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I'm type 1 myself, so I feel for you. People don't realize that the hardest part is NOT needles or anything like that, it's the constant mental overhead of thin

I'm type 1 myself, so I feel for you. People don't realize that the hardest part is NOT needles or anything like that, it's the constant mental overhead of thinking about and managing your blood sugar every moment of every day. Every decision you make is informed by it. You make literally hundreds of micro and macro decisions related to your diabetes every day. A CGM and insulin pump have made my life easier. How old is your son?

GiorgioG 2y ago
He is 13 and he wears a Tandem X2 w/Dexcom G6 (soon to be G7?). It certainly makes life easier, but like you said there's constant mental overhead. We have SugarPixels all over the house, etc. His pump beeps at him so often he's just become accustomed to it and ignores it until he starts feeling bad (typically when he's going low). But that also means that it limits his ability to do things, he's got only a handful of friends that we trust leaving him alone at their home because their parents are willing to keep checking on him, etc.
- Trasmatta 2y ago
  Being a caregiver for a kid with t1 is exhausting, so kudos to you and your wife. The mental burden is SO HIGH for both the person with the condition and their caregivers. At some point if it feels right, it might be worth having him see a therapist or a counselor who specializes in chronic diseases. There's a very high correlation between depression and type 1 diabetes (last I read, you're like 300% more likely to experience severe depression as a T1D.) Especially once he goes into his teenage years, that's a really hard time for a lot of us diabetics (and sometimes during the "rebellious" phase, a kid will intentionally stop taking care of their diabetes). > His pump beeps at him so often he's just become accustomed to it and ignores it This is a real problem with insulin pumps and CGMs, because alarm fatigue is a real thing. It makes me mad that they insist on putting in all these alarms you can't configure, because eventually you just start ignoring it. For my CGM, I use xDrip which gives me much more customization around my alarms: I just leave on the ones that are important to me.

GiorgioG 2y ago

He is 13 and he wears a Tandem X2 w/Dexcom G6 (soon to be G7?). It certainly makes life easier, but like you said there's constant mental overhead. We have SugarPixels all over the house, etc. His pump beeps at him so often he's just become accustomed to it and ignores it until he starts feeling bad (typically when he's going low). But that also means that it limits his ability to do things, he's got only a handful of friends that we trust leaving him alone at their home because their parents are willing to keep checking on him, etc.

Trasmatta 2y ago
Being a caregiver for a kid with t1 is exhausting, so kudos to you and your wife. The mental burden is SO HIGH for both the person with the condition and their caregivers. At some point if it feels right, it might be worth having him see a therapist or a counselor who specializes in chronic diseases. There's a very high correlation between depression and type 1 diabetes (last I read, you're like 300% more likely to experience severe depression as a T1D.) Especially once he goes into his teenage years, that's a really hard time for a lot of us diabetics (and sometimes during the "rebellious" phase, a kid will intentionally stop taking care of their diabetes). > His pump beeps at him so often he's just become accustomed to it and ignores it This is a real problem with insulin pumps and CGMs, because alarm fatigue is a real thing. It makes me mad that they insist on putting in all these alarms you can't configure, because eventually you just start ignoring it. For my CGM, I use xDrip which gives me much more customization around my alarms: I just leave on the ones that are important to me.