Sugar in Winter: Why Readings Rise and How to Protect Numb Feet (Video)

Transcript

Winter Sugar & Numb Feet

Winter can make sugar sneak higher and feet go numb, let's talk about staying safe.

Winter Sugar Spike

Every December I hear the same from Abbu: "Sugar is high again, I haven't changed anything." It really does tend to rise in winter, and the cold brings a hidden danger, feet that get so numb you don't feel the heater.

Red Flag Alerts

If any foot wound turns red, hot, swollen, smelly, oozing or black, go to the hospital right away, even if it doesn't hurt. Seek emergency care for sugar over 300 mg/dL with vomiting, fast breathing or drowsiness, or for a low that makes swallowing impossible. During flu, fever or diarrhoea, don't stop insulin or tablets on your own, ask your doctor for sick-day rules. Remember, gas heaters and closed-room angeethis can cause carbon monoxide poisoning, bringing headaches, dizziness and sleepiness.

Quick Glance

Here’s a quick snapshot: sugar climbs with fewer steps, richer foods and infections; keep heaters at a distance from numb feet; test meters at room temperature and never let insulin freeze.

Why Sugar Rises

A lot of it is simple math. When fog rolls in, evening walks stop. The tables fill with gajar ka halwa, panjiri, pinni, dry fruit and endless sweet chai. Wedding season adds late dinners. Sleep shifts too. Fewer steps plus more ghee and sugar let HbA1c creep up over the season, and many notice a slightly higher reading in spring that they can’t explain. Infections add their own push, colds, flu, chest infections raise sugar even more.

Numb Feet Danger

Long-standing diabetes can numb the nerves in the feet, so heat and pain don’t register. A person with numb feet might rest near a gas heater, a hot water bottle or a coal angeethi for an hour and only discover a blister or deep burn the next morning. Poor circulation slows healing, and infection can set in quickly. A small burn can become an admission.

Meters & Insulin Cold

Glucometers and strips have an operating temperature range printed in the leaflet most of us toss. A meter in a coat pocket or strips left in a car overnight can give odd readings or errors. Bring them indoors, let them sit twenty to thirty minutes at room temperature, warm cold hands with warm water, dry them fully, then test. Insulin must never freeze, if it does, discard it.

Elders' Warm Foods

In many desi homes winter meant eating 'garam' foods for strength, panjiri, pinni, gur, dry fruit halwa. Unani thinking says these warm the cold, moist season. For a person with diabetes, the warming can come from a bowl of soup, a noon walk in the sun, and warm socks, while the rich sweets stay small and occasional.

Sick Day Guidance

Illness is when diabetic emergencies happen in winter. The infection itself pushes sugar up, while vomiting or poor appetite can cause lows, especially on insulin or sulfonylureas. Dehydration strains kidneys too. Doctors advise a yearly flu vaccine before winter, ask your doctor. Keep taking your diabetes medicines unless told otherwise, and ask about sick-day rules. Check sugar more often, about every four hours if on insulin, or as your doctor advises. Sip fluids throughout the day, water, thin soup, ORS if you have diarrhoea. If you can’t eat, take small starchy sips or bites like thin khichdi or a plain rusk so a low doesn’t creep in.

Staying Active Indoors

You don’t need a park. Ten minutes of brisk walking indoors after each meal, up and down the corridor, around the courtyard, on the roof when the sun peeks out, adds up to thirty minutes a day. Sit-to-stand from a dining chair ten times a few times a day uses the big leg muscles that soak up glucose. Our 20-minute walk plan works indoors as well.

Read More Online

For more details, read the full post on thecareonline.com, remember, this isn’t medical advice, so consult your doctor for any concerns.