Hi, everyone,
I'm new here and English is not my first language
so please bear with me.

My fiance is a type 1 diabetic and he hadn't taken a very good
care of his blood sugar for over 10 years.
Now he's been taking a very good care of his blood glucose over a year but because of his long time neglect, we just found out he has eye complications.
(he is at the early stage of proliferative retinopathy( he has new blood vessel in his eye) and we just found out this blood vessels bleed)

I've been searching internet to find things I can do for him and
I read somebody in this board mention a continuous glucose monitor.
I'm sure it'll help him monitor his glucose better.
(right now, he's testing his glucose four times a day and even though
he tries hard sometimes it ends up higher than the target range)
I'd really like to get some info/ feedback about this continuous glucose monitor.

However, here's a problem.
He gets very light headed when he sees a needle inserted into his body.
He can't do pump for this reason.(He tried pump about 10 months ago
and he almost passed out)
so if there's any continuous glucose monitor without implanting a
sensor or needle under the skin, I'd very much like to know.
(I live in canada btw)

Plus, if anybody has any advice for things I can do for his proliferative retinopathy, I'd also very much like to hear.
(Right now, he had a lazer treatment and we're waiting for the blood in his
eye to be absorbed.)

Thank you for reading my post. :)

A CGMS is useful because it enables one to treat low and high blood sugar before it becomes a problem. But to the extent that doing this treats the symptoms and not the cause of blood sugar swings, using a CGMS doesn't improve control. The main causes of blood sugar swings are eating too much carbohydrate, covering these carbs with too much and/or incorrectly timed insulin, and not taking exercise into account. Improving control really needs to focus on these areas. All this can only be successfully managed if the required information is available. This why it is necessary to do lots of testing, before meals, 2 hours after meals, before bed and first thing in the morning.

Doing all this will enable your fiance to figure out how to improve his control and slow the progression of his retinopathy. Apparently, a sudden reduction in blood sugar levels can aggravate retinopathy for a while. This may have happened in your fiance's case. But it won't last. If he works on maintaining good control (HBA1c <6.5%), he should be fine. The best you can do is to encourage him to do what has to be done. Cutting the worst carbs - potatoes, rice, bread, sugar, fruit juice etc. - out of your diet is a good starting place.

Thank you, Mark.
I'll talk about doing CGMS with him.

However, I have a question
If potatoes, rice,bread and Fruit are bad carbs,
what do you have for your carb intake?

Hi orangecat3, to quickly clarify, cgms stands for Constant Glucose Monitoring System, it is the name of the constant monitor you talk about.

I am a little confused at your post, because if your friend has problems with needle insertion, how does he go injecting his insulin? I have been type 1 for 15 years and recently on the pump, and canula insertion process is hidden in the quickserter, and less "injection like" than insulin injections. Also only once every 3 days rather than the usual 9 to 12 injections for injection therapy.

Not trying to argue, just wanting to understand :).


Understanding that it may feel like a "closed door", I still want to put a huge word in for pump therapy beacause now my basal rates and insulin ratios are worked out, it affords me good daily health and control as injections could never provide, even with my every effort. There are some things the pump can do to help stabilise blood sugar, that multiple injection therapy simply cannot. I guess I am saying if there is any chance of revisiting the pump in the future, it is worth it.

It is certainly a bigger step to control than a CGMS. The CGMS seems like a great idea and it is a valid tool, but limited because once you know you are high or low it is too late to avoid the problem. Also it does not negate finger testing, you need to calibrate it regularly.

Also to answer your question, I do not believe you will find an affordable CGMS that does not require needle like insertion, at this stage, but you can research the diabetes information sites on the net to find out.

Couple more things.

For "Good carbs", a good place to start is to look into the Glycemic Index (GI) of carbohydrates. This is a rating of how fast certain carbohydrates release sugar into the bloodstream. The rating is based on testing people's bloodsugar while they eat the carbohydrate. The results can be suprising, and there can be very large differences in the same type of food. For example, one type of rice high GI, fast release (such as sticky jasmine rice), another type of rice low (such as basmati rice). A much better choice for blood sugar stability.

Some more examples of "good carbs" substitutes:
sweet potato instead of most white potatoes.
Burgen or densely multigrain bread, rather than wholemeal or white.
Many pastas are pretty good, but eat in moderation.
Some semi-sweet biscuits are low GI, while many "crackers" are hi GI.
The list goes on.

If you look Glycemic Index up on the net you will get information and lists. Your bookstore or chemist should have books on this as well. Be sure to understand it: GI ratings are cropping up in supermarkets (at least where I live) but they can be misleading or not the healthy choices.

As well as GI and healthy carb choices, your fiance needs to count his carbs in some way, it may be the best thing he can do is revisit a dietician who can help him get going with carb portion counting. Without consciously monitoring carbs in some way, it is just too easy to accidentally overdose on carbs.

I don't want all this to sound overwhelming, it is all managable and easier all the time past the initial learning and research curve. I commend you for trying to help your fiance with this, it is very possible he will find a better, healthier place with his diabetes with sympathetic support, as long as he is prepared to put the work in positively. And take heart that life with diabetes can be reasonably transparent, it is possible to not have it run one's life (whether by being too overwhelming and limiting, or as a repressed, depressing threat). You CAN get along with it if you keep working for that goal.