Don't Be Afraid To Ask Questions!

Every day I am suprised by the people I get to talk to that have been newly diagnosed and have never been properly shown how to test or given guidelines about testing. This is, of course, no fault of their own!! I have doubts that doctors and other healthcare professionals are intentionally not informing their patients on the basics of checking their blood sugar and the immediate adjustments they can make to their lifestyle. Sometimes there is a delay in when this information is given. A lot of times I find the doctor will prescribe the patient to start testing and also schedule an appointmet with a diabetes educator. For the next week or so this leaves the patient scratching their head wondering where to start (and it can all be overwhelming at times).

I implore anyone who is newly diagnosed to ask your healthcare team right away about these issues. See if a nurse or someone else in the office can show you the proper steps to checking your blood sugar (even though every meter is a little different, the process is very similar for all models) and get clear guidelines for how often and what time of day you should be checking. In addition, your doctor will need to give you an idea of what is an acceptable range for your blood sugar to be in. They should also be able to give you immediate guidance on changes you can make in your daily habits. Knowing these things right away and establishing that foundation can help make the upcoming changes a little easier to cope with as well as put you on a path to managing your diabetes successfully.