I’m wondering how all these latest gadgets in the last 10 years has improved your Type 1 Diabetic life?
For instance, I’ve been a pumper for 9 years and more recently in the past 6 months have been using a CGM. My A1C has improved tremendously from a 8.2 to 6.3% since I started using a CGM. With this technology, I have been able to maintain a routine sugar level of 4.8 - 6.5 (75 - 110 estimating). D life just seems much easier now for me.
So, how has technology improved your control and lifestyle? What would you say is your Top 1 gadget to managing T1 diabetes?
In my case technology has gone backwards it is worst than 10 years ago. The meters now are very inaccurate and as I result I inject too much insulin at times.
My meter is prettier. That’s it. Nothing new for me. Had to change to Lantus as I became immune to Humulin I and have to use their ridiculous pen. It is so prehistoric (only works in 2 unit increments and is flimsy plastic) compared with my Humalog pen.
What has amazed me is all the gadgets and gizmos you can buy in everyday life (at affordable prices) and yet insulin pumps are so exorbitantly expensive that they are virtually unavailable on the NHS, and CGM really is unavailable. And I don’t have several thousand £ to spare annually.
I have lumpy arms and legs, and my stomach has given up on absorbing insulin, so I’d say that I am worse off now than 10 years ago. Although 10 years ago I’d probably only had a meter for a few years, so that was a novelty.
Are you UK or US? I can’t tell from your post (British sugar figures but you don’t say HbA1c).
Technology has significantly improved my life with diabetes. I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (and autoimmune hypothyroidism) in 1995. The first big improvement was insulin analogs–Humalog came out in 1996, and I was in my endo’s office asking for it in the first days. What a huge difference that made! Really, it changed my life with diabetes (fewer lows, more convenience, etc.). Then in 1998 I got an insulin pump, another vast improvement that just made my life easier. I did get a CGM two years ago, but sadly chose the Medtronic, and I wish I had chosen the Dexcom because the Medtronic has not been very useful. I always say I am just counting on the technology to continue to improve my life with diabetes.
I was diagnosed in 1959 with Juvenile Diabetes. The new technology has helped to extend my life. When I was dxed there was only animal insulin which didn’t keep my bs as stable as it is today. We didn’t have glucose monitoring machines we tested our urine with a few drops of water in a test tube and dropped in a pill. I had a chart with different colors that I would compare the color in the tube and it would tell me if I had sugar in my urine (it didn’t tell how much sugar there was as monitors do today). There are so many other technologies that are available but the one that I appreciate most is the pump. Since pumping I now have a more stable basal rate and bolus measurement.
How can you tell whether they were accurate or not? I remember that my hospital regularly tests 5 or more meters at one time. And they are always different results.
BM sticks were what we had before, and you could fudge the results. You had to try to match the colours to a chart. But I always read it lower than it was.
Meters only give you an indication of where your bg is. Basically do I need a snack or more insulin? It’s all a guessing game, and after 27 years I’m fed up of playing it.
I can’t pick a gadget b/c they are sort of intertwined? The CGM and pump both ‘need’ a meter so I guess the meter is the building block? I am totally addicted to all 3 though. I was dx’ed in 1984 and had a meter from the get go so I can’t imagine not having one.
I think this highlights how long it takes for technological advances to reach people. I was diagnosed in 1983, and didn’t get a meter til the late 90s. Although I did get a pen in 87. But I’m still using the same regime now.
I certainly think that was due to my parents, I was sort of a mess, dropped from 150 lbs to 120 (@ 5’ 10"!) and was not in good shape at all. I think the figured out who the hot local endo was, although I was sort of annoyed he was one town over (of course, being 15, I was annoyed all the time anyway?). I vaguely recall both the meter and the human insulin were sort of newfangled and I’m glad they got me going on that. It wasn’t always smooth sailing but it made it much easier having tools. Even ones with those stupid blotter things.
After 37 years with diabetes, I certainly do appreciate home-use glucose meters, insulin analogs, then the pump, now cgm.
But I will say, a gadget/device is only useful when I understanding how to best use it. And, I have to make sure I’m efficient and effective in using it. I waited a long time to get a cgm because I wanted to make sure I had tightened and balanced my self-management as much as possible without it. Why? An expensive tool that I don’t use properly is a waste of my time and my money. And I don’t want a false sense of safety with the immediate dangerous bits of insulin-dependent diabetes, such as hypos.
Now that I have a cgm (which. let’s face it, is a great tool for analyzing trends but is too inaccurate to use for reactive treatment adjustments), I’m in the process of learning how to best use it.
If I really had to choose which gadget is tops for me, I’d say the diabetes online community (DOC). That’s where I go to ask questions, read other suggestions, and then boil it all down and decide what, if anything, I’ll put to use in my own self-management. So, all, thanks for being part of the DOC!
THE ACCURACY WAS DEFINITELY BETTER 10 YEARS AGO. My meter then was always 5% below the lab result. Now plus or minus 20% is not uncommon. Makes injecting insulin a crap shoot. I don’t measure a lot anymore because whatis the use of spending a dollar for a random number so in one way inaccuracy saves money at the expense of our health and wellness.
I remember when I first became diabetic and we had the BM sticks and I thought those were wickedly hard to gauge, I can’t even imagine soley relying on my urine! Eek.
Yes, the pump is a great device to maintain stable sugars (most times). I am surely thankful for that technology.
Human insulin! that is one of thee best technological breakthroughs we had in the early 90’s (or was it late 80’s?) I just remember getting off Toronto R and Novolin (?) and how the humolin worked wonders.
My A1C has gotten better. When I look at myself in the mirror I see a person who has escaped the ICU and did not have the time to remove the gear. I am glad that I am not in the dating game.
The dating game is the ONLY place diabetes is useful because 1) people w/ diabetes are 1) much hotter than straight people and 2) have a built in ‘do you love me?’ detector.
