When the body faces a serious illness or infection, it triggers a powerful stress response. This is a key reason blood sugar can spike — and for someone managing diabetes, it can make things much harder to control.
Here's what happens step by step:
- The brain sends distress signals to the adrenal glands
- Stress hormones Show Full Answer
When the body faces a serious illness or infection, it triggers a powerful stress response. This is a key reason blood sugar can spike — and for someone managing diabetes, it can make things much harder to control.
Here's what happens step by step:
- The brain sends distress signals to the adrenal glands
- Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline flood the body
- These hormones tell the liver to release stored glucose into the bloodstream
- At the same time, they reduce the body's sensitivity to insulin
- This means the extra glucose can't be moved out of the blood effectively
The result? Blood sugar climbs — sometimes sharply — even if eating normally and taking diabetes medications as usual. It becomes a difficult cycle, especially with serious infections:
- High blood sugar weakens the immune response, making it harder to fight the infection
- The ongoing infection keeps stress hormones elevated, which keeps pushing blood sugar higher
- This back-and-forth can persist for weeks without targeted care
In serious cases, if blood sugar isn't managed carefully during illness, there's a risk of a dangerous complication called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). This is why monitoring blood sugar closely and checking for ketones during any significant illness is so important.
Reaching out to a healthcare provider quickly during serious illness is strongly recommended — they can help adjust a diabetes management plan to match what the body is going through.
May 21
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