Wearing the Dexcom CGM to check BGs has been a great help in my journey. The device readings are usually really accurate. To check for carbohydrates count, I refer to the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital Carbohydrate Counting Food List that you can easily find on their website or via Google. Whenever I exercise, I would make sure that I inject 1-2 units lesser if I am within the normal range. If not, I will just inject using my normal insulin to carb ratio of 1:6. Another way I count carbs: I would get a journal and write down the insulin units I injected for a particular meal. For example, Pizza (7 units). If it’s wrong, I will adjust it by 1 unit and put a “?” next to it to see the next round it changes again or not. Once I find the accurate number of insulin, I will remove the “?” and leave it in my notes.

Key factors impacting my BGs would be when I am stressed at work or school, when my menstruation cycle is nearing, or when I am having my period. These examples cause my BGs to be high. For lows, it usually happens when I am having a long day out walking (e.g. a day in USS where there’s a lot of walking), exercising (e.g. going to the gym), having mental health struggles (e.g. negative thought, panic attacks, or sudden outbursts of anger), or if I am nervous or excited (e.g. when I am organising an event, or someone’s wedding proposal).

For emergency situations, I always keep a packet of ribena and 1 packet of gummy sweet (hi-chew works the best) wherever I go to treat my hypos. As for the hypers, I generally drink tea, lots of water, or go on walks/exercise to bring my sugar down.

Being a patient that was diaganosed in the midst of COVID-19, it was difficult. However, thanks to my doctors who ensure I visit them every 6 months, I always had enough insulin supply. As for the other items like needles, test strips, lancets, etc., I get them from Shopee or Lazada as they are generally cheaper than getting from the local stores. When I see that my supplies are down to the last box, I will order online again, and it takes 1 week to arrive. During this time, Dexcom wasn’t made available to me yet. Hence, for 1 year, I was on the pen but changed to Medtronic’s pump and CGM. However, those two didn’t work well on me and I kept facing a lot of technical issues (e.g. pump blockage, inaccurate readings from cgm, lots of error alarms, etc). Eventually, I gave up on that and changed to manual insulin pens with Dexcom CGM. These CGM prescriptions come from my doctor.