What Diabetes Apps Do You Use?

Technology is great! It allows us to keep connected with other people in our lives. For example, It allows my teenager to contact me always. So when he is over at a friends or out with school activities he texts me his blood sugar numbers when they are out of range. So my question is what apps for your smart phones do you use for your type 1 diabetic?

Type 1 Available apps

There are so many apps available for use. Some seem perfect for a type 2 diabetic because  they help with meals and weight loss. The few type 1 diabetic apps I have reviewed and looked at are ManageBGL, My care Connect, and Go Meals or Calorie King. ManageBGL website talks about real-time Blood sugars (a sitter/child enters it and it gets to the parents), predictive lows or highs, ans so much more. What a wonderful way for parents to help easy an overnight with others. Then there is My care Connect. This one allows information from school, child, parent to communicate back and for as well as with the endocrinologist. I have not had the chance to use either one but have look at both closely.

 

Then there is the applications that help you carb count:Calorie King, GO meals. We utilize apps and books. Usually just what we can get our hands on fastest. They have allowed my teenager to feel more comfortable counting carbs.

Pros and Cons

Apps help so much and in so many ways depending on which app you decide to use. Apps need good cell service or wi-fi to get the information live. Don’t get me wrong I utilize every thing I possibly can to help me with my sons diabetes management, but there are times a book or a phone call is easier or more reliable. So a mix of technology and old school paper is good.

Knowing when to tell your child or other adult if the app, phone call or consulting a book, like ours “type 1 Diabetes and Babysitting”, will be the fastest or safest method. We can rely on technology until it does not work then we need to rely on paper. Plus there are things that are tangible like having a flow chart right infornt of you to know management. Let me know which do you prefer: paper or a screen?

Type 1 Diabetic Apps

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Sleepovers and Type 1 Diabetes

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Type 1 diabetic children and sleepovers

What was your childs first sleep over  as a type 1 diabetic? How did it go with the other parents? How did you prepare for the sleepover?

My sons first sleepover was stressful for me as a parent and a professional. He was going over to a wonderful families house to stay the night just 4 blocks away. I had trained the mother and she said she felt very comfortable helping him give shots and counting carbohydrates. I felt comfortable leaving him. But only after we had talked and discussed it thoroughly! He had only had diabetes for 8 months or so. So my husband and I had some time to ourselves for a while. Then dinner time came. The mother had called me upset because she just couldn’t give him his shot. The idea of putting a needle in another person upset her so much. This was something she did not expect to feel.  I went over and gave him his shot and then went the next morning to give him his shot. He did his own blood sugar testing. I was lucky because it was just down the street.

Once he had a pump he had an easier time with sleepovers. I still was very strict on where he could go. If he had a friend with physician parents they had an easier time keeping him overnight. They did get easier each time and as he became older.

I am curious about how this has worked for others. How did you teach families and parents? What materials did you use to teach these parents?

But mostly what is your story about the first sleepover and your type1 diabetic child?