[j_perd]

I've been diabetic for 12 years now, I'm nearly 20, and I haven't taken care of myself at all for over 5 years. I want to gain control over this again, but it's so difficult. I constantly forget to check my sugar or even take my insulin. Any suggestions on how to remember this stuff? I feel like I was just diagnosed again (Noob)

[Jamison]

Get on a daily schedule. If you live with your family or if your involved with other people every day, tell them to remind you.

[UpNorth]

I've been diabetic for about 3.5 years now, and i'm turning 23 this year. In the beginning, for the first week or so, i set alarms on my mobilephone to remind me of injecting and testing. Then it just became a habit to just take that little break and test and inject. It does happen i forget i'm diabetic sometimes and just eat and then... Shiiiiiiiit i forgot to take my insulin after a while when i feel my sugar is going up. **** happens If you want control, then you really just need some self diciplin. Just do it! If you simply can't remember to do your "D stuff" then just ask someone around you to be your personal reminder parrot

Hope everything will go well And one thing is for sure. When being in control, you'll feel GREAT!

[shiftzor]

I use an alarm every day on my phone for my 24hour jab, I have only forgotten once and realised later in a night club, I remembered at 5am (normal time is 7pm). Learn to walk before you can run, start out with testing and injecting before your meal. Then build it up from there, before you know it, it will become a habit. If you think about like its life or death, then it really motivates me, find out what motivates you. I know if I ignore diabetes then it will win and I don’t plan on going down without a fight .

[j_perd]

I think I will make use of my cell phone alarm. My wife (yes, I was married young!) is great for reminding me, but some times its 20 minutes after we eat, "Did you test yourself?" ****!! I've been really good about taking my Lantus every night, which is most likely the only thing keeping me from ending up in the hospital. Thanks for the advice!

[shiftzor]

You could start writing it down in a log, that way you can see if you have done your injection yet and what bg level was. I personally use software to download the contents of my meter, manually adding insulin dose and various comments. Maybe being more methodical will help you and make yourself accountable for your bg level. Testing even if you have forgotten to take your dose and know you will be high, at least you will see the cause and consequence of what you eat and do. Good luck

[j_perd]

Okay, 5 days and running I've been doing pretty good. I set my cell phone alarm (the alarm is my voice saying "CHECK YOUR BLOOD SUGAR!!!). It's been rough, because I'm so used to having highs, and I've been getting a ton of lows! I almost passed out last night...

My wife has been great, too, at reminding me. I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing, and thanks for your help and suggestons.

[xMenace]

Dude

Let me ask if you even know why you are testing. There are in fact many reasons to test. I've found that when I associate testing with a reason, I pretty much have to test. I am contemplating writing an article about my thoughts, but in a nutshell here's some things you can do.

Basal test - what happens when you don't eat? What happens in the middle of the night? Does your basal insulin keep you flat? Does it last 24 hours? Are you in danger of going hypo?

Meal profiles - How quickly does food make your BG rise? Whole wheat vs. white bread? How quickly does your meal bolus work? Do your food and insulin profiles match? What adjustments can you make to make them match?

Compliance - Now that you understand your basal and meal profiles, you actually have firm expectations, are you meeting them? If not, how do you correct?

Activity - what's the impact of n minutes of walking on your BGs? Of an hour if anaerobic competition? Of a four hour round of golf!

Rebounds - you've had a doozy hypo. How long does the hormone dump affect you and by how much? How are you going to treat the next one?

Stress, sickness, weather, sex, blah, blah, blah.

You can get rather anal about such things. You can get lost in your tester! Be realistic. But testing with a purpose makes a huge difference!

Start with the top two. They're the biggies.

[j_perd]

Sounds like a good idea. At this point the "reason" is that I like having my legs and eyesight. lol... But experimentation sounds like a good purpose too.