#DBlogWeek Day Five: Tips and Tricks

I'm currently sitting in my last mandatory class of high school writing this, so that is exciting. I'm also very tired because I stayed up way too late working on yesterday's AP Lit time capsule and I've netted maybe 4 hours of sleep at the most; if I seem like I'm rambling a ton or I just don't make sense, that's probably why!

Let's round out the week by sharing our best diabetes tips and diabetes tricks. From how you organize supplies to how you manage gear on the go/vacation (beach, or skiing, or whatever). From how you keep track of prescription numbers to how you remember to get your orders refilled. How about any “unconventional” diabetes practices, or ways to make diabetes work for YOU (not necessarily how the doctors say to do it!). There's always something we can learn from each other. (Remember though, please no medical advice or dangerous suggestions.)

 As soon as I read this prompt, I thought back to #DBlogWeek two years ago and remembered writing for a similar prompt. I loved reading through everyone's tips and I learned a few new tricks myself. I'm excited to look at everyone's new tricks and happy to share a few of my own!

• CGM Sites: Seriously, I have no clue how Dexcom expects their sensors to stay on for seven days with the adhesive they put on sensors. Without any help, my sensor lasts maybe three or four days. To solve this problem, I use Opsite Flexifix to keep my CGM in place. I cut out a rectangle a little bigger than my CGM and its adhesive, then cut out a hole in the middle to make sure the sensor itself isn't covered in tape for a week. I usually keep an old CGM site around (even though that sounds kind of gross) so I can make sure I'm cutting things out correctly.
• Keeping Your Pump Attached: This is more of a girl issue because dresses are a major problem when it comes to figuring out where to put my pump. Nike running shorts (or compression shorts) are perfect to wear under a dress and won't fall when you clip your pump to them. Some people attach their pumps to their bras as well, but I have no clue how to do that without it looking like I have a strange rectangle in the middle of my shirt.
• Priming Your Pump: Whenever you're priming your pump, put your pump on its side with the tubing being held straight up in the air. This will get rid of those pesky air bubbles at the top of your cartridge. I feel like I read this on either Kerri's or Kim's blog (so there's me giving credit for the idea) and it changed my life completely. I can't believe I had never thought of this before.
• Organizing Supplies: I organize my supplies using these fabric bins and putting them inside of a shelf and it makes my life so much easier. They are color coded for ease of access when I'm frantically trying to find a site. I use green for my sites, since my sites are green; blue for my cartridges; and orange for my CGM sites, since the boxes they come in are orange. It's a super simple system and it's so much nicer looking than having cardboard boxes all over my room.

Those are my newer tips and tricks that I have discovered since last #DBlogWeek's post and I seriously hope that I learn a bunch more by reading through everyone else's posts as well! This has been an awesome #DBlogWeek and I'm so glad Mrs. Dugan convinced me to come back to blogging, especially because it was just in time for me to jump in to the week's topics. I'll be writing a lot more often, so stay tuned for more!

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If you love learning about new tips and tricks that make your life a little easier, check out the page with all of today's blog posts here!