New here but a long term Type 1 veteran…and still fighting fit.

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Radar

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Type 1
I’ve been type one for 50 years (55 now) and never posted about it on forums for some reason.
I joined mainly to rant (a bit) about The Freestyle Libre which I’ve used since the clinical trial maybe ten years ago?

I saw the appropriate thread and joined in to see if anyone could relate.
I’m fit, strong and healthy. Still lift weights (40 years?) ride bikes, walk a lot and have a physical job.
But I don’t live like a saint either, everything in moderation is the way.

Even after so many years, good BS levels are a 24 hr a day job and ‘good’ is often fleeting.

Ps - I noticed my first comment has the questioners name attached? but it was me (I’ll work on that)
 
Welcome @Radar 🙂 To reply like I have here without quoting the post, just type in the box below the last post as I’m doing now.

Everything in moderation is a great approach!
 
Hi Radar! Welcome to the forum!
 
Hi @Radar. Glad to hear good is good enough after 50 years! I’m less than a year in aged 57 (late developer 🙂) and am perhaps obsessing too much over time in range via Libre. Off to my DAPHNE course next week and hopefully learn some tips on how to relax a bit.
 
The_Bowlii said:
Hi @Radar. Glad to hear good is good enough after 50 years! I’m less than a year in aged 57 (late developer 🙂) and am perhaps obsessing too much over time in range via Libre. Off to my DAPHNE course next week and hopefully learn some tips on how to relax a bit.
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Hi @The_Bowlii sorry for the late response (I asked for email updates but none have appeared?)
I have done plenty of obsessing too and CGM’s can really accommodate that trait!
I think with me, I am so used to constant checking that I barely notice doing it. I guess I have done similar things to a DAPHNE (just looked it up) course but not in a course format, just tips from doctors over the years. I am a pretty good carb counter by now I think.
I did buy a digital scale only recently, never bothered before but it’s so handy if you hadn’t thought of it.
Truth is, constant checking does help avoid mishap’s which I have had plenty of. I just tell myself ‘I am in control of this’ and that mindset does help. I had a rough spate many years ago of severe hypos (off work, many ambulances) so I told myself to Take Control! which I managed to do with very thorough checking, which at that time before cgms meant around 20 finger pricks a day! (less over time but still quite a few)

But I got there.
 
Radar said:
Ps - I noticed my first comment has the questioners name attached? but it was me (I’ll work on that)
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Your first post seemed to get accidentally wrapped in ‘quote’ tags where you can copy all or part of another member’s post in your reply.

I’ve cleaned out the tags so that your post now appears as ‘you’ 🙂

Sorry you’ve been having a few problems with Libre recently. I wonder if some of the reactions may have coincided with Abbott no longer supplying alcohol wipes? You can buy a pack of those online fairly cheaply I think if you’d like to try still using them?
 
Reading through this thread makes me wonder (again) how much language affects our mood and how much mood affects our language.
I have previously mentioned that I do not talk about "controlling" my diabetes because there are too many things outside of my control. I can control my diabetes about as much as I could control a class of 4 year olds. Most of the time they do what I ask but there will be one naughty one in a week.
I use the term "managing my diabetes" and, for me, this fits better as the title I would give to this thread. "Still fighting" makes me feel aggressive and very negative about something which is part of me that I cannot get rid of.

I know many think I am a bit cuckoo about this and worry too much. But thinking about the language I use helps with my mental health. And, when I start thinking I am fighting my diabetes, I take a step back and rethink my attitude.
 
@everydayupsanddowns thanks for doing that. It’s probably a mistake on my part.
Yes I noticed Libre no longer supplying wipes, which I saw as just being stingy
I use my own antiseptic now.
My main problem with Libre is the failure rate - last weeks was fine for 2 days! Then 24/36 hours of zero readings (finger pricking all the way) until I removed it. The lack of readings is usually the build up to ‘replace sensor’.
I will be giving Dexcom a go soon.
 
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helli said:
Reading through this thread makes me wonder (again) how much language affects our mood and how much mood affects our language.
I have previously mentioned that I do not talk about "controlling" my diabetes because there are too many things outside of my control. I can control my diabetes about as much as I could control a class of 4 year olds. Most of the time they do what I ask but there will be one naughty one in a week.
I use the term "managing my diabetes" and, for me, this fits better as the title I would give to this thread. "Still fighting" makes me feel aggressive and very negative about something which is part of me that I cannot get rid of.

I know many think I am a bit cuckoo about this and worry too much. But thinking about the language I use helps with my mental health. And, when I start thinking I am fighting my diabetes, I take a step back and rethink my attitude.
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I actually don’t see that as cuckoo and think it’s relevant. And trying to ‘control’ things can lead to anger which raises blood sugars. I never see it as a ‘fight’ though, emotions have a huge effect.
I also find coping with the emotions of the people around me a major distraction, when going hypo for instance. If I sense their fear (If my behaviour changes through a hypo) that serves as a distraction which can prevent me taking immediate action.
I just want to get away from them, which can make them panic more because they feel the need to ‘help’ me.
Hypos alone are much easier I find.
 
The only time I feel like I am fighting my diabetes is when my basal dose needs adjusting. Other than that I see it as a bit of a game to keep in range as much as possible, whilst of course getting distracted by life. 🙄 Yes, it can be frustrating, and scary very occasionally and sometimes a pain in the backside, but mostly it is just a challenge to do well at managing it.
 
rebrascora said:
The only time I feel like I am fighting my diabetes is when my basal dose needs adjusting. Other than that I see it as a bit of a game to keep in range as much as possible, whilst of course getting distracted by life. 🙄 Yes, it can be frustrating, and scary very occasionally and sometimes a pain in the backside, but mostly it is just a challenge to do well at managing it.
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Yes that’s a good way to look at it, as stress free as possible.
 
To be fair to you @Radar, your post title describes yourself as fighting fit (a very recognisable phrase) and not fighting your D. It's great that you are in this position and all credit to you for doing enough BG management correctly over the last 55 years.
 
Proud to be erratic said:
To be fair to you @Radar, your post title describes yourself as fighting fit (a very recognisable phrase) and not fighting your D. It's great that you are in this position and all credit to you for doing enough BG management correctly over the last 55 years.
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You are right @Proud to be erratic and I hadn’t realised that it could be interpreted that way? Indeed it is not about fighting D but generally keeping healthy, Maybe I should reword it..
 
Radar said:
You are right @Proud to be erratic and I hadn’t realised that it could be interpreted that way? Indeed it is not about fighting D but generally keeping healthy, Maybe I should reword it..
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I think I scan read the thread title and read it as "Fighting IT" rather that what was actually written as "Fighting Fit
My bad.
 
Hello @Radar , welcome. Glad to hear you’re fighting fit or in rude health or even to quote Star Wars, “strong enough to pull the ears off a Gundark?”
If we don’t take control. No one else will. 🙂
 
Satan’s little helper said:
If we don’t take control. No one else will. 🙂
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Wow! As I wrote earlier, I wish I could "control" my diabetes/naughty 4 year old.
Maybe it is possible in the sci-fi world of Star Wars 😎
(But I am one of the few weirdos who has never seen any Star Wars movies.)
 
helli said:
Wow! As I wrote earlier, I wish I could "control" my diabetes/naughty 4 year old.
Maybe it is possible in the sci-fi world of Star Wars 😎
(But I am one of the few weirdos who has never seen any Star Wars movies.)
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I was welcoming a five decade member of the “club” who also appears to be in “fine fettle?” (Good health.) Also acknowledging we were just “using the force” (star wars, again.) with hypos & banging in tent pegs as a kid to keep going. I personally draw the analogy on doing “running repairs” on a flakey spaceship. (“Millennium falcon.”)
The more the tech advances, it’s like I’ve become more my own “ Tamagotchi.”
 
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