Hi,
I do take insulin since about 2 years. As the cf-related diabetes is not like the normal type 2-diabetes, you should eat as much as possible , count the carbs and control it by different doses of insulin. The best thing is to test your blood sugar as often a possible, I do it up to 15 times a day. Only by testing you can see how much insulin you need for the things you eat and if you have to take more of it or have taken too much, so that you have to eat something extra.
I think a pump just helps, if you don´t want to pierce yourself too often a day ( as for example eating carbs 10times a day, you have to take 10times insulin). But even with a pump you have to know what doses of insulin you need, it doesn´t work automatically as the pankreas of healthy people does, so you have to test the blood sugars in the same way and as often as without a pump.
I´m not shure, how the "long-time-sugar" in the blood is called in english; in Germany its the HbA1c. When they take blood in the hospital this one shows if your bloodsugars are okay in the long term or not. I had a normal number last time, although i love sweets too!
As I don´t like to take insulin late in the evening, because of the danger of too low bloodsugars during the night, I eat some cheese, olives,meat, sausages or something else without (much)carbs when I get hungry late.
I have also noticed, that I have to take a huge amount of insulin when I eat something like Kellogs Smacks, so that the sugar isn´t going up too much. But about 2 hours later I have to eat more sweet things because otherwise the sugar is falling rapidly. The insulin I take is a fast one, so it starts its work about 20 minutes after taking it and stops working after 3 hours. So if I eat fat and carbs together like asian food (rice with meat and vegetables with a coconut sauce) or white bread with sausage, I have to take a second "shot" of insulin about 2,5 hours after the first, because the bloodsugars are getting higher then again. My doc told me, that carbs with fat do need more time to get into the blood, so some of the carbs go into the blood at once, some later, thats why I need 2 shots. Sometimes you need more insulin ( when you do sports, during infections), sou if you want a good bloodsugar-level you have to control it as often as possible...
I would be interested, how the other "insulin-takers" manage their diabetes in the public! I did never see anyone else than me testing the bloodsugars or using the insulin-pen in a restaurant, shopping mall etc.
One of my co-workers has type 1-diabetes. Until she saw me testing and taking insulin, she did never do it herself, when I was in the room...
Uli,43,Germany,cf/cfrd