugars rise, encourage rest and drinking lots of water.

Lorraine of This is Caleb says:

The number one thing we do to try to prevent colds is wash hands. Wash, wash, wash. It seems to be the best defense for us.

Rachel of What Life has Become says:

Oh isn’t cold and flu season so fun with a diabetic child! We’ve been very fortunate that Tristan hasn’t had too many colds (knock on wood). When he does, we usually manage it the same way that we do with his non-diabetic brother. We give Tristan over the counter medicine without looking for sugar free. For us, it hasn’t affected his blood sugar one way or the other. When Tristan was first diagnosed and he got his first cold, his diabetes team told us that it was fine to give him regular cold medicine.

We do however work hard on prevention. Tristan does take a multi-vitamin. Also we are fortunate that his school is very proactive in trying to stop the spread of colds. Tristan (and all the other children) know to cough in their elbows not their hands. We also use Purell at home and we send it to school for Tristan and the other children to use.

When we are unfortunate and Tristan does get a cold, we monitor his blood sugar very closely. Lots of rest and liquids. At night to help him with the coughing we will usually elevate his head a little bit by adding an extra pillow (I wouldn’t do that with a young child in a crib). The humidifier is also another thing that we use when need be. However, we have been told by his pediatrician not to use Vick’s Vapor Rub on him or in a humidifier because it irritates their breathing passage and can cause more damage. I hope this helps. I wish I had a formula to give you but I don’t! Hang in there, concentrate on prevention and TLC.

Do you have any advice for the cold and flu season?

Are colds inevitable or are they preventable?

Do you give your child a multi-vitamin and/or vitamin C?

Do you ask for sugar-free or low sugar antibiotics (or over the counter medicines such as Tylenol, etc.)?

Do you have any other advice for getting through cold & flu season?

(Please read the disclaimer. None of the comments given here represent medical advice.)

{Ask a D-Mom} Cold & Flu Season is a post from: D-Mom Blog

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