knipster

Well-Known Member
Messages
97
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hiya, I'm doing my GCSEs and gold dofe this year and I just wondered if anyone had any advice for this kind of stuff? I did my mocks not long after being diagnosed so I'm not confident, but I at least have an idea. I have done bronze and silver dofe, however, I dd both of them before being diagnosed, so have absolutely no idea how to control my levels doing that, plus I'm getting a pump this summer (yay!) and the walk is in November, so I'm nervous about that too!
please if you've done it before or have any advice please let me know because it will be greatly appreciated!
-
@Little_Lucy
 

Little_Lucy

Well-Known Member
Messages
138
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
WOOO HEYYY now I wouldn’t call myself an ~expert~ In this but I have done all of these things while having diabetes. So for GCSEs I have only done 1 mock so far but it actually turned out pretty well for myself we asked the school if I can be in a smaller room so I wouldn’t distract anyone and I tested my blood sugar roughly about 20mins before each mock if it was high I would just correct and if I was low I would just have as much sugar as I think I needed (when you have had it for a while you understand more on how your blood sugar reacts to certain amounts of sugar and how much you need for certain blood sugars), this is all i can really say for GCSES as I have only done one mock and haven’t faced any problems yet.
So for the dofe I am not going to lie probs not the best thing that I have done but I did kinda let loose on the expedition, I also have a pump and had it when I did the expedition, so it’ll be very similar. So I was told to test every hour to see my blood sugar so I wouldn’t end up going low and hold everybody else up if I was and when I am walking to have a cereal bar every so often (roughly 12g of carbs) so that it was sure that I didn’t go low this did end up working out for me I also carried a lot of hypo treatment with me whilst walking. Depending on what you use to treat hypos the stuff can be rlly heavy and take up quite a lot of space so I would suggest talking it out with whoever you are walking with and telling them that you are carrying all this extra stuff as well so your bag isn’t rlly heavy. Also keep all your daily use diabetes stuff near to the top so it’s easy to get to but stuff like: pump changes, insulin etc nearer to the bottom as you most likely won’t need it. Honestly by then you are going to be good at estimating carbs for lunch such as maybe bread I know that is usually 19g of carbs off the top of my head for carbs you will know you just have to practise and do all the carb counting yourself, for whatever you have for dinner just guess I am sure one low or high will be okay and the doctors are very understanding as they will know you had no other choice but to guess breakfast will be the same as lunch roughly know but underestimate to make sure you don’t go low before hand and have some slow acting carbs before you do and during the walk.
So now about the pump: the pump is honestly the best thing as a diabetic you could own in my opinion and changing it becomes a breeze however remembering to change it can be a bit of a problem at the start put in how much insulin they say and slowly reduce it; this is what I do and now whenever my pump runs out of insulin that is exactly the right time I need to change it with it on the Dofe expedition change it the night before so then you don’t need to while your there. The pump is such a life changer it was the best thing I have ever got. Hope this helps x
 

Little_Lucy

Well-Known Member
Messages
138
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Wow that was long but please do read it all it is basically nearly everything you need to know about these things x
 

knipster

Well-Known Member
Messages
97
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
WOOO HEYYY now I wouldn’t call myself an ~expert~ In this but I have done all of these things while having diabetes. So for GCSEs I have only done 1 mock so far but it actually turned out pretty well for myself we asked the school if I can be in a smaller room so I wouldn’t distract anyone and I tested my blood sugar roughly about 20mins before each mock if it was high I would just correct and if I was low I would just have as much sugar as I think I needed (when you have had it for a while you understand more on how your blood sugar reacts to certain amounts of sugar and how much you need for certain blood sugars), this is all i can really say for GCSES as I have only done one mock and haven’t faced any problems yet.
So for the dofe I am not going to lie probs not the best thing that I have done but I did kinda let loose on the expedition, I also have a pump and had it when I did the expedition, so it’ll be very similar. So I was told to test every hour to see my blood sugar so I wouldn’t end up going low and hold everybody else up if I was and when I am walking to have a cereal bar every so often (roughly 12g of carbs) so that it was sure that I didn’t go low this did end up working out for me I also carried a lot of hypo treatment with me whilst walking. Depending on what you use to treat hypos the stuff can be rlly heavy and take up quite a lot of space so I would suggest talking it out with whoever you are walking with and telling them that you are carrying all this extra stuff as well so your bag isn’t rlly heavy. Also keep all your daily use diabetes stuff near to the top so it’s easy to get to but stuff like: pump changes, insulin etc nearer to the bottom as you most likely won’t need it. Honestly by then you are going to be good at estimating carbs for lunch such as maybe bread I know that is usually 19g of carbs off the top of my head for carbs you will know you just have to practise and do all the carb counting yourself, for whatever you have for dinner just guess I am sure one low or high will be okay and the doctors are very understanding as they will know you had no other choice but to guess breakfast will be the same as lunch roughly know but underestimate to make sure you don’t go low before hand and have some slow acting carbs before you do and during the walk.
So now about the pump: the pump is honestly the best thing as a diabetic you could own in my opinion and changing it becomes a breeze however remembering to change it can be a bit of a problem at the start put in how much insulin they say and slowly reduce it; this is what I do and now whenever my pump runs out of insulin that is exactly the right time I need to change it with it on the Dofe expedition change it the night before so then you don’t need to while your there. The pump is such a life changer it was the best thing I have ever got. Hope this helps x

Thank you so much, this was so helpful!
 

emma2718

Member
Messages
7
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I did bronze dofe and I lowered my Lantus the night before the night of and the night after and did exercise setting with all my meals and didn’t inject for any snacks to keep me going and that’s what worked for me