Communicating Carbs: How to talk T1D
The language of type-1-diabetes isn’t always natural and can be confusing… sort of like a foreign language is to those who don’t know it.
Whether you are talking to the endocrinologist, the school nurse, teachers, friend’s parents, family members or your t1d child… it’s important to have a common base to start at in order to communicate the best needs of any diabetic situation.
This article subject is heavy on my mind this week after having multiple conversations with many of the people listed above. School this year has been a huge adjustment and we’re dealing with new faces and new knowledge backgrounds and new frantic calls, texts, and emails trying to get one of the “ninjas” squared away.
It all boils down to what I think the minimum amount of “facts” that need to be exchanged before any decision can be made. I’ll talk about them below, but also want to invite you to chime in with your thoughts as well.
The 5 Minimum Diabetic Convo Facts:
This is the minimum amount of information I think I need to make a decision about a diabetic situation… for example, at school for lunch.
Primary:
- Current Blood Sugar
- Insulin On Board
- Carbohydrate Count
Secondary:
- Activity Planned
- Time Since Last Insulin Bolus
The preference for me, is that whoever i’m talking to can skip the pleasantries and push me the 5 facts above about my diabetic ninja, and then we can get right to the heart of the conversation. If I have to ask the school nurse (as an example) what each of these numbers is while I am driving (as an example) it just wastes time for the nurse and me. Do you think this is too rigid?
I don’t…
When my kid is 100 arrows double down (on the dexcom) and they have 2 units on board and they are out at recess, and this is a potentially emerging low situation… well, it doesn’t really matter how my day is going or what the greeting of the day is.
“Just the facts, Jack!”
I’ve been working with the blue ninja and the pink ninja on communicating these facts as well in these situations. AS we know though, talking through devices these days is tough enough with kids and teenagers… and that is a whole different article in itself!
