We all have a few. Mine is coffee. It spikes me in the morning. I do what I can to negotiate the spike. I’m not willing to ditch the joe to avoid the spike. (I have my reasons…which include murdering your co-workers and spouse is illegal)
Another bad habit is sometimes licking my finger post test. Gross, I know. I seldom do it, but it still happens. I’m on my path to a slow dump on this habit.
What is your bad habit and are you willing to give it up.
Start the day with a mocha latte, which spikes. Bad, I suppose… I deal with it, also preferring to do so rather than engaging in aforementioned illegal behavior.
Beer/wine, now and again. Bad, I suppose… Never, ever giving it up!
Forgetting my Levemir. Bad, Bad, Bad! I put up a sign on my fridge today to remind myself to take it at the appropriate times. This one I am determined to give up.
I’m sure there are more, I’ll think about it…
I don’t consider my coffee a bad habit, but if you want to call it that … OK, I guess I am addicted and I refuse to give it up. Actually, I pre-bolus by about 20 minutes and that helps prevent the spikes.
Trudy, last night I crawled in bed and realized I had not taken my thyroid medicine earlier – I take it twice a day. I was really tired yesterday and too tired to come back downstairs to get it. I didn’t think about it until lunchtime today and realized my pill containers weren’t on the counter where I keep them – I have one for the morning stuff & one for the afternoon. I had cleaned the kitchen Wed night & stuck them in the drawer. I totally forgot about them and did not take anything Thursday or Friday. No wonder I was so tired yesterday. Glad that wasn’t insulin!
I take my thyroid and probiotics an hour before my mocha latte, so I usually get up in a very cold house to take them and then go back to bed for another hour. My day is off-schedule if I sleep in, and if I forget my Levemir besides, well…
I prefer not to think in terms of “bad and good habits” or “good and bad foods”, etc. To me that is infantalizing and just leads to an endless cycle of “screwing up”, feeling guilty, vowing to be “good”, feeling self-righteous but deprived, screwing up again, etc. We all make choices. To me the key is to consciously make the choice and be aware of possible consequences. Then down the road you might revise the choice. For me I’ve chosen to: stay vegetarian, eat moderate, but not low carb, have my cappuchino in the morning and occasionally one in the PM, drink a glass of wine with dinner and occasionally more if I go out, eat no sugar…at all, eat basically diabetes friendly but not sweat it if I go out and eat differently now and then. I’ve made different choices in the past and maybe some will change in the future.
Ok, that’s my spiel on bad habits. Coffee itself doesn’t spike me; I don’t include sweeteners; I do have milk for foam. I sip my cappuchino hot when I get up and it sometimes raises my blood sugar by around 15 points by the time I test for breakfast about an hour later; sometimes I actually go down a few points. I add 5 grams into my breakfast for 1/3 cup of milk which I split between my capp and my scrambled eggs. (I finish the capp (really it’s two capps equivalent) iced with my breakfast). I don’t bolus if I have an extra capp in the afternoon, because it’s usually in between lunch and dinner when a small rise won’t be noticeable.
Back to the topic of consequences: I feel I’ve integrated the bs increase such as it is. I also have an arrhythmia, which, while benign, can be very uncomfortable and I take meds for it. That’s why I usually stick with just one (a big one 
in the morning and I don’t feel guilty about it.
As for my wine intake - one glass has no effect on bs and I don’t feel is unhealthy. I never drink more than one dark beer occasionally with dinner because it adds to my carbs. If I go out and drink more I just monitor my bloodsugar carefully so I don’t go low without recognizing it.
We all do things that may or not be the best for us, but if we weigh the consequences vs the pleasure derived and are ok with the balance…then go for it. That’s just my way of looking at it
OMG. You are making me feel terrible. I’ve had enough coffee in my life to be invulnerable to it and I don’t understand how it is a bad habit. As to licking the finger, I consider that to be good “diabetiquette.” What is really gross is wiping you bleeding finger on your pants or on the back of your colleagues shirt. I would never do that.
One of my bad habits is not changing lancets often enough. I still have a box from 2006 I’m working through.
Another is my belief that a bottle of wine that is less than half full will oxidize if I leave it overnight, and I feel compelled to finish it.
Another thing which I go back and forth on is injecting through my clothes. I started doing it soon after I started on Byetta and I never even bother lifting my shirt anymore.
I don’t drink coffee, so I can’t comment on that. But, I lick my finger after testing, every time. Unabashedly. Also, I rarely change my lancet. I’m on year 18 of being type 1, and it hasn’t hurt me yet, so out of all the things I need to work on, I’m going to wait on those two.
I don’t consider coffee a bad habit either, it is the staff of life! Never to be dumped.
But I know I have to dump carbs, I am hovering on the brink my friends.
I think too I should change my lancet needles more often, I wait till they get to the ouch stage far too often.
Drinking way too many diet dr peppers…but it’s the only indulgence I have left and I will never give it up!!
I’m newly diagnosed, but I know that I was testing my BS prior to being diagnosed because of problems I was having. I lick my finger after the stick. I agree with a PP that its better than wiping on your clothes or sofa or something.
I do not change my lancet every time, very rarely infact which is probably not the best habit, since my insurance does cover my lancets to a point, and I do pay for them. So I probably should dump this habit and start changing more frequently.
Although I do have to say I am really good about using a biohazard container, and make sure I have a way to properly dispose of my sharps, and even my test strips. I like to think that those things should be put in a safe place. I know I don’t have any crazy weird diseases but its just the safe thing to do.
I don’t drink coffee but occasionally drink hot chocolate, and this does spike my BS, but I have given it up until I get my treatment under control. I really really didn’t want to give that one up. I don’t even drink that much of it, because of my gastric bypass it makes me even more sensitive to having the spikes, but oh well.
And I love unsweetened orange juice to take my other meds with, but then I found out how much natural sugar it has, and I was sad 
I was hoping I could still drink it but again, I have to get my treatment plan under control first so I had to get rid of it.
Thats about it for now, I am sure there is more . . .
Helen
Love the humor, bsc. Yes, wiping the bleeding finger on the back of a co-worker might be frowned
upon.
And no doubt the first half of the bottle of wine helps compell you to finish the other half. I’ve never liked words that start with “ox” so I wouldn’t tolerate oxidized wine in my house either.
Here is the question Danny, do you lick in front of non-Ds? Family members…maybe…OK, I admit I have and my young nieces are totally GROSSED-OUT!! by this.
Maybe we could start a “lickers in recovery” group.
Dear Erin,
It really depends on how you read your post…but tell us you haven’t been using the same lancet for 18 years!? (The official D Lancet expiration date is 15 years and not a day over.)
Helen,
“lick after the stick” will forever be attributed to YOU!! Unless someone else said it first. Love the phrase.
I love my Princess coffe, 2 pkts of Sweet n Low, and a clug of Hazelnut SF creamer:) I would not be a Happy women without my coffee…
And for the Lancets, I wipe my finger and then with the alcohol swab I remove the tip and wipe it with the swab. I use them til it get to where I yell ouch and its bent…
No licking for me, I am a germ freak, lol…
I had a Nurse in the hospital tell me I could die from a infection from using lancets over and over. I said REALLY how many people come in and are IN the hospital because of this? And what happened to them? She rolled her eyes and said I am a messenger< HAHA…
I gave up my morning bagel… and my Endo was estatic…
Mornings started to drop into line much more nicely after that…
Coffee/Tea… a tiny bolus, moreso if with milk/cream… (takling 1 1/2 units as long as i dont add the dairy)
I love coffee too, but have actually switched over to Tea. There are so many kinds of Tea out there that there must be at least one that you like, but with a lot less caffeine than coffee. If there is a good Tea store in your area, they can always recommend some that are made for people switching from coffee. I’ve really enjoyed them, and find that they give me enough of a kick to wake me up without the “twichi-ness” of coffee.
Oh, is THAT how it happens!!! Always wondered…
Gee, you all don’t have any really bad habits. C’mon folks, you could do worse than coffee, finger licking & not changing lancets:). Not a big coffee drinker, but I will lick after testing (don’t see this as a biggie) & I change lancets maybe twice a year (not dumping).
I go through periods of logging diligently & then don’t for months. I also need to do better with my thyroid meds. Taking them twice daily many hours from eating because of gastroparesis & every 12 hours doesn’t always happen on schedule.
I’m doing reduced carb, and the one thing I absolutely won’t give up is milk. I drink milk tea that is half water, half milk, in a 2-cup measuring cup, so that’s a cup of milk every morning. And afternoon. And evening. Carbs add up!
I used to lick my fingers, but got out of the habit by using a folded tissue that I keep in my meter case. It’s covered by spots, but at least it isn’t a colleague’s shirt, LOL!
I don’t remember when I last changed my lancet – I don’t even have an ouch factor to remind me.
I need to remember to change my pump sets more frequently – I haven’t had infections, but it takes longer to heal when it’s been left in too long.
I need to not ever omit insulin – really my worst habit, and I paid for it last September. Really working on toeing the line now. (I’m too old for a silly trick like that anyway!)
Is that enough for you?