Helpful Hints

Diabetes can be difficult sometimes. Everyone has their good and bad days with it. Here are some helpful hints

• Take things one step at a time. If having trouble doing an injection, stop and walk away for a minute. Come back to it when calmed down and relaxed.
• For younger children learning how to do their own injections, try a reward system. For example, if he gives himself his shot, he will get a sticker put on the calendar for that day and 20 stickers equals a small toy. It will act as an incentive for the child to learn to do his own shots.
• Don’t deprive you child/self of “junk” food. It will only cause a child to want to cheat on his meal plan. Instead, allow cookies or something he likes for dessert or snack. If cheating is a problem, talk with your doctor and see what you can do to fit in an extra snack and not have high blood sugars.
• Always make sure when going places, extra diabetes supplies are taken with you. It would not be a good thing if you were to run out of test strips on your way somewhere.
• Keeping glucose tabs in the car is a good idea incase for some reason you don’t have a tester or food with you on a short trip to the store, or if you run out. Glucose tabs don’t expire too quickly and won’t melt or freeze (that I know of) in your car.
• Ketone strips can be use not only to check for well, ketones, but also to test and see if soda is diet in a resteraunt. By testing soda, you can erase any doubt over whether or not the soda is diet. All you have to do is dip the stick in your soda and match it up on the bottle like you would if testing for ketones. (basically, if it changes color it isnt diet, if it doesn't then it is diet)