I think some people are afraid of their blood glucose meters. I think that fear needs to be eliminated because it makes diabetes too big and powerful—you have given it permission to dictate your emotions.
If you were trying to lose weight, you would emotionally not fare as well by stepping on the scale every day as you would by stepping on it only once a week.
Yet blood glucose readings need to be taken several times a day, without fail.
The more we can do to minimize emotions with the task, the better off we will be when it comes to the emotional side of life with diabetes.
So try this on for size. You can do it with someone else in the room or not—you can say it under your breath. But speak loud enough that YOU CAN HEAR YOURSELF say it. Heck, you can be in a closet in the dark for all it matters—you just need to be able to read the screen.
Start the sentence when your meter has 2 seconds left. That way you’ll have already started before any BG number appears on the screen and you’ll be more likely to finish the sentence.
It has two parts. Each recognizes the PURPOSE behind checking blood glucose levels. You need to (a) know the reading because it (b) helps you decide what to do next.
So, with 2 seconds left before the meter is finished, start saying MY METER SAYS MY BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVEL IS [fill in the reading]. THAT MEANS I NEED TO [complete the sentence].
For example, when I got back from my run yesterday I checked and said aloud: My meter says my blood glucose is 158. That
means I need to enter the number into my pump and have the bolus wizard tell me if I need to bolus to bring down the number.
It’s kind of funky to hear it out loud. But very good training for keeping things in perspective about why we do what we do when it comes to blood glucose management.
Rock on.
