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February 10th, 2012
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For the past few years, I've gotten into the bad diabetes habit of skipping boluses. Not food boluses. But blood sugar boluses. I have the habit of foregoing boluses when my blood sugar is 160 and under. I'll see a 140 or 155 and skip the bolus instead of bringing it down to 100. But above 160, I'm good about bolusing to bring the number down (something about those 180s and 200s scare me into submission).

 

I know that this extremely bad habit leaves my averages a little higher than they should be. And I'm not sure exactly why I do this...maybe over the years, a 150 doesn't seem so bad. Maybe I just get tired of so many injections a day so I leave off the "unnecessary" ones. Maybe it's some habit that I started in my childhood.

 

Whatever the cause, I really need to work on this. I know that it's better with the pump since boluses are much easier (as in they take much less thought) and it keeps track of my boluses. But I'm still not ready to go back on the pump at the moment (especially after I spent so much time getting that darn Lantus prescription). So what do I do to change this habit while on injections?

 

Maybe I need to start logging every carb and blood sugar bolus (I already log my Lantus since that's only twice a day). Or maybe if I just take it one day at a time, it would slowly change the habit. My brain is at a loss for what other tasks might change my bolusing habits.

 

My best bet is probably logging all my boluses. So what necessary information should I include in a daily logbook? In my current logbook, I log my blood sugars, Lantus injections, exercise routines, and specific medication changes every few days. When I stay on top of it, I also include strange food choices and important factors that might lead to certain blood sugar changes (like extra walking, nerves, or lengthy stays outside in the heat).

 

But I know that there are so many other important factors to my diabetes life that I could jot down to help out with my averages and A1c. Which makes me think of Kerri's recent logbook enterprise. She started logging blood sugars, carb intake, and insulin doses...which I believe is the exact thing I need to do to get this habit out of my life and prove to myself that I can get below a 7% A1c again.

 

So I believe I'll purchase some sort of notebook to carry around and log all these things...and hopefully I'll actually stick to the plan (I'm fairly good about logging as I have a strange passion for recording things). If I stay on track of that, maybe I can get my averages down to the 130's without major lows. Maybe it'll give me greater awareness for how many carbs I'm ingesting and how often I'm actually bolusing (oh how I miss the pump logging these things for me!).

 

Do you guys have any creative logging ideas for me? Or an inspiring way to kick my bolusing habit? I'm definitely open to listening!




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Lindsey Guerin
Lindsey GuerinLindsey is a typical, yet unique, Texas girl who loves shopping, movies and reading. She loves to travel and take risks. She dreams of diabetes cures, never-ending cheesecake and her own airplane. The rest you can discover in her blog! (Read More)
Nicole Purcell
Nicole PurcellNicole Purcell lists having type 1 diabetes last when she's asked to provide information about herself - because that's where it belongs.

(Read More)
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