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4 Essentials of Managing My Diabetes

We all have our favorite meter’s, pumps, syringes, glucose tabs, CGM’s, and whatever else you use to manage your diabetes.  Here are my top 4 essentials to managing my diabetes.

Medtronic Minimed Paradigm 722Insulin Pump

This is my insulin pump of choice at this time.  It is the one that I was given when I first got the pump 5 years ago, well it was a Paradigm 712 at that time, but I upgraded to the 722 at the beginning of the year.  I don’t have any issues with the pump, but there are some things that I do like with the other ones as well.  This pump is my life right now.  I would not be able to manage my diabetes as easily without it.  I did MDI and it just didn’t work for me, I eat too frequently and eat at random times that just make it best for me to use a pump and bolus at any given time.

Freestyle Lite MeterFreestyle Meter

For a very long time I used all One Touch products.  That stopped about a year ago when I received a Freestyle Lite meter, and I haven’t switched to another since then.  I absolutely love this meter.  I never have any problems, it’s small and the best part about it is the light it has.  I test more frequently, especially at night because of this light.  I would never test at 3 am because I didn’t want to turn the light on because then I can never go back to sleep.  With this meter, I can just turn on the light on the meter, test, and go back to bed.  I do use other meters in different situations.  I use a True2Go meter when I am traveling or golfing because it carries easier.  I look forward to trying out the Contour USB, who knows, that may become the new meter of choice, we shall see.CGM

Minimed CGM

Even though I don’t use this as often as I should, when I do, it helps me out tremendously.  My average BG levels are about 20-30 points lower when I use it.  It comes down to dealing with the pain of inserting a new sensor.  That is the number one reason that I hate to put it on because quite honestly, it hurts.  The needle is extremely long, so that’s not a plus either.  Once it’s on and calibrated I love it.

SkittlesSkittles

You may be wondering why this is one of my essentials.  Well, it’s because this is the most comfortable item that I like to use.  When I eat a bag of Skittles(the small bag shown here), I know how much it will bring up my sugar, which means that I don’t overeat.  When I am eating other things like glucose tabs or orange juice or whatever else, I don’t know how much it will raise my sugar, so then usually my sugar is way too high at that point then.