OK, I “fell off the wagon” and it is time for me to get back on it and take responsibility for myself and my diabetes.
But I need some suggestions other than “just do it! remember to test! it is not hard!” (this was said by my diabetes educator.) easy for her to say. I ask for suggestions and I get the same response.
What tools or things do you find helpful for a very irregular schedule to remember to test? Work starts at 0530 but that is the only predictable thing that happens all day. I catch things to eat when I can, I know there are others out there that have a similar situations and i would really appreciate any suggestions you might have.
When I was on MDI I got a wonderful, tiny keychain sized countdown timer on Amazon. I think it’s made by ILA? I hooked it to my beltloop or whatever. It could be set to just vibrate -worked for me!
I have a meter that has a reminder set on it but since I have partial hearing and I keep my meter in my hand bag it is useless to me. I set my alarm on my mobile phone - you can set it to vibrate only if you do not want the thing going off in church, at a funeral, at a wedding or such like!
I see that you are a Quality Engineer. Im a software developer and even though I have a hectic schedule I never leave my meter out of my sight. That is how I know to test. When my meter was out of sight it was out of mind. Its small enough to fit in my pocket so when I go to meetings or anywhere there it is. My meter is my constant reminder that I need to test. I have become very good at the one hand test. I leave my meter inside the bag and as I walk through cubicle land I pick a corner and bust out the meter, insert the test strip and poke my finder with the other hand. I then switch meter to non bleeding hand and go for the drop of blood. I got good at testing while standing and walking.
I also have a smart phone so I set alarms every 2 hours from the time I eat breakfast. My meals I always try to eat at the same time during the week.
hi Rick, I see you are type 2 with an a1c of 6.5. I would suggest bringing your lunch and snacks to work. I think you might want to write down what your goal is, and don’t just say “testing more” - make your goal specific, like “I will test before every meal”. Here is a post I found to be very helpful about goal-setting
We’re trying to teach my (T1) son to test before he eats anything – works fine when we’re talking about regular meals or snacks but he still will sometimes grab a chocolate milk and consume it and then happily come tell me “Mama, look! I had chocolate milk!” facepalm and of course I have to simply bolus for it and hope to heaven he wasn’t low when he drank it.
