Expecting the Unexpected: Thinking Outside the Box #32

Deborah 00:01:55

All right, welcome everyone back to another episode of DiabeticReal, and I'm Deborah, your host. This week, I'm thinking about expecting the unexpected. I have personally been recovering from a visit to the dentist.And I was thinking just a normal visit to the dentist. And I don't like to hear about procedures. Even if I go in for a surgery, I don't want the details of the surgery.When I go in for blood draws, I don't like them to tell me, hey, you'll feel a little poke. I just say, hey, just stick it in. Don't warn me any of that. And even for seed surgeries, it's like, go ahead and explain it to my husband.But I don't need the details. Just do what you need to do. I usually make sure it's a surgeon I can trust, of course, and it's a surgery that I need.But same thing with the dentist. Even if it's oral surgery, it's like, hey, just do what you need to do, Doc, and come out the other end.So I wasn't really fully prepared for exactly how invading it was going to be or what they were going to pull out. And, yeah, it was okay.I'm not going to say this was like a walk in the park or super fun, but it was the pain afterwards that was very uncomfortable. Actually almost more uncomfortable than regular surgery. I've been through some pretty exotic surgeries, if not exotic, I'm joking.But some serious surgeries, that the recovery was easier. But I say all this to say sometimes I'm kind of joking about this, and tongue in cheek, no pun intended.We think about some of these normal things in life. And as diabetics, there's actually a lot more to it than what would be considered normal.What I mean by that, let me take another stab at it from something else that happens in normal life. I could get a cold. I don't often get colds, but I could get a cold and just a minor cold and it won't interrupt my life.Someone else could get a minor cold, maybe it doesn't interrupt their life. Could get a flu. And okay, it's a little bit disruptive if you're having to go to the bathroom. And sorry to say this on the air, but, you know, expel.In other words, vomit. I'll just say it real quick. That's a bit of an interruption.And you certainly don't want to go to work or to go to school or go anywhere where somebody else might catch it. So you do want to take a sick day, at least for that reason. But here's the thing.If you have that kind of flu where you are expelling something, in other words, you're not keeping food down. Somebody could have a flu, minor flu, and it's no big deal, in the same way of a minor cold, and no big deal.But if a diabetic has that, when you consider that food is actually a portion of how diabetes is managed, you've got food, you've got medicine, you've got exercise. Those things work together to. To help manage type 1 diabetes and type 2.Now you are expelling the very thing that you use to help manage the diabetes. Now, that's a problem. So if I have the flu for over 24 hours, I'm in trouble, as would any diabetic be in trouble.One of the things, and I'd be curious to know how other diabetics handle it, but one of the things that I do when I have the flu is I try to take sugar soda, like a tablespoon of sugar soda every hour. Now try to keep that down and keep working that through so that I'm getting some kind of sugar.If I can take more than a tablespoon of sugar soda, great. If I can work it up from there, great.Because then I'm getting some kind of carbohydrate into my system to offset insulin, because you can't just stop insulin or you're headed possibly to diabetic key acidosis. So there's that balance that you have to play with. Now if it goes longer than a day. Now I'm looking at going to the hospital.And in the hospital, they can manage it by hooking you up to an IV and getting that nutrients that you need and also monitoring you for diabetic ketoacidosis. Of course, when I say you, I'm talking about the type 1 diabetic.Now, they can work with balancing out and watching, you know, watching your electrolytes, keeping you balanced, checking the labs, all of those things. In the hospital, I say all that to, say, the flu. That's just not your everyday normal thing with a type 1 diabetic. Same thing with a dentist.The reason I mentioned the dentist and that came up is because if you're having, for instance, tooth extractions, and it's not with the wisdom teeth, okay, they're the back of the mouth can still eat something, but if that's affecting what you can eat now, at least you can still eat puddings, eggs, you know, things like that. You can still get it Down. But if you're having problems getting food down now again, you're getting back into that balance.Tooth extractions, you probably, you at least can drink sugar soda, so you can still get some carbohydrate in there. You're not supposed to drink with a straw. So, you know, don't try to drink the sugar soda with a straw. Just drink it normal.And of course, listen to your doctor, your dentist. But the thing that I was thinking about, and this is something else that came up, I had some strange reactions to antibiotics.And the reactions didn't come up until this is another reason why I was thinking about the expecting the unexpected. I had the strange reactions come up, of course, on the weekend, and I'm sure there's an emergency number that I could call for the dentist.But I'm used to being able to reach doctors on the weekend. But I don't think of emergency phone calls for dentists on the weekend. I'm sure that's available. It's just not in the forefront of my mind.But I'm thinking, wow, I'm not normally allergic to antibiotics, but if you have a really odd reaction to medicine that you've received from the dentist, especially, I happen to have two chronic illnesses. That's another area of unexpected that you wouldn't think of just going to a routine dentist appointment.So, again, in the area of unexpected, you can prepare yourself by asking questions like that, asking about the antibiotics.Now, in my case, I actually did express concern because the antibiotic that I was being prescribed is one that I don't take and one that does not work well for me.So I did actually express concern about this particular antibiotic that she was prescribing, and she kind of forced the issue that I should use that one anyway. So that's a separate issue. That's.Maybe a person like myself needs to advocate for myself a little bit more because it seems I did have an adverse reaction to the antibiotic, just as I suspected that I would, although it was a different adverse reaction. So what I learned is I should possibly be a little bit more vocal in the area of advocating for myself.But I'm on the last day of the antibiotic and it seems I lived through it. So that's a good thing. And if it's permanent reaction to the antibiotic, I guess I will be a very wealthy woman.So anyway, I think there can be a few things that we can glean from that, and that is research. Even though doctors and dentists like to say, don't use Google for your research.I'm not sure what else you use for research if you're not going to Google your results, but Google and learn as much about the procedure that you're going to have done beforehand. And think in terms of expecting the unexpected and thinking outside the box. Take all of your chronic illnesses into consideration.Research the different medicines and antibiotics that could be used, the different pain medicines that may be prescribed. Call ahead and ask what medicines could be prescribed so that you come prepared and know what questions to ask.And by all means, ask questions before you leave the doctor's office or the dentist's office. And if you have any problems, definitely call right away. And before a weekend hits, just a final thought.I did actually lose a cousin who was healthy, did not have diabetes type 1 or type 2 and died after her second Covid shot of a seizure that she had in shower and not a place that you want to have a seizure. It's not that the seizure necessarily killed her, but the location that she had the seizure. Even if you're not a diabetic, the unexpected can happen.So especially for those type 1 and type 2 diabetics, please expect the unexpected and be as prepared as you possibly can for those unexpected responses to even the most normal things, like a dentist appointment. All right, guys, hugs to everyone and this is Deborah E signing off in DiabeticReal.