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Type 1'stars R Us

@Chris Bowsher In the past 6 weeks I have gone from injecting Nova Rapid in an almost set amounts plus Lantus again in a set amount using finger prick machines to having tech in my arm connected to several apps, changed insulins to something completly differnet and using less insulin in one go but much more corrective doses.

Oh! and using Jelly Babies to deal with hypo's, at least there is an upside to all of this :)

Before that all I was really concerned about was Hb1Ac results and the last time I had it checked was the highest it has been for the last 10 years at 43 I really want to be back down to 38.

So in the last 6 weeks diabetese has become a much more "in your face mate" than it has for the last 50 years.

Is it a good thing? :writer:

I suppose it is a Yes, No senario and to me it is still a game to try and keep things in that stupid, daft, ar5e green band on the Etch A Sketch ;)

Update :spam: now running at 5.5 and level.........hopefully stay there for the rest of the day :stop:

If your higher HbA1c is a result of less dangerously low hypos, that's a win, not a lose. "This is the captain of your ship, your head speaking."

I went a little bit Reparata and the Delrons, there.
 
If your higher HbA1c is a result of less dangerously low hypos, that's a win, not a lose. "This is the captain of your ship, your head speaking."

I went a little bit Reparata and the Delrons, there.

You have a valid point, the issue is with me is that I have always run 'low' it is what I like to do, yes I have screwed up a couple of times through my own stupid fault.

I don't fear hypo's like some do (which I fully get and understand) but I am wary of them and respect them for the trouble it could get me into

One of the reacuring things with consultants and the first Libre person I have seen, over the last few years is "you're blood sugars should be higher......" however......as pointed out many many times.........we are all sexy and different in our own special way ;) :)
 
You have a valid point, the issue is with me is that I have always run 'low' it is what I like to do, yes I have screwed up a couple of times through my own stupid fault.

I don't fear hypo's like some do (which I fully get and understand) but I am wary of them and respect them for the trouble it could get me into

One of the reacuring things with consultants and the first Libre person I have seen, over the last few years is "you're blood sugars should be higher......" however......as pointed out many many times.........we are all sexy and different in our own special way ;) :)

This is true, but if you were shaving a little bit off the low points, while not increasing the high points, then that would be a win win. Though obviously reducing the low points, and increasing the hypers wouldn't. Though reducing the low points and reducing the higher points, would be a win win win win. But HbA1cs, don't really measure this, which is why Freestyle Libre is such a great new tool.

But we have to do all this in the way that works best for us, personally.
 
Fair play, glad to hear you are on the straight and narrow now.:)
I feel like I’ve been given a second chance at a life. My record HbA1c was 131 a few years ago... I’m very much an all or nothing kind of person, “everything in moderation” just doesn’t work for me. So having rules, and boundaries and tight targets really is the only way I can manage this thing. If I “slacken off” just a little, I know from past experiences that it’ll all go out the window, and there’s no more new tech to save me this time. If I can’t succeed with what I have now, I never will. So I know I set myself what seem like extreme ranges, and a stupidly restrictive diet (especially when I already can’t eat many foods due to allergies), but it’s really the only way I can deal with T1. I’m getting great personal satisfaction from being able to nail it, for once.
 
Naming wood pigeons Bernard has made me fond of them, and they have beautiful plumage. Old psychology trick.

Like Nursie in Black Adder -- she was actually called Bernard :hilarious: played by the wonderful actress Pasty Byrne :)
 
I feel like I’ve been given a second chance at a life. My record HbA1c was 131 a few years ago... I’m very much an all or nothing kind of person, “everything in moderation” just doesn’t work for me. So having rules, and boundaries and tight targets really is the only way I can manage this thing. If I “slacken off” just a little, I know from past experiences that it’ll all go out the window, and there’s no more new tech to save me this time. If I can’t succeed with what I have now, I never will. So I know I set myself what seem like extreme ranges, and a stupidly restrictive diet (especially when I already can’t eat many foods due to allergies), but it’s really the only way I can deal with T1. I’m getting great personal satisfaction from being able to nail it, for once.
Must admit you do an amazing job with your diabetes. Next time I see my dietitian/DSN I will ask what my highest HBA1C was. I bet it is frightening
 
Must admit you do an amazing job with your diabetes. Next time I see my dietitian/DSN I will ask what my highest HBA1C was. I bet it is frightening
Aw, thanks mate. Blushing here. I only found out this week how bad it had been, when I was a hospital appointment for something else, I asked for my HbA1c history. Here’s the full horror! I had two near fatal DKAs in 2012, and even that wasn’t enough to get my act together. For me it was all about the testing - the overwhelming sensory nature of it (I’m autistic) as well as the not wanting to open the brown envelope on the metaphorical doormat. Mostly the sensation of it, though.

I suspect the one I had taken yesterday will be up a bit, as the 43 was after a couple of months of keto, in a sort of honeymoon period you can get before the dawn phenomenon and monthly insulin resistance hit. But it’s those which got me my Omnipod, so I won’t be disheartened by that. I’d like to get into the 5s for the one after :)

CE25D6CB-E0B9-40A9-BCDF-7D23F42F99F6.jpeg
 
Aw, thanks mate. Blushing here. I only found out this week how bad it had been, when I was a hospital appointment for something else, I asked for my HbA1c history. Here’s the full horror! I had two near fatal DKAs in 2012, and even that wasn’t enough to get my act together. For me it was all about the testing - the overwhelming sensory nature of it (I’m autistic) as well as the not wanting to open the brown envelope on the metaphorical doormat. Mostly the sensation of it, though.

I suspect the one I had taken yesterday will be up a bit, as the 43 was after a couple of months of keto, in a sort of honeymoon period you can get before the dawn phenomenon and monthly insulin resistance hit. But it’s those which got me my Omnipod, so I won’t be disheartened by that. I’d like to get into the 5s for the one after :)

View attachment 28299
Massive turnaround, should be well proud of the achievement. Gold T1D star award
 
@Mel dCP indeed hats off to you that is massive turn around.

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Out of interest from reading the above I went looking through my records but it only goes back to 2000 which is when,I think, they might have started using the HbA1c and mine was 65 in new money. The lowest I have been is 37 which I would like to get back to.

In some respect it does not surprise me, think I was only on two injections a day using disposable syringes and drawing up from a 10 mil bottle

For the life of me I could not tell you how I got from 65 down to 37, it certainly was not a concuss thing like "OK time to sort things out" I guess life has changed and evolved and so has my T1D. :)
 
Amazing turnaround @Mel dCP ;)

As we know from hearing members stories here it's clear many go through the same as you Mel, so it's positive to hear it can be over come however it's hard to find the incentive or clarity of mind to do something about it, what do you think caused your issues with your control ?
 
Amazing turnaround @Mel dCP ;)

As we know from hearing members stories here it's clear many go through the same as you Mel, so it's positive to hear it can be over come however it's hard to find the incentive or clarity of mind to do something about it, what do you think caused your issues with your control ?
I think for me it was mostly the testing issue. I’m on the autism spectrum and get overwhelmed by touch sometimes - and deliberately sticking needles in my very sensitive fingertips just became insurmountable - after a while I literally couldn’t bring myself to press the button on the stabber. I didn’t get my ASD diagnosis until just a couple of years ago, so I just though I was being a failure, rather than it being an executive function issue. And because I didn’t know why I wasn’t taking care of my diabetes (because why wouldn’t you? You’d have to be insane), I couldn’t ask for help in getting it sorted. The DKAs I had spurred me into action for a short while, but after a week, when I wasn’t being watched like a hawk any more, I’d slip back into old habits. I’d had a Libre trial for a fortnight last summer, and loved it initially, but honestly began to resent it towards the end of its life.

At my appointment at the hospital just before Christmas, when I turned up with no meter and no data my consultant just asked me why I was so hell bent on killing myself, and I just said I didn’t know. I was so utterly broken by it all. He bent the rules slightly, I think, to put me on a further three month Libre trial, with the challenge that if I wanted to keep it, I’d have to drop my HbA1c by 27 - so I joined up here. He said that was the only criterion we could wangle! I’d always refused point blank to join any association or anything online to do with T1, but peer support has been key. I think I really had to hit rock bottom in order to turn it around and I’m absolutely petrified of burning out again, which is why I think I don’t allow myself any slack until it’s become so second nature that it’s just what I do.
 
Incredible story @Mel dCP kind of makes you wonder that you have a purpose to help others with this, it's only when you've been through this that you do really have the empathy and understanding to help those who can't manage it.
 
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