My Blog Posts: https://turner72.home.blog/blog-post-header-page/
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and I have created this blog simply to share the strategies that have worked for me. They may not work for everyone. Please consult your own doctor before making any changes to medications, diet, or exercise regimen.
I was born in 1972, and aside from contracting type 1 diabetes in 2003, I have lived a fairly healthy life. In 31 years before diabetes, sports included football, rowing, track, martial arts, duathlon, and triathlon. I was not very active after high school, though never terribly out of shape either. At the age of 30, I began to train and compete in triathlon and various road races in a big way.
The very next year, while beginning to train for the half ironman distance, I began to experience the symptoms (extreme thirst, fatigue, blurry vision, etc.) and also had a fasting blood sugar over 200 on an occupational exam. After that, I started checking my own blood sugar and survived by cutting carbs until I was seen by an endocrinologist and started on insulin. Given that the diabetes was in the early stages then, I didn’t require a great deal of insulin to prevent the spikes, so my first year was very good in terms of quality of life and athletic performance. After that, as my insulin needs increased, it became somewhat harder to control both blood sugar and weight.
My current insulin regimen consists of equal doses of Tresiba taken every day at 7 AM and 7 PM and either regular human insulin or fast-acting insulin (Humalog or Novolog) taken for meal boluses and corrections. Even though Tresiba is a multi-day insulin, I choose to split it to two doses per day due to frequent changes in insulin sensitivity. My total daily dose in recent years has ranged from roughly 30 to 50 units per day. Dosing twice per day provides more opportunities to improve my situation when I have one of those bad days in which there is a sudden need to either increase or decrease the daily dose.
For monitoring, I’ve been using Dexcom G5 and G6 since April 2018. Given my lifestyle that involves a lot of time in the water, I’ve never had a desire to use an insulin pump. That said, I believe CGM has been the single greatest improvement during the time I’ve had type 1 diabetes. I will post more on these experiences later.
My purpose in creating this blog is simply to share my own experiences and also receive feedback. I may occasionally mention product names, but please beware that I’m not sponsored by any of them nor am I a “Dexcom Warrior”. I think my habit of wearing their sensors on my arms and butt will not permit that to happen. I am going to keep this blog semi anonymous, but I will post photos. Thanks.
Ethan
Turner72 