Happy Easter to everyone. I hope you are staying well and safe. I had a tough time to decide on my topic for this week’s blog only because I did say I was going to talk about Cancer and Diabetes in April. I will still do that but not today. I apologize if I have disappointed anyone. As you all know, the pandemic is front and foremost in our lives. Life is disrupted, some for the good, and some for the bad and people are suffering mentally, emotionally, financially and physically. For myself, I realize how grateful I am for everyday of health despite the diabetes and its ups and downs. Diabetes is something I can try to control by following the guidelines and professional advice, just like COVID-19, we can follow the guidelines for hand washing, staying home, wearing masks and social/physical distancing. Those of us with diabetes know what taking control and following advice is all about. We do have some control over COVID-19 but very little once we have contracted the virus. So after saying all this, I decided to answer some questions you may have asked yourself and didn’t know where to turn. There are excellent resources on both the American Diabetes Association Website and Diabetes Canada Website: https://www.diabetes.org/covid-faq and https://www.diabetes.ca/resources/tools---resources/faq-about-covid-19-and-diabetes as well as https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19.html.
Questions:
Does Diabetes increase the risk of contracting COVID-19? (1,2,6)
Evidence is lacking at this time that patients with diabetes have increased probability of contracting COVID-19, however, it appears that diabetes does increase the risk of experiencing worst outcomes. So far, the information reported is that the more chronic diseases you have when diagnosed with COVID-19 such as heart, lung disease or diabetes serious complications are more likely to happen. This is another reason why you need to be in the prevention mode. Diabetes makes it harder for individuals to fight off infections due to the fluctuations in blood glucose and high blood sugar. In our healthy state, we fight off infections with our white blood cells. These white cells are a little sluggish every time your sugar is higher. The higher sugars make it easier for the bacteria to grow and more difficult for the white cells to fight off infections. Trying to lower your glucose, staying hydrated, taking insulin correctly, and increasing the number of times you check your glucose are good measures to follow.
I have had the flu (influenza) before and had no issues with diabetes management, so why is there so much talk about this new virus COVID-19?
COVID-19 is proving to be a more serious disease as compared to the seasonal influenza in everyone not just diabetes. I refer you to the Centre of Disease Control website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fprepare%2Fprevention.html. This is an excellent resource with reliable information.
Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause anything from the common cold to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (SARS). The SARS virus infected hundreds of people across 29 countries starting in the early 2000’s up till about 2014 when the last case was reported. The new SARS-CoV-2 virus is causing this COVID-19 pandemic, so why it this so much more serious? The name “coronavirus” has to do with what the virus looks like through a microscope. “Corona” means crown and its appearance is like a round ball with spikes coming out of it. These viruses can stick to surfaces but can also be killed with disinfectants. Our immune system has never seen this strain of virus before so we haven’t developed any defence . It is probably more cantagious because we have no immunity against it and can’t fight it. The longer it goes unchallenged in the body the more damage it can due to the cells.Thus for patients with weakened immune systems, such as diabetes, more serious complications could exist.
I take blood pressure/heart medications. Can I continue to take these?
The Canadian Cardiovascular (Heart) Society on March 20th,2020 stated patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 should not stop taking their medication unless there is a strong reason to do so such as low blood pressure or shock or more serious conditions. There have been some rumors that certain groups of medications increase the susceptibility to COVID-19 infections but there is no clinical evidence to support this theory. If you are wondering if your medication is safe to take, please consult with your pharmacist and/or physician.
Once again, I refer you to the web sites in the first paragraph to have more of your questions answered. We could go on forever and I don’t want to repeat other people’s work and excellence.
I do want to take a few more minutes of your time to explain some of the terminology that is being used when talking about the COVID-19 Pandemic .
Terminology used in COVID-19 literature/ news reports
Incubation period
The time between when a person is infected by a virus and when he/she shows symptoms of the disease. The COVID-19’s incubation period range is 2-14 days. This may change as we learn more about the virus. I have read and heard on news reports that it seems to show around day 5, then about day 10 hospitalization could occur and the rest remains unknown depending on the severity.
Flattening the curve
Slowing the spread of the virus. The ideal goal in fighting any pandemic is to halt the spread of disease. But before we can halt it we have to slow the spread. Slowing the spread is critical. If the number of active cases in any given time rises, then the disease is spreading fast (the high part of the curve) as compared to the cases going down (the lower portion of the curve). Slowing reduces the number of cases that are active at any given time. Keeping the curve down involves the strategies to decrease transmission of the disease and results in fewer patients being infected during a peak period.
Isolation versus Quarantine
Isolation keeps people with confirmed cases separated from people who are not sick. Quarantine involves the separation and restriction of movements of people who have been exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick. The Canadian government website explains quarantine as: staying at home and monitoring yourself for symptoms even if they are mild; avoiding contact with others to help prevent the spread and practise physical/social distancing in the home and community.
Anti-viral
Are not the same as antibiotics. Antibiotics treat infections caused by bacteria whereas anti-virals treat infections caused by viruses. At this time there are no approved drugs to treat the COVID-19.
PPE
Stands for Personal protective equipment. This means an employee wears specialized clothing or equipment for protection against infectious materials. This PPE may include gloves, gowns, masks, googles and face protection, etc.
#diabetes and covid-19
References: (accessed on line April 8th,9th,2020)
7)https://www.yalemedicine.org/stories/covid-19-glossary
Check out this blog: http://jeanniebeaudin.wixsite.com/author/post/haircuts-and-isolation for Jeannie’s ideas on the value of masks for protection as well as offering sites on how to make your own mask.
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