Just got added to this beautiful group right now. I've had diabetes for 11 years and for the past 5 years I've hit that point where I don't test as often as I should. I'm a college student that does alot of extra curriculars and has a job. I've tried setting alarms and even setting up emails that text my phone at a specific date and time with a cute message, but I always fall back to not testing everyday.
Anything you've tried, realistically, besides will power and the knowledge of long term side effects that have motivated you to keep testing 4+ times a day? Have my endo appt on Thurs. o.o Lol.
Diabetes is evil and the way to kick its ■■■ is to test your blood sugar a lot. The most I did was about 17/ day but I was working out twice/ day and really sort of gonzo. These days it's more like 8-12.
I went through that about two semesters ago. My Endo was very understanding. It was my Junior year of college, and my classes were extremely tough. I was staying up till 4am completing huge projects weekly. Grades are very important to me, and so my Diabetes took a back seat. I would check maybe once a day, if that, and then just guess my BG for the rest of the time. I am and was involved in various extracurricular that also took up more time then I had in the day. I have one more year of college, and have had T1D for 10 years this December. I used this past Christmas break to get myself back on track by just slowly checking more often. Being class-free helped relieve my stress and allowed me to focus more on my diabetes.
What really got me back on track occurred during the beginning of this summer. I attending a Diabetes Conference (Students with Diabetes). I would highly suggest joining a group, attending a conference, or try to meet with other diabetics like yourself! With so many people surrounding me continuously checking their blood sugar, I just felt like I needed to join the "I test my BG often group", so I started to check more because everyone else was. It seemed to be "cool" to check your BG during a speaker or meeting, and it kind of was! I have done my best to continue this. I also work with a few diabetics, and when I hear the sound of a finger prick, I know someones testing their sugars, and it's a small reminder that maybe I should too.
Good luck with your Endo! Just explain what's going on, and hopefully your Endo will be understanding, maybe s/he will be able to offer you some tips as well! Being a T1D in college is TOUGH! But we are strong, and we can do this!!!!
1 - Don't worry about your endo, worry about you! 2 - How many times do you test each day, and when do you test?
3 - When you get an alarm/cute message what are the reasons you don't follow through to the test?
4 - When you DO test, what motivates you?
5 - How do you feel when you have a test that is "out of range"?
I've been there and done that. Diabetes care and testing seems to naturally take a back seat when life gets busy.
Reframing issues helps me to create new habits that stick. Good health is the source from which every other goal in life flows. Without your health, everything else does not, will not happen. Given it's primary reality, diabetes should never take a back seat to anything. Testing should be the thing that you do before you eat, start to study, get together with friends, class starts, exercise, bedtime. It comes first -- not if there's time or things settle down, or when the semester ends.
For me testing too little leads to a lot more time spent out of range. There are a lot of other things that you've incorporated into your routine: you sleep every night, you shower in the morning, and you take care of personal hygiene. These are all habits that you created. You need to give diabetes care and testing its rightful place as a fundamental habit that preceeds all others.
I don't understand how you can be on insulin and not test a few times a day.. aren't you afraid of going hypo/hyper etc. if you get the wrong dose? I tend to fluctuate around a lot and there is no way I could not test a lot. My fear of returning to a hospital and complications as well as just how I feel physically if I don't take care of things is my motivation... yesterday I skipped my normal regime and spiked twice which kept me high all night, then I ended up crashing low.. it's better to test more and stay on an even keel. Although sometimes it's unavoidable. When I find myself saying something else needs to be done.. I say to myself, nothing should take precedence over my bg test, this seems to work most of the time for me.
I got diabetes before glucose meters were invented, so went years with no tests at all (just urine testing). Then once I had a meter I only tested a couple times a day. It wasn't until I got serious about improving my D management a few years ago that I decided to test more than a few times a day. And it has made a big difference in my overall control.
How to remind yourself? - don't base it on the time of day - instead include it with things you do every day in order to make it an easy habit. Test when you wake up (really - don't get out of bed before you've tested), when you go to bed (really - test before turning off the light), test before you eat anything (really - no food in your mouth before you test), and test before you take any insulin (really - no injection until you know what your BG is). If you exercise (hopefully you do), you should add testing before (and maybe after) you exercise (really - no tying your shoes until you test). This is at least five or six times a day, maybe more depending on how often you eat and exercise and when you inject insulin. Some people test each time before they drive but if you're a student you probably don't drive much - but this is a good rule for a lot of people.
These are the big ones, then add to that - test anytime you feel high or low. Basically if I feel at all strange, I'll test. Some days this won't happen at all, but other days I'll do this even if I tested only 20 minutes ago, because sometimes my BG is moving fast enough that 20 minutes makes a lot of difference.
If you really want to take it to the next level you will want to add post-meal testing in order to better tune your insulin/carb ratios. These tests an hour or two after eating are the hardest to remember since you will probably be in the midst of something (i.e. living life). And I find I will often omit these if I'm busy - but if you're testing when you feel high or low you'll end up doing a lot of post-meal testing anyway since this is when your BG is most likely to be moving around.
When I want to make sure of not overlooking an important PP test, I set a loud, annoying alarm on the smartphone, since it's always near me. Works like a charm.
