Worried about a bad diabetic

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Tezzz

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Type 1
My friend Dave who is over 60 lives in rural France. Me and the other half visit quite often. It's lovely there.

Dave is Type 1 and takes mixed insulin. I've never seen him test and the last time I saw his BG meter that was still in the box.

I asked him if his meter was broken and he said he doesn't need to test. He said he rarely goes hypo. (One a month if ever.)

I know he and his other half are very careful healthy eaters and rarely eat processed foods.

I worry that Dave may be have a high HbA1c and is asking for complications.

What can I say to him to encourage him to test?
 
being blunt is the best way in my opinion , my doc said to me do you want your little boy to lose his mum before his 10th birthday and that worked for me , obviously your friend is 60 and that probs woul'dnt work for him but the stark reality is one day he will get sick and he will have regretted not taking his bloods or being a sensible diabetic..surely in the long run he can only benifit maybe he thinks he dont need to test cause he eats so perfectly some foods must effect him though like they do all of us and testing can clarify this
 
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brightontez said:
My friend Dave who is over 60 lives in rural France. Me and the other half visit quite often. It's lovely there.

Dave is Type 1 and takes mixed insulin. I've never seen him test and the last time I saw his BG meter that was still in the box.

I asked him if his meter was broken and he said he doesn't need to test. He said he rarely goes hypo. (One a month if ever.)

I know he and his other half are very careful healthy eaters and rarely eat processed foods.

I worry that Dave may be have a high HbA1c and is asking for complications.

What can I say to him to encourage him to test?
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Hi my brother is type 1 and has been for over 20+ years he is on 2 injections a day .. pork insulin , he NEVER tests !!!! I dont know how he knows how much insulin to take or how he controls his highs /lows but he does . he hasnt tested for years , i test 7/10 times daily . he is fit and healthy and is never ill so it seems to work for him ,i would not recommend it to anyone though 😱😱😱😱
 
My dad who is 80 never tests himself. he eats a fairly sensible diet, but refuses point blamk to test. In his opinion that's waht he goes to the doctors for!

I've tried telling him he could get very ill and being very blunt with him, and I've tried the other tactic and said well if the numbers are good you can have a treat (he likes choclate coated brazils).One possible way to go is to tell your friend you care, and it may sound like you are nagging, but you are worried and would he try testing while you are there as it would make you happy, and test together so that you can compare notes.

It is a worry, but the only person who can be responsible for any ones diabetic care is the person themselves. I know it sounds hard, but tough love is the only way to go sometimes. At 60 (or even 16), you are old enough to know what you are doing and to listen to others concerns. You are pointing all these things out because you care and you are worried, but sometimes it can sound like nagging.
 
There are many reasons why someone might not take care of their diabetes. I don't know how long he has been T1, but maybe he is sick of it after many years. Maybe he has not been told what to do with blood sugar results so doesn't see the point. That was my problem. I did not know how to adjust my own insulin for many years and when I was taught on DAFNE it helped a lot. It helped to learn new things and have my knowledge refreshed, and also to meet other diabetics. if he has any opportunity to do these things, I think it would really help him.

Describing him as a 'bad diabetic' probably won't help. At the end of the day all you can do is express concern as a friend. if he doesn't feel he needs to take blood sugars then there is no way of making him do so. I wouldn't use scare tactics or tough love. That is risky. They might work. But they might make things much much worse. For me they made me too scared to take my blood sugar - if it was high I was terrified and didn't know what to do. I also thought 'well I will probably get these complications anyway, so why bother?' Scare tactics can make people think like that. I think providing support as a friend is the best thing, maybe mention it occasionally in a supportive way but don't overdo it, if someone is obstinate then nagging is the best thing to make them set in their resistance and a sure way to make them not do whatever you think they should be doing.
 
Hi tez, I'm interested - what sort of care is he getting? I know we have another member here who lives in the south of France who appears to get very good care. Does he get all the checks - feet, eyes, kidney function HbA1c etc.? If he's on mixed insulin there may not be much possiblity of adjusting to fine-tune his levels. I guess if maybe his HbA1c's have been OK and he doesn't get hypos, then maybe testing isn't really a big issue. If he eats to a fixed dose and has been doing it for some time, perhaps he's found the status quo that works for him. Maybe engage him in a conversation comparing HbA1c's and see how that goes?
 
It'd be interesting to know what his hba1cs are like. If he's getting good results then I can understand the theoryof not be so bothered about testing on mixed insulins (although not something I would choose to do) as with the mixed insulins there is less opportunity to take action on the readings such as corrections etc other than by a general increase or decrease of the amount given.
 
Hi
You don?t say how old Dave is but if he has been diabetic for a long while then he was possibly introduced to insulin before blood testing was even possible. If you eat similar carbohydrates for each meal/snack and have a fairly stable lifestyle it is possible to reasonably look after your diabetes without checking your BG regularly particularly if you were brought up with that ?regime?. Personally it?s one that I was pleased to give up many years ago when MDI was introduced because it gave me the flexibility to eat when I wanted but the trade off has been frequent blood testing and there have been many times when I have hated that. As has also been pointed out with mixed injections it is very difficult to make adjustments to the insulin and I read a long time ago that there isn?t much point in testing your BG unless you adjust when necessary??.
 
I had a spare meter which I offered to a friend. he turned it down because he has problems with needles and the sight of blood. This is another possible reason why someone wouldn't test.
 
insulinaddict09 said:
Hi my brother is type 1 and has been for over 20+ years he is on 2 injections a day .. pork insulin , he NEVER tests !!!! I dont know how he knows how much insulin to take or how he controls his highs /lows but he does . he hasnt tested for years , i test 7/10 times daily . he is fit and healthy and is never ill so it seems to work for him ,i would not recommend it to anyone though 😱😱😱😱
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how is your brother's a1c??
 
If his control is good and getting good A1c's then maybe he doesn't need to test or change anything. Talk to him about it, and maybe you can find out how his control is.
 
Wow, I can't believe it!

How do they do it.

Anyway Tez, I hope you manage to give your friend some good advice, but I guess when we get on a bit we don't go with the flow so much, I mean in every type of thing we do these days there are so many advancements, and we can't all keep up with them all, computers being a prime example, yes your health is different, but for some these changes they feel are unnessecery, and they can always argue, well how did our for fathers manage!?

Take care everyone.
 
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