44 years T1 and still making mistakes

[Ushthetaff]

You’d think having diabetes for as long as I have , things would be sort of routine , uh uh , I have two different coloured pens for Basel and bolus , I recently put new cartridges in both , and for two days I used them , blood sugars were good bit on the low side for me , but more than acceptable . It was only after 2 days I noticed I’d put my bolus cartridge in both pens …doh I remedied the problem so all now back to normal, I’d thought I’d post this for the “newbies” just to say making mistakes is not taboo even for someone whose been “ jabbing for over 40 years , it happens , if and when and if it does don’t panic , take bs regularly and things will be fine , I’m now going to steam up my bathroom mirror write an obscenity ( which if written here would get me a slapped wrist hehehe ) on it and stare at it for a few hours lol
i did wonder why my bs was so good but it did coincide with me reducing my carbs intake

 

[Juicyj]

Honestly I don't think it matters how long you've had it or how you are - your still human and we do make mistakes, thank goodness it didn't harm you and you found this out quite quickly. Personally I find it's easier to make errors like this when you are distracted or thinking about something else, which with t1d happens most of the time, so the fact it's the first time you've done this is nothing short of a miracle.

Glad you're ok.

 

[lovinglife]

I gave you a like but also wanted to give you a hug & a funny for the bathroom mirror

 

[Hopeful34]

I'm just amazed that you didn't go sky high overnight, unless you ate very late, and then early the next morning, and so had bolus insulin on board.

 

[Fern Hopper]

You’d think having diabetes for as long as I have , things would be sort of routine , uh uh , I have two different coloured pens for Basel and bolus , I recently put new cartridges in both , and for two days I used them , blood sugars were good bit on the low side for me , but more than acceptable . It was only after 2 days I noticed I’d put my bolus cartridge in both pens …doh I remedied the problem so all now back to normal, I’d thought I’d post this for the “newbies” just to say making mistakes is not taboo even for someone whose been “ jabbing for over 40 years , it happens , if and when and if it does don’t panic , take bs regularly and things will be fine , I’m now going to steam up my bathroom mirror write an obscenity ( which if written here would get me a slapped wrist hehehe ) on it and stare at it for a few hours lol
i did wonder why my bs was so good but it did coincide with me reducing my carbs intake

After 57 years I don't get it right!
Obscenities on the bathroom mirror, some mindless staring - all sounds good.
Shouting at inanimate objects also very therapeutic.

 

[Nicola M]

If I had a pound for every time I made a silly mistake I’d be rich by now At least you realised the error you made and was able to rectify it before anything serious did happen. At the end of the day we are all human and no matter how long we have had diabetes we all can make silly little mistakes!

 

[Tony337]

I'm in my 50th year and the air in my brain is often blue after some of the cursing at my own numptiness.....

I make mistakes but i would be typing until doomsday to list them...

Lovely thread this and i wish everyone well...

Tony

 

[Zinadane]

Been there done it. Nightmare, so I sorted it out... Different colour pens, vials clearly marked in different boxes in fridge etc etc.
Basal pen always kept on its own ready for morning dose.
Yes, I beat myself up over my daily mistakes, usually caused by my own lack of willpower and maybe a beer or two.
T1 52yrs hba1c 44 btw.
Keep fighting the battle

 

[CheeseSeaker]

Similar to @Zinadane - forgotten to do fast acting a few times, couldn't remember if I'd done slow (or fast) acting so injected twice etc.

Now pumping, but occasionally forget to switch the loop back on after a shower or a set change. Easily done but frustrating.

Watching my mum going through dementia - the potential for it all to go down the plughole at one of the times we need to still be switched on is a concern. It can be way to complex for anyone but me to understand / deal with..

As I get older I hope there is a less 'work intensive' solution coming that will mean it's plug and play - at some point I'll need to simplify to survive

 

[pumper1969]

Soemthing else to add - I've been T1 for 50 years (age 55 ) and been on a pump for 25 years which has been amazing. My point is that in spite of the mistakes which we all make, it's such a tricky condition to manage as I can make zero mistakes, but get 2 completely different outcomes and BG readings 2 days in a row from exactly the same food/regime/exercise - so I think we all do a great job and our best and need tongive ourselves a pat on the back for that , because often it's not OUR mistakes, it's our weird bodies that make it hard!!! Love the thread too

 

[Zinadane]

The new generation novopens are great as they keep history of last dose. And further history if you scan them into xdrip for eg.
Many times I get to work and have to phone home asking someone to check my basal pens last dose. Madness when I've only taken it 30mins prior

 

[MommaE]

The new generation novopens are great as they keep history of last dose. And further history if you scan them into xdrip for eg.
Many times I get to work and have to phone home asking someone to check my basal pens last dose. Madness when I've only taken it 30mins prior

I hadn’t heard of those pens.

 

[oldgreymare]

The new generation novopens are great as they keep history of last dose. And further history if you scan them into xdrip for eg.
Many times I get to work and have to phone home asking someone to check my basal pens last dose. Madness when I've only taken it 30mins prior

Hi @Zinadane,

I've just been given a new gen novopen - but not sure how to use it - I always prime my pen with a 2 unit shot (or more when changing cartridge) - obviously these values are not injected - how to use recording feature just for actual doses?

 

[jaywak]

I think you'll find it will just tell you what you last injected so if you say do an aiirshot of 2 units and then inject 14 it will tell you that you injected 14 however many hours ago it was .

 

[Zinadane]

Hi @Zinadane,

I've just been given a new gen novopen - but not sure how to use it - I always prime my pen with a 2 unit shot (or more when changing cartridge) - obviously these values are not injected - how to use recording feature just for actual doses?

I use xdrip (this is another 3rd party app, superb imo) and can bluetooth scan the novopen. See image.
Tbh I never do the 1 unit prime unless a new cartridge. Whenever I've tried 1 unit seems to come out, so I don't bother.

 

[Grant_Vicat]

The new generation novopens are great as they keep history of last dose. And further history if you scan them into xdrip for eg.
Many times I get to work and have to phone home asking someone to check my basal pens last dose. Madness when I've only taken it 30mins prior

I think anything routine carries that risk. I could travel to work the same route every day and sometimes think "I have no recollection of driving through Norton - 3 miles from home!

 

[kanie.j]

You’d think having diabetes for as long as I have , things would be sort of routine , uh uh , I have two different coloured pens for Basel and bolus , I recently put new cartridges in both , and for two days I used them , blood sugars were good bit on the low side for me , but more than acceptable . It was only after 2 days I noticed I’d put my bolus cartridge in both pens …doh I remedied the problem so all now back to normal, I’d thought I’d post this for the “newbies” just to say making mistakes is not taboo even for someone whose been “ jabbing for over 40 years , it happens , if and when and if it does don’t panic , take bs regularly and things will be fine , I’m now going to steam up my bathroom mirror write an obscenity ( which if written here would get me a slapped wrist hehehe ) on it and stare at it for a few hours lol
i did wonder why my bs was so good but it did coincide with me reducing my carbs intake

Never done that one yet lol been type 1 for almost 58 yrs and made loads of mistakes and one was only last week lol

 

[Ladybird1]

You’d think having diabetes for as long as I have , things would be sort of routine , uh uh , I have two different coloured pens for Basel and bolus , I recently put new cartridges in both , and for two days I used them , blood sugars were good bit on the low side for me , but more than acceptable . It was only after 2 days I noticed I’d put my bolus cartridge in both pens …doh I remedied the problem so all now back to normal, I’d thought I’d post this for the “newbies” just to say making mistakes is not taboo even for someone whose been “ jabbing for over 40 years , it happens , if and when and if it does don’t panic , take bs regularly and things will be fine , I’m now going to steam up my bathroom mirror write an obscenity ( which if written here would get me a slapped wrist hehehe ) on it and stare at it for a few hours lol
i did wonder why my bs was so good but it did coincide with me reducing my carbs intake

After 61 years I still make mistakes but things turn out ok. Not bad for us "long term" diabetics I guess. I say my obscenities under my breath I just can't keep up with all the new technologies

 

[CheeseSeaker]

Nothing can be made fool-proof (a bigger fool just comes along to prove them wrong - usually me).

I found the less control I have over my day to day (carb counting, basal and bolus control) the better I am (remove the 'chimp' from the control buttons) - I've automated my loop so I don't need to do anything other than monitor it and tweak settings - that way I reduce the mistakes.

Takes a phenomenal amount of work to get there, and by no means perfect, but I'm safer and happier with the tech running my life (right up to the point where the tech fails that is ) - then all bets are off.......

 

[barbarapreston]

After 70 years I still make mistakes,my most recent one was when I put the quick acting phial ( flasp ) in the wrong novopen and the long acting one (tresiba) in the other..It sent my blood sugar readings haywire. After 24 hours I realised and corrected it.To make sure it doesn't happen again I now remember that the Flasp is three times a day and has three stripes on the phial.
Until I started using the novopen,many years ago,I could inject and two minutes later could not recall doing it. The novopen saved my life many a time.The new one is even better.