What have you learned this year about life with T1D?

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- 5 hours, 31 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS likes your comment at
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  Only "illness" that makes it really difficult to control my blood sugar is getting steroid injections into my cervical spine or fingers. I leave my basal rate on my pump at 250% and need much higher bolus doses and many "extra" doses if my blood sugar remains really high. I tell the MD's that it turns my insulin into tap water and try to avoid it, experience with having gotten these injections over the past few years has helped, but having blood sugars of 400-500 despite much higher basal and bolus dosing is so frustrating!
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
  
  AnitaS has commented in the same post you commented in :
  When you experience an illness that makes your blood glucose levels more difficult to manage (whether because you are unable to eat, the stress of being sick, or any other reason), what resources do you refer to for help managing your blood glucose levels while sick? Please select all that apply to you.
  When I had surgery last year and couldn't exercise for a few months, my time-in-range was very good. I was shocked but I shouldn't have been as exercise is one of the things that make my diabetes harder to keep under control. During recovery, I didn't have the ups-n-downs in blood sugar that I usually have when I exercise.
- 6 hours, 38 minutes ago
  
  Randell Cole has commented in the same post you commented in :
  Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs Tests New Insulin Program
  How can I get on the Mark Cuban test program ?
- 6 hours, 38 minutes ago
  
  Randell Cole has commented in the same post you commented in :
  Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs Tests New Insulin Program
  How can I get on the Mark Cuban test program ?
- 6 hours, 38 minutes ago
  
  Randell Cole has commented in the same post you commented in :
  Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs Tests New Insulin Program
  How can I get on the Mark Cuban test program ?
- 6 hours, 38 minutes ago
  
  Randell Cole has commented in the same post you commented in :
  Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs Tests New Insulin Program
  How can I get on the Mark Cuban test program ?
Clear All

What have you learned this year about life with T1D?

How do you manage your stress levels? Select all that apply.

Sarah Howard

98 Comments

Becky Hertz

There’s always more to learn.

2

1 year ago Log in to Reply
KarenM6

I learned that this community is fantastic and that I’m so glad I found it. I’m grateful for the articles, the questions, and the conversation about diabetes-in-real-life!

2

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Janis Senungetuk

A lifetime of high and low glucose levels does damage that I’m now paying for with chronic kidney disease and hearing loss from nerve damage. Even with 90% TIR now, 66+ years of life with T1D takes a toll.

2

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Rose Lentzke

I’ve learned that your frame of mind has a lot to do with how you deal with T1D during a pandemic or anytime. Being able to walk, stay physically active, and bike outside was a blessing for my husband and I.

1

1 year ago Log in to Reply
James Phelps

As much as you try there are no two days that are the same one day good next day not so good diabetes is very frustrating even after living with it for 45 years.

2

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Jim Cobbe

I learnt that glycoHG A1 can be misleading and biased downwards in some circumstances, e.g. if one has low red cell blood count, and that the calculated Dexcom indicator may be a better indicator, and this can be confirmed by tests to do with 1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG), fructosamine, or glycated albumin. My endo prefers the Dexcom indicator to the actual measured Hgb A1c, saying it is confirmed by the CGM which ‘doesn’t lie’ and a fructosamine test.

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Andrew Carpenter

I’m to tired of being sick and tired of having doctors who assembly line me and a doctors staff who could give a sh*t. So I got a new Endo 5 days ago. Wish me luck. This Endo brought her game on our 1st appointment. I respect that. Never settle.

5

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Amy Schneider

Sometimes it was easier when I did 2 shots a day and urine tests.

1

1 year ago Log in to Reply
1. GiGi
  
  I agree. CGM technology is a blessing but it is stressful always seeing the numbers!
  
  1
  
  1 year ago Log in to Reply
GiGi

Nothing really. Been living with it for almost 50 years now.

2

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Carol Meares

I have learned that there is always more to learn to make my life easier with T1D: perhaps learning new ways to use the algorithm on my pump, perhaps finding new foods to enjoy, or ways to enjoy foods at least occasionally that I had left out because of T1D, perhaps finding new sites about T1D speaking to better technologies and others with T1D.

1

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Steve Rumble

That I really see the value of a CGM.

2

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Maureen Helinski

Dexcom and Tandem CIQ make it much easier but diabetes still needs attention and sites changes, sensor changes, pump refills and such. It is always there.

3

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Sherrie Johnson

60 years for me technology catching up with this disease.

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Andrew Stewart

I switched to the Tandem t:slim with Control-IQ pump after using Omnipod and Dexcom without connectivity. I love my tighter control and TIR that my pump achieves for me my reading my CGM data from Dexcom, it has been a game changer. The only downside is getting used to the tubes and having to hang the pump off my waistband or belt or pocket. It’s getting easier and I haven’t dropped it in the toilet yet so that’s a good thing.

Thank you all for sharing. 😊

2

1 year ago Log in to Reply
PamK

1) I miss my MDI! My control was so much better then than it has been since going on a pump.
2) I do like that I don’t have the nighttime lows I did have on MDI.
3) Diabetes with COVID is scary and I pray that I don’t catch it!

1 year ago Log in to Reply
John McHenery

Air bubbles in pump tubing can be a problem re. Glucose levels.

2

1 year ago Log in to Reply
ConnieT1D62

That I am still here living a pretty full, interesting, and fulfilling life on planet Earth after 59 years since being gifted with the hidden blessing of T1D. Although it is always challenging because of having to think, act, and maintain constant self-care awareness & beta cell consciousness, it has made me a stronger person and living with diabetes has never diminished my inner spirit and spiritual growth. I celebrated another diaversary on 12/26 – to commemorate 12/26/1962, the day I was informed of the lifelong journey I was embarking on as an 8 year old. I now enter my 60th year of dancing with diabetes! Life with diabetes gets better & better as I age!

1

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Robert Ross

Diabetes will win if you let it. I may be brittle but my life does not have to be.

3

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Molly Jones

That life is meant to be enjoyed. I have found the more conditions I have been diagnosed with throughout time, the more I realize that bodies and brains don’t last forever. I want to enjoy the time by keeping them in healthy working order as well as possible and spending time with others.
Also, that I am very grateful for science.
Man! Do I hope Dr Faustman does well with her possibility of a cure.
https://www.faustmanlab.org/clinical-trials/#diabetes

1

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Bonnie Lundblom

That diabetes management remains a full time job with no days off, but when I look at other illnesses there are many that are worse. I’m grateful for the technology (Tslim pump and Dexcom CGM) that helps me to keep my blood sugars in line. Hope you had a beautiful Merry Christmas and wishing all of you a very Happy New Year!

1

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Kristen Clifford

Insurance can really suck sometimes.

1

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Mark Pederson

May

1 year ago Log in to Reply
David Smith

That CGM communicating with an insulin pump is a powerful, effective tool for managing T1D, but expensive. Would happily pay higher taxes to enable all with T1D to have access to that technology!

1

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Donal Conway

I have not learned much? having lived with it for the last 50 years and coping well with my GP & Diabetes Consultant being very happy with all of my blood results, my fitness and daily exercise routine, in the summer i jog/walk 5.6 kilometres and in winter time I do that same distance on the treadmill.

1 year ago Log in to Reply
kylekk@gmail.com

The consistency I have created in my daily management and glucose control has made my existence with T1D so much easier! The more strictly that I adhere to the guidelines that I set for myself, the more T1D because a secondary thought instead of a primary thought.

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Marcie Dutton

I’ve learned I can either suffer because diabetes happened TO ME or I can recognize that I created this disorder by attacking my own body out of guilt or shame, just emotional perspectives, owning that and realizing diabetes happened FOR ME! Awake up call to changes I need to make in thinking and lifestyle so I can live a fabulous life!

1 year ago Log in to Reply
KCR

Although I was diagnosed over 7 years ago, I still struggle with acceptance of myself as a PWD. In 2021, I realized I was living more FOR diabetes and WITH diabetes and that I do have the power to manage my relationship with diabetes differently. A work in progress…

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Leona Hanson

I learn that the technology is getting better for diabetes and has let me have a little bit more control for having uncontrollable diabetes

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Cheryl Seibert

After 55 years of T1D, I’ve learned I am not immune to complications (T1D snowflake cataract in my only good eye). I’ve been complication-free and under decently good control since I was diagnosed at age 6. I’ve learned aging is harder on T1D management than puberty or pregnancy was.

1 year ago Log in to Reply
Jeff Balbirnie

You must NEVER make peace with Diabetes, it does not care.

1 year ago Log in to Reply
keith johnson

I’ve learned how important it is to have the same diabetic provider for a while. In the last seven years I have had 10 endocrinologists and Even more diabetic educator. Previously I had the same diabetic team including a neurologist for almost 10 years. This Matt Maher consistency with care grapes and more congruence in goals between my endrocrinologist and me. Decorative near me well enough to work in ways that helped me.

1 year ago Log in to Reply