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Medications and type 1 diabetes
Which medicines move blood sugar, which way they move it, and what to do on the days everything is already going wrong.
This section is for people who are newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and for the people around them. It covers which medicines move your blood sugar, which way they move it, and what to do on the days everything is already going wrong.
Almost every medicine you will ever take was studied mostly in people whose pancreas works. A handful of them move blood glucose, hard. The problem is rarely that they are unsafe for you — it is that the prescription arrives with no mention of it, and a week later you are fighting numbers you assume are your fault.
Read these pages as a list of medicines to expect something from, not a list of medicines to refuse. The goal is knowing which conversations to start, and with whom.
- Why medicines need a second thought with type 1The one rule that never changes — the insulin does not stop — and the three ways any medicine can get in the way of your numbers.
- Medicines that raise blood sugar, and why steroids stand outSteroids, some antipsychotics, diuretics, decongestants and more can push glucose up. What to expect, and why the steroid taper matters most.
- Medicines that lower blood sugar, hide a low, or hide DKAAlcohol, some antibiotics, beta blockers and SGLT2 inhibitors: how each one can lower glucose or hide the warning signs, and what to do if you take one.
- Sick days: what keeps going, what pausesOn a sick day, basal insulin always continues while some other medicines pause. What to keep in a sick-day box, and when to get help.
- The pharmacy aisle, and medicines that fool your sensorSyrups, decongestants, NSAIDs and supplements bought without a prescription, plus the medicines that make a CGM read falsely high.
- Glucagon, and treating a lowGlucagon is the medicine someone else gives you in a severe low. How nasal and injectable glucagon work, and the 15 g, 15-minute rule.
- Your pharmacist, four questions, and five mythsWhy your pharmacist belongs on your care team, four questions to ask before any new medicine, and five common beliefs that aren't true.
- For family, friends and caretakersWhat the people around someone with type 1 diabetes are worth knowing about medicines and lows — and what is worth not doing.