Hi! My name is Katie! I have been diagnosed with T1D for 8 years now and I still need some insights. Can some one give me some tips on how to keep my BG in check Plz!
Hi Katie @Katie_Rocks_T1D,
As you know I am not a teen and was not diagnosed with diabetes until I was your current age; so you know more about the feeling and trials of really young people trying to manage diabetes - I know that is really difficult.
The really “Good News” [and you also accept the both meanings] is that you have, with family guidance, done well during the past 8 years and that you are aware of the need to work at keeping your BG readings in a RELATIVELY good range. I know from my 60 years experience that a “perfect BG” reading all the time is practically impossible because no one has a body that will react exactly the same way every day to a particular activity and that a particular insulin dose will work every time you eat a particular food. My first piece of advice is to be aware of what is happening - a particular activity - before you take a meal bolus and how your body responded to your previous meal and insulin.
This bit of wisdom took me a while: there really is no such thing as a BAD HbA1c or a BAD BG reading - unless the lab or your meter messed up. Your A1c is a value, a piece of information to tell you about your success for managing your diabetes over the past three months; a BG reading is a guide that can use for your actions at a particular time of day while keeping in mind food, insulin and activity over the past several hours and what you intend to be doing. Always look at the broader picture keeping in mind how certain foods cause your Body Glucose to rise and how and when exercise may cause your BG to drop - adjust insulin based on those two facts as well as your 13 year old emotions. Stress can throw off all your calculations.
I could go on and on, but I’ll cut it off here. Certainly keep asking questions here - and keep supporting the many others who are trying to manage diabetes.
Hi Katie,
I have about 35 years more experience than you and I want to say that some of the trouble I have always had have to do with food and counting carbs. My suggestion would be to learn about how different foods are digested and how long the sugars in those foods last in your system. I know from my experience, that some foods turn into blood sugar slower than others and some foods will spike your sugar level faster. I think, because it is a balancing act between your blood sugar and insulin and each of our bodies digest and use carbs a little differently, it is a good idea to know how different foods we eat work in our own body. I don’t think I really paid much attention to the real differences in how foods are used in conjunction with the insulin I take, until I was diabetic for many years. I hope this makes sense. I wouldn’t rely on your doctor to tell you about, or even mention the word “food”.Doctors only usually only tell you to take more, or less insulin because of your A1C, but forget that the food you eat is just as responsible for your sugar levels. I have been type one for 43 years and didn’t have this kind of free discussion and as many others with the kind of experiences talked about here and didn’t really know what I was doing for a long time, but I’m still here.
Good luck,
Pete
Thank you Pete! This I already know because when I use milk for a low treatment, it lasts better than candy because of the proteins. The proteins are a real building block in my 8 years.
Dennis, I know about the A1C thing on how it’s never 
. It’s just seems like I can never get my BG under control! It seems so frustrating when I am trying to be normal but then I realize when I go to eat that “Hey check your sugar!” It’s just hard to have a normal life you know? Especially in Middle School going on to Junior High.