The insuleoin Podcast - Redefining Diabetes
#232: A Small Habit That Can Go A Long Way With Your Type 1 Diabetes
In today’s episode Eoin gives us a quick, but important reminder (@insuleoin).
A lot of our Diabetes management can come down to habits, routines, strategies etc. Knowing what to do at certain times, and having effective management tools is what keeps us “ahead” of our blood sugar.
Eoin gives us a perfect example of this, and outlines a small habit we can implement with our Type 1 Diabetes management that can have a big impact.
As always, be sure to rate, comment, subscribe and share. Your interaction and feedback really helps the podcast. The more Diabetics that we reach, the bigger impact we can make!
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- Broadcast on:
- 09 Oct 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
Before we get into this episode, I want to ask you a quick question that I want you to answer. And the question is, do you want to have a direct impact on the future of type 1 diabetes management and care? I'm guessing the answer to that would be yes. And if it is yes, I have a very simple and convenient way for you to do that within 10 to 15 minutes, which is actually less than your average pre bolus time, 10 to 15 minutes. And basically, it comes from the T1D exchange registry. So if you don't know what that is, the T1D exchange registry is a research study designed to capture the experiences and ultimately challenges of people like me and you who live with type 1 diabetes. It tracks condition progress over time and includes over 18,000 participants affected by and living with type 1 diabetes in the US. So the T1D exchange registry gathers information directly from these people, i.e. me, i.e. you, including data on diabetes management, CGM data and self reported outcomes. So you might be thinking to yourself, why would you want to fill out a 10 to 15 minutes questionnaire about diabetes? And I'll tell you why. So the T1D exchange research has led to a number of advancements and improvements for people living with type 1 diabetes, including insurance coverage, including changes in the American Diabetes Association guidelines for pediatric A1C goals and targets, including FDA expansion of DEXCOM CGM labeling, and also including Medicare coverage of CGM devices for much more people. If you live in the US, you can relate to the challenges that insurance can bring. So the reality of it is you and I can actually make an impact on the future of diabetes health care, treatments and technology by participating in the T1D exchange registry. It's a really simple online survey about your life with type 1 diabetes. As I said, it takes 10 to 15 minutes. This might be quite literally the easiest way that you can contribute to improving life with type 1 diabetes for people now and also for people in the future. So get involved with type 1 diabetes research in, as I said, the simplest way possible. You fill out the survey, you make a difference with type 1 diabetes research that impacts the future health care treatments and more for other people living with type 1 diabetes. So get involved with type 1 diabetes research in quite literally the simplest way possible by going to the link in the description of this episode, click my link tree and then you will see a link to the registry. 10 or 15 minutes less time than your average pre bolus and you're actually making an impact with diabetes management. And that's what it's about. That's what even this podcast is about. So you can also play your part and we can do it together. So check out the link, fill out your 10 or 15 minute questionnaire and also enjoy this episode. This is the Insilon podcast where I own Kosovo try to redefine diabetes in this week's episode. And if you don't know, this is also important to know. Generally speaking, the first 24 hours of your CGM sensor when you put on a new one is going to be pretty inaccurate. But before we get into that, everything you hear on the Insilon podcast is from my own personal experience. And if you have any worries or issues regarding your diabetes, please contact a medical professional. Now, let's get stuck into this episode. Good afternoon or good morning or good night, depending on wherever you are in the world and whatever time you are listening to this episode of the podcast. I hope today has been treating you well and I hope your week has been going well as well. Whatever you've been up to. This episode is a solo episode. This episode is a bit different and it's going to be short, sweet and concise. And what I want this episode to be because it doesn't need to take up a lot of time is a reminder to you because something has come up a couple of different times that I've seen either in our type 1% program or even just online on social media. But basically, the reminder that I want this to be for you is to utilize your finger prick monitor and going to repeat it to utilize your finger prick monitor. And why I want to remind you of that is because when we get a CGM and I hope you have a CGM. If you don't have one right now or you've never used one, hopefully you can gain access to one or hopefully you can get one at some stage soon because they're a fantastic tool to have. But if you are using a CGM and you have been using a CGM, what can happen quite frequently is we can neglect our finger prick monitor. Now, there are two very, very different things. Obviously, CGM is a continuous glucose monitor, which basically means that your blood glucose or your blood sugar is continuously being monitored through the sensor connected to your app on your phone or other device depending on what you're using. And then obviously a finger prick monitor is when you finger prick, you prick your finger with a little needle and you get a little bit of blood out and you put that into your glucose strip, you see what your blood sugar is at. Okay. I'm sure you probably know that as is. But why I want to remind you to utilize your finger prick monitor is because there's always going to be some discrepancy when it comes to tech. They're not always going to be perfect. They're not always going to be perfectly accurate in terms of giving you the exact number that you want. And when it comes to actual accuracy, for the most part, a finger prick monitor when you actually get the blood is going to be much more accurate in giving you your exact number at that point compared to a CGM for a couple of different reasons. But one of those reasons is the fact that your CGM reading is always playing catch up to a certain extent. It's always going to be five, tenish minutes depending on maybe more, maybe less depending on what you're using. But it's always going to be that bit more behind what your blood sugar actually is at that exact moment. And the reason for that is when you finger prick and you test with actual blood, that's your blood glucose being tested. Whereas with your sensor, I'm pretty sure all of them I could be wrong, but the vast majority of them are in your interstitial fluid, which basically is fluid in between your skin and your blood. So, it's never going to be absolutely exact compared to when you check your blood glucose with a finger stick. So, why I want to give you this reminder is because so often I see people who completely and absolutely rely on their CGM, which I've been guilty of in the past too because it's a very, very convenient tool to have. And it saves you a lot of time, energy, effort, and also sometimes we can even just simply forget to check our blood sugar with a finger prick from time to time. I'm in no way saying, check your blood sugar with your finger stick and a prick of blood. Every time you want to check your blood sugar, that's not what I'm saying. I want this reminder to be for you to double check with your finger prick, even when you're in doubt, number one. If and when you're in doubt of the number that your blood sugar or your CGM has given you, I should say, always, always, always double check with your finger prick monitor, always. Because as I said, if there's discrepancies with your CGM, and it's not exactly accurate, and maybe it's given you a false reading, you really want to be sure, particularly before taking a correction dose of insulin, if you are taking one, that the number is accurate on your glucose monitor, your finger prick. And it actually reminds me of a recent episode that we did when the guests that we had on had a really quite severe hypo incident. And she had just changed her pump, she had just changed her CGM. And if you don't know, this is also important to know. Generally speaking, the first 24 hours of your CGM sensor, when you put on a new one, is going to be pretty inaccurate. So the first 24 hours, and also potentially the last 24 hours of your sensor, double check your actual blood sugar numbers with your finger stick, if and when you're unsure. I think you should actually do it more frequently for the first 24 hours anyway, just to be sure. But basically this guest, I'm sure you might have listened to the episode. But this guest changed her pump site, changed her CGM, and the CGM essentially was given her a false high, which meant that the reading on the sensor was high. But in reality, her actual blood sugar was in range. But what happened was that she was actually on a closed loop system. But her sensor was telling her pump that her blood sugar was high. So her pump was giving her more insulin, even though in reality, her blood sugar was in range, which inevitably caused a very, let's call it unwanted. Low blood sugar, which caused her pretty much to pass out, and her family and friends around her had to call an ambulance, and she was fine, thank God. But that's one of the reasons why I want this episode to just be a reminder, a quick reminder, less than 10, 15 minutes. As you know, I like to go into things more and more and more, the more I talk about them. When I say something's got to be quick or something's got to be brief, it's generally still 10, 15 minutes or more. But that's all I want this episode to be. If you're taking correction dose, if you're treating a high blood sugar with insulin, if you're taking a big dose of insulin that maybe you're not that comfortable with, for whatever reason, please double check your actual blood sugar with a finger prick. Because yes, CGM's are fantastic. I love mine. I love having a CGM. It's given me so much clarity around blood sugar and so many different realms of my diabetes management. But I still use a finger prick quite consistently. Every morning when I wake up, I will use a finger prick to make sure my numbers are where I want them to be. And potentially do I need to recalibrate my sensor? But also, I will double check if I'm taking a correction dose, a big dose, or I'm in any way unsure of my CGM actually being accurate. Because the last thing we want to happen is have our sensor or our CGM tablets were really high and we take a big correction dose when we don't need us. Inevitably crashing down to the other end or else the flip side of that where maybe our sensor or CGM is telling us we're quite low and we take a big hypo treatment. We jelly babies or glucose tablets or whatever else and in reality our blood sugar is actually in range and then we just have a massive big spike. And then we're thinking why the hell is my blood sugar spiked when in reality it was just a discrepancy with your sensor. So before I start repeating myself as I tend to do, this is a reminder podcast. If ever you're in doubt, finger prick, if ever you're unsure, finger prick, if you're not entirely confident of your numbers at any given point, finger prick. The end. That's it. That's all I wanted to tell you. Nice, clear, quick and concise. If you're doing it already, hats off to you. I love you. If you're not doing it yet, this is your reminder. It's important. Keep in mind. Have a good day. Have a good week. Look after your blood sugars. If you've any questions or topics or anything else, you would like just to go through in more detail on this podcast. The guests that you would love us to get on this podcast, please let us know. You can email us at theinsilonpodcast@gmail.com or you can reach out to me directly through Instagram, Instagram DMS or email. Have a good day. We'll speak to you soon. Take care. Also, another quick one before you go. Don't forget to fill out your 10 or 15 minute questionnaire for the T1D exchange registry. As I said, you and I can actually make an impact on the future of diabetes health care, treatments and technology by participating in this exchange. It's a 10 or 15 minutes questionnaire and you actually make a difference. You actually have an impact on the future care of diabetics worldwide. So get involved. Follow the link in the description of this episode, which is a link to my link tree. That's what the link is called. Click the link and then you will see the next link to the registry. 10 or 15 minutes. Get it done.