back again

hi im julee and i have just started to use the site again today. I am feeling a little upset with the whole diabetes thing and i just cant seem to get this right. I start the week testing my blood and then it stops. i give up and just cant seem to stay on track. my HBa1c is 9.2 and i need it much lower than this. was diagnosed in 2005 and i feel im not winning this battel.

i need to take control of this situation.
Is anyone else in the same situation or is it just me

Its hard to keep testing all the time........

I personally was encouraged to test because of dafne, the understanding it gave me actually makes me want to know what is happening with my blood sugars........which I need..........

Its all about routine really.............what is your lifestyle like? Is there any routine or does it change from day to day..........

Yes its a difficult one.

Like you I used to be very bad at testing, and would find anything to avoid taking the time to do it. Even though each test takes less than a minute using modern blood testing meters, I guess it felt like an unecessary chore.

What I discovered is that when i started TO TAKE A REAL INTEREST in my readings, and managing my sugars, it got much better. What I mean by this I suppose, is that you need some real motivation for testing. Try to become genuinely curious about what your readings are and what has affected them. What did you eat? did you get the calculation of QA right that time? As soon as you start to achieve some success at managing sugars, motivation gets a lot better. At least thats what I have found.

Also one thing I have found which helps - is to make it as easy as possible to do tests. I mean keep your meter close at hand at all times. So testing becomes almost like a reflex - its done in a couple of seconds. If you set the date and time accurately on your meter - you can also enter the values in your diary later, maybe at the end of the day if this is more convenient.

Hi,
you are not alone.... I find it very hard sometimes.
There’s a couple of things I find really useful to help motivate myself.
Firstly, the blood glucose diary is a great help, I open it first thing when I get into work and have it open on my desktop all day so I can keep track of every morsel of food and drop of insulin; this makes me more mindful of what I’m doing and reminds me that I can't really get away with ignoring that I’ve eaten the odd sweet or bag of crisps.
The graphs are great for monitoring progress, especially the pie charts - so much more satisfying to see more green than red!
Also, everyone at work is aware that I’m diabetic, so I have no problem testing at my desk. Initially I tried to avoid telling people, but it just got to be too much work trying to hide it, so I just told them.
Weekends are much harder because I’ve not set routine, but I reckon that if I can stay on track for most of the week, the odd slip here and there should not be too bad in the greater scheme of things.

Hi thanks for all the ideas into regular testing. So far today I have done my morning and pre lunch. My afternoon was very high and I think I know why. I'm am so glad its not just me. Just hate feeling like this is controlling me. I'm going to keep going. Let me see if I can get a days reading.

Thank you for all the messages.

By the way I'm a teacher and I teach the little ones.

I know, I really hate the idea of having to rely on something outside myself to, literally, survive. I was diagnosed in 2002 and, especially the first few years, I found it all very hard to accept. In the last couple of years I've started to reconcile myself to the idea that I have this for life and that denial will only make things worse. I suppose that, in a way, managing this properly is me taking back control. If that makes any sense.