Type 1 Diabetes Techniques

[Vondsuk]

Hey everyone, my name is Jen and I am also a type 1 diabetic I have been for the past 8 years and I have had my BMs and HbA1c all over the place aswell. It can become very hard and then really easy. It's just being in charge. I also wanted to ask you....

What techniques/ method has helped you to check your blood glucose and take you insulin daily/everyday ?
What motivated you....?

Hope to hear back from you all soon. Xx
Jen

 

[Type1Bri]

Hi Jen
I have found that the biggest motivator for me was interaction with other type ones. When you talk with somebody who is committed to looking after the numbers and regular testing it seemed to increase my motivation to do the same. I regularly meet up with other type ones for a social evening, always come away motivated to be a good T1D

 

[noblehead]

Hi @Vondsuk and welcome to the forum

There's a few techniques that can help, above all else is getting the basal dose right, without getting that right you will always be chasing your tail. Another is to get your insulin-to-carb ratio sorted and carb counting skills up to scratch, there's a good on-line carb counting course that is often mentioned on this forum and by all accounts it's very good, here is a link:

http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/

Another technique is to get your bolus timing right, most of us here on the forum inject ahead of our food to give the insulin time to work before the food begins to digest, the following is a good explanation on bolus timing and is written by the author of Think Like a Pancreas:

http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.c...blood-glucose-management/strike-the-spike-ii/

(All the above is assuming your on a basal/bolus insulin regime).

That's just a few but diet and exercise also play an important role, as for motivation, wanting to live a long life with none or few complications has to be motivation enough for anyone. Good luck.

 

[LucySW]

Hi Jen,

What motivated me in getting it right was terror, on diagnosis.

What really helped was (a) this forum, and (b) getting an Abbott Freestyle Libre. I don't run it all the time - say every five weeks. But it taught me what goes on and what my body does, and with that knowledge, almost anything is possible.

It's expensive, but not *that* expensive, and I really, really recommend getting one.

 

[Nyxks]

My husband was my biggest motivator, he's Epileptic so if he can live his life to the fullest and try his hardest to make it work then the least I can do is also take care of myself so that we have a long life together.

Out side of that, my mom's a big influence to keep at it - she battled T2 for 40 odd years lost the battle a few years ago, but not to T2 but to not treating her Porphyria as she should have (she concentrated on the T2 instead - a mistake I'm trying to not also make).