Just passing on some interesting information from Diabetes Health, the US-based website from June this year: "President Obama's first nominee to the Supreme Court is Judge Sonia Sotomayor. If she is confirmed to the lifelong post, Sotomayor will be not only the first Hispanic to sit on the high court, but also the first Justice with type 1 diabetes."
Monday 6 July 2009
Wednesday 26 March 2008
Finger pricking good!
Once you’re diagnosed with diabetes, your life changes. There’s a whole bunch of information to process and a host of bits and bobs that you end up having to use to help yourself gain and maintain good diabetes control.
It will depend on which type of diabetes you’re diagnosed with, but to an extent no matter whether you’re Type 1 (defined as being immediately insulin dependent) or Type 2 (which may be treated with diet, pills or insulin and often a combination of all three), chances are you will have to master a range of new equipment and practices. For that, you may want to think about having a diabetes kitbag or diabetes organizer.
Diabetes control involves monitoring (through blood tests) and medication (pills or insulin injections).
The main bit of diabetes management equipment you’re going to have to use is likely to be a blood test machine (sometimes called a blood glucose monitor or meter). Now if you’re going to be testing your blood, you’re going to have to get some blood in order to do that. The item that will do this for you is a lancing device – which most of us ‘bloodsucker’s call a finger-pricker, because that’s what it does. And we’re bloodsuckers because sticking your finger in your mouth after you’ve done the test is the easiest and cleanest way (because your saliva contains antibacterial compounds) to solve the problem of a slightly bleeding finger.
So, you should have with you a blood test machine, finger pricker, plus a tub of sensors (or maybe a disk or drum of sensors -- and you’ll be wanting spares of these with you too). Also, you might be encouraged to write down your blood test results in a diary. You’re going to need a pen for that. That’s one lot of stuff.
OK, so that’s the bit they call ‘monitoring’. What about the medication bit? If we stick to injections for now (excuse the pun, if you’re diabetic you stick in a lot of injections over time), then you’ll probably have a least one insulin injection pen, plus spare needles and cartridges of insulin.
All Type 1 diabetics and many who have Type 2 diabetes have to do injections, so that’s another set of kit that you need to have with you pretty much at all times.
That’s a lot of kit to carry around. And you need to keep it safe – you don’t want to drop needles, break insulin cartridges or drop your blood test machine from your pocket or drawer.
For those who manage that without a diabetic kitbag or diabetic organizer, I salute you! But I suspect that those diabetics who don’t carry their kit with them are not facing up to the truth of their condition, and are happily unaware of what their blood sugars are doing. Phrases like, sticking your head in the sand jump to mind.
It’s a lot of kit to carry. People ‘make do’ with washbags or pencil case, but specially designed diabetes kitbags or carriers make sense if you are to truly try to handle your diabetes. A diabetes kitbag can get you – and keep you – organised, leaving you to get on with your life knowing that your diabetes is taken care of.
It will depend on which type of diabetes you’re diagnosed with, but to an extent no matter whether you’re Type 1 (defined as being immediately insulin dependent) or Type 2 (which may be treated with diet, pills or insulin and often a combination of all three), chances are you will have to master a range of new equipment and practices. For that, you may want to think about having a diabetes kitbag or diabetes organizer.
Diabetes control involves monitoring (through blood tests) and medication (pills or insulin injections).
The main bit of diabetes management equipment you’re going to have to use is likely to be a blood test machine (sometimes called a blood glucose monitor or meter). Now if you’re going to be testing your blood, you’re going to have to get some blood in order to do that. The item that will do this for you is a lancing device – which most of us ‘bloodsucker’s call a finger-pricker, because that’s what it does. And we’re bloodsuckers because sticking your finger in your mouth after you’ve done the test is the easiest and cleanest way (because your saliva contains antibacterial compounds) to solve the problem of a slightly bleeding finger.
So, you should have with you a blood test machine, finger pricker, plus a tub of sensors (or maybe a disk or drum of sensors -- and you’ll be wanting spares of these with you too). Also, you might be encouraged to write down your blood test results in a diary. You’re going to need a pen for that. That’s one lot of stuff.
OK, so that’s the bit they call ‘monitoring’. What about the medication bit? If we stick to injections for now (excuse the pun, if you’re diabetic you stick in a lot of injections over time), then you’ll probably have a least one insulin injection pen, plus spare needles and cartridges of insulin.
All Type 1 diabetics and many who have Type 2 diabetes have to do injections, so that’s another set of kit that you need to have with you pretty much at all times.
That’s a lot of kit to carry around. And you need to keep it safe – you don’t want to drop needles, break insulin cartridges or drop your blood test machine from your pocket or drawer.
For those who manage that without a diabetic kitbag or diabetic organizer, I salute you! But I suspect that those diabetics who don’t carry their kit with them are not facing up to the truth of their condition, and are happily unaware of what their blood sugars are doing. Phrases like, sticking your head in the sand jump to mind.
It’s a lot of kit to carry. People ‘make do’ with washbags or pencil case, but specially designed diabetes kitbags or carriers make sense if you are to truly try to handle your diabetes. A diabetes kitbag can get you – and keep you – organised, leaving you to get on with your life knowing that your diabetes is taken care of.
Monday 11 February 2008
Introducing The Kitbag Company.com
Hi, I've been Type 1 for 35 years and have designed a kitbag for carrying all the relevant diabetes stuff around. it's great for travelling. Read the testimonials at my site at www.thekitbagcompany.com ! Sue
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