Image by DeathByBokeh via Flickr

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be diabetic?  Have you ever wondered what exactly the deal is with the constant testing of blood glucose levels?  Then check out my latest post over at Musings of a JDRF Supporter, in which I talk about why monitoring blood sugar levels is so important and why living with type one diabetes is more complicated than just injecting insulin at regular intervals.  To give you a small teaser:

Even the process of giving a regularly scheduled injection is not
entirely straightforward.  When determining how much insulin to
administer, a diabetic must take into account their current blood
glucose level, the amount of carbohydrates, and their anticipated level
of physical activity (which also affects blood glucose levels) over the
next several hours.  Based on this information, a diabetic can make an
estimate of how much insulin they need and inject themselves.  Such
calculations are not precise however, and a diabetic needs to check
their actual blood glucose level periodically after administering
insulin.

In a future post, I want to talk about insulin pumps and how the issues I bring up here impact the way they work.