by Diane Walsh

Created on: July 04, 2010

My personal experience with diabetes and summer heat tells me that prevention is priority.  People with diabetes are at risk to heat stroke and heat exhaustion quicker than those without diabetes. Stopping a situation before it happens is easier than correcting the situation after the fact.

Diabetics have an impaired ability to sweat.  During very hot days it is easy to suffer from heat exhaustion.  Start overcoming the problem before it is too late.  Drink plenty of water.  Plain water is best.  Some fruit drinks, and flavored water do not hydrate enough.  Be aware of the heat index.  The heat index is a measurement of how hot it feels when the relative humidity is added to the air temperature.  Start preparing your body with additional fluids when the heat index is around 80 to 90.

The Joslin Diabetes Clinic lists the symptoms of heat exhaustion as: 

Feeling dizzy or fainting 

Sweating excessively

Muscle cramping

Cool or dammy skin

Headaches

Rapid heartbeat

Nausea

Before heat exhaustion turns into heat stroke, get to a cool resting place and drink water.  The symptoms of heat stroke are more severe.  They include, warm, flushed skin, little or no sweating, extremely high body temperature, confusion, loss of consciousness and seizures.  Call 911 immediately. 

The medical meters, test strips and insulin must also be kept cool.  Keep them out of the direct sunlight and keep them in a cooler.  Do not leave them in an air tight car and expect them to work effectively.

It is so much easier to prevent a situation than it is to get yourself back from a low sugar incident.  It is best for all people, but especially diabetics to, avoid sunburn; it stresses your body and raises your blood glucose.  Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration.  It is best to exercise or do other strenuous activities early in a morning or late in the afternoon to reduce additional demands on your systems.

The foot care of diabetics is crucial in the summer, and all year around.  Diabetics have poor circulation.  Some even have numbness in lower extremities.  Going barefoot in the summer or wearing open sandals can be dangerous. A cut on the foot or a blister could go unnoticed and get infected.  Diabetics take a longer time to heal open wounds. Prevention is again the favored route in foot care for people with diabetes.

Check your feet daily.  Looking and feeling for cuts, or blisters.  Wash and dry thoroughly.  It is important to keep moisture from starting a fungus.  Wear protective shoes, keep toe nails trimmed, preventing ingrown toe nails. Do foot exercises while sitting to keep blood circulating to the lower extremities.

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