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Type 1 Diabetes
Managing your Type 1 diabetes in order to live a healthy and satisfying life involves learning a lot about your diabetes. Developing successful problem solving skills for managing what can be an unpredictable condition and improving your strategies to cope with stress also helps.
Insulin
Type 1 diabetes results in your body being unable to produce its own insulin. Insulin is a hormone and it needs to circulate in your bloodstream to do its job properly. If you don't have enough insulin your body is unable to use or store glucose properly. When you have Type 1 diabetes you need to take your insulin by injection (under the skin).
What is a low blood glucose level?
People will feel symptoms of low blood glucose levels or hypoglycaemia at different levels, but most people and doctors agree that your blood glucose is low once it drops below 4mmol/L.
To understand this you need to understand how insulin works and where blood glucose comes from. You also need to understand what happens to blood glucose in the body.
What is a high blood glucose level?
If you have Type 1 diabetes you will often develop high blood glucose levels or hyperglycaemia. Managing your Type 1 diabetes is a lot to do with developing problem-solving skills and learning to use them. Hyperglycaemia is a major cause of many of the complications that happen to people who have diabetes. For this reason, it's important to know what hyperglycaemia is, what its symptoms are, and how to treat it.
Home blood glucose testing
Home blood glucose testing enables you to see what your blood glucose levels are, whether you are too high or too low and whether you need to seek help with managing your blood glucose levels.
It also lets you know how different foods affect your blood glucose levels and if your medication needs are changing (if you are either consistently too high or consistently too low).
Establishing a good testing pattern is very important and can be worked out with your practice nurse, doctor or diabetes nurse.
How do I test for ketones?
It is very important that you carefully follow the instructions for the particular ketone testing sticks that you are using. Different brands take different amounts of time for the colour of the stick to develop. If you read your stick at the wrong time you will be getting a wrong result.
Understanding your laboratory tests
Many of the tests you have done at the laboratory can help you to understand where things are at with your diabetes. They can also help you see changes over time and whether the strategies you are using in your diabetes management are working or not.
Laboratories in New Zealand operate under strict quality control. This means that the tests you have done at the laboratory are likely to be very reliable and accurate.
Other medication that affects blood glucose levels (Medication)
Sometimes you may need medications for other things besides your diabetes. Some medications can affect your blood glucose levels. It pays to know what these medications are.
Sometimes there is an alternative medication available that will not have the same effect. Sometimes you may need the medication anyway. But if you can anticipate the effect medications may have on your blood glucose levels it will allow you to plan to manage this.
Food and Type 1 diabetes
Healthy eating is an essential part of managing Type 1 diabetes. These facts about food and healthy eating will help you understand the requirements of a healthy food plan to maintain the balance required between food, physical activity and insulin.
Physical activity
Most people find physical activity improves their feelings of wellness and vitality. It also helps in managing stress. Physical activity makes your body’s cells more sensitive to the action of insulin. Getting started is sometimes hard. It all comes down to starting slowly and building up with help and support from your diabetes health team.
Smoking
The best-known effect of smoking is that it causes cancer. But smoking can also aggravate many of the problems that people with diabetes already face, such as heart and blood vessel disease.
Managing stress
Stress is a part of our daily lives but becomes unhealthy when it begins to make us less able to manage our physical or psychological health, or other factors in our lives such as our work and relationships. You will inevitably experience ups and downs in your journey with diabetes. Learning what skills and resources you have to help you manage stress (and your response to stress) can help you effectively deal with the difficult times.
Sexual Health
Diabetes may have an effect on the sexual health and function of reproductive organs. There are greater consequences for men than women but there are various options to treat conditions. The best idea is to talk about the problem and seek medical help.
Pregnancy
Having a baby is a very important time in your life. It involves going through many changes as you and your body prepare for the coming baby. Managing your diabetes is very demanding during pregnancy while there is so much else going on. But it is very important for both you and your baby that you put extra effort into your diabetes at this time. Support for this intensive effort is available from your specialist diabetes service.
Driving
If you have Type 1 diabetes, you need to be aware of the risks involved when you are driving. If you know the risks, you can take steps to manage them.
Travelling
When you have Type 1 diabetes you can usually do everything you want to do when you travel. But it does take planning ahead to handle your diabetes.
How you prepare depends on where you're going and for how long. Two weeks backpacking through Europe takes different planning than a week at the beach. Will you be crossing time zones? What kind of food will you eat and when? Will you be more active or less active than usual?