A Year In My World

2016 – The Year I Took Control Of My Diabetes

Another year almost over, Christmas just around the corner so I thought I would do a 2 part blog, my last of the year, a kind of year in review if you like.

For me this year has gone so quickly, and so much has changed with my diabetes and how I manage it. I am another year older, and to a small extent a bit wiser  😆

I have learnt so much in the past 12 months about my diabetes and how I can best manage it. 

The purpose of my final blog of the year is a month by month look at the life of a type 1 diabetic. Exploring how the different events in my life have had an effect on my diabetes and how I adjust things to cope with the situation. I hope you enjoy taking a trip back through the year with me, hopefully it will explain how much a type 1 has to think about with every life event during the course of a normal year.

January

Worst month of the year in my opinion. It’s cold, damp, wet and windy here in the UK, we don’t even get the joy of a snow-day very often in London anymore! From a personal point of view nothing much happens in January, other than trying to lose the weight that Christmas always seems to pile on me. 

This year though we had the first T1D London meetup event to look forward to at the end of the month. I really enjoy these meetups, it’s always a great opportunity to meet new people and catch up with old friends. 

 

**January’s Top Tip**

I always reduce my basal insulin dose prior to drinking alcohol, helps to prevent a hypo once alcohol is in my system.

February

Busy month on a personal front, it is Mrs Type1Bri’s birthday this month, I won’t tell you an age though, more than my life is worth!

We had a great time having a special day out in London, playing the tourist, followed by an evening in the West End. 

We went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Drury Lane, amazing how you fancy some choccie treats after that!

From a diabetes perspective birthday celebrations come at a cost to the blood sugar numbers. Alcohol, good food and late nights all take their toll on control. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**February’s Top Tip**

It is OK to relax your control for special occasions, you have type 1 for life and occasionally you need to let it take a back seat. See it, bolus for it, enjoy it and then afterwards correct if necessary.

March

Spring is finally in the air, the Winter is behind us now and that can only mean one thing, all your basal rates go to pot! It seems whenever there is a change in temperature my basal needs looking at and adjusting. In the case of spring this year I seemed to be hypo a lot so needed a reduction in basal insulin.

We also had our 2nd T1D London meetup of the year. We started at midday in the pub for this one, and we were still in the same pub at 10pm that night, great company and great times.

**March’s Top Tip**

Basal levels are a continuous work in progress, just when you think it’s all set, it all changes again. This is part and parcel of life with diabetes, test, adjust and move on.

 

 

April

Spring is well and truly upon us now. The Winter had taken its toll on my garden fence and shed though. That can only mean one thing, it’s a Bank Holiday and I have a ton of DIY to sort out. A new fence and a new shed were order of the month. Being tight as I am I wasn’t going to pay a tradesman to do the work, I can do that myself!

This brings another lesson in Type 1, you will hypo if you do not take preventative measures if you are extra active. As I work in an office during the week, an active weekend was always going to need some changes to regime.

**April’s Top Tip**

When you have a planned activity always reduce your basal in advance. Failing to plan is akin to planning to fail.

May

Summer is almost in touching distance. By far this is my favourite time of the year, just having a nice sunny day makes the whole world seem good again. In fact we had a really nice weekend during May, so we made the most of it and had our first day trip to the seaside of the year. Ice creams were eaten, fish and chips were munched and a great time was had.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May was also the month where I had my Endo appointment and put my case forward to begin on insulin pump therapy. My consultant was great and recommended me for a pump, he could tell that the pump could be the answer to the control problems I had been having. The countdown is on for pump start day.

**May’s Top Tip**

Make hay whilst the sun shines, it doesn’t happen much in the UK so when it does, get out there and do something with your free time. This is good for mental health and that goes hand in hand with diabetes success in my experience.

 

June

Halfway through the year already, time flies when you are having fun!

This is  the month I decided to start writing a blog and when www.type1Bri.com finally went live. I had been wanting to become a blogger for some time and finally decided this was the month to make it a reality. I get so much from blogging and really enjoy writing this website. Have a look at why I blog  ➡ Here

This month bought the first weekend break of the year. It is our wedding anniversary month and as Mrs Type1Bri has been nagging me to have a weekend in Liverpool, pretty much from when we met, we decided to make a weekend of our anniversary this year. Packing for a weekend away is always a bit of an effort, when you have type 1 there is another whole load of stuff to consider. Insulin, test strips, blood meter, spare insulin, spare pen, needles etc etc the list is huge. At least we were going away in the UK so if I did forget anything it wasn’t too much of an issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

** June’s Top Tip**

When going away always take a copy of your repeat prescription with you, might come in handy if you need emergency supplies whilst away.

Halfway already

Well that’s the first part of 2016 done and dusted, and the time flew by this year. Part two of the year held some big changes for me, all for the better, in my diabetes care.

Please keep an eye out for part 2 of this blog. Lots of great memories still to come and some more top tips.

For now

Take care Xmas is just there  ➡ 

Type1Bri