It’s taken me a long time to learn this (or probably more realistically it’s taken me a long time to ACCEPT this) but good BG control really only comes from testing. I remember having one of those sessions with my specialist a couple of years ago – you know, the ones where you go there with your tail between your legs because you know you’re going to get a telling off or reckoning with – where I protested that I’m just TOO BUSY to have good BG control. My specialist (whom I like and respect very much) very calmly and fairly said, “I have doctors and lawyers who have type one and they have good blood sugars – the key is TESTING, TESTING, TESTING”. I think it was at that point that I finally realised that I was going to have to work at it a little harder to get the results I wanted.

So – nowadays I take anything between 8 and 12 tests a day. Pretty extreme given I went months in my 20s without a single test (believing instead in the ‘ostrich in the sand’ approach, which is backed up by the ‘I can feel what my BGs are up to and don’t need to test’ mantra). The downside is – finger prick tests can really mangle your delicate digits.

I got an interesting newsletter from Roche this week, and in it were some astounding pictures which I’ve copied below. The one on the left is a brand new lancet: the one on the right’s been used ten times. Definitely enough of a demonstration to get me to change mine at least once a day – think I’ll add that to my morning routine.