Everyday is Diabetes Day

25/02/2025

08/10/2024

The Anytime CT3 CGM is the latest CGM to arrive in South Africa and a few community members have reached out to ask if it is reliable. While we’re excited about the lower price (R650 excluding the transmitter), we want to caution community members that it has not been extensively tested on people living with Type 1 diabetes.

The CDE website states that it is only for people over the age of 18 years, and that it has been tested on 72 patients. Of those 72 patients, only 17 had Type 1 diabetes. And the clinical study was not published, which means it has not been peer-reviewed.

We don’t believe that a CGM should be released in South Africa until a published international or South African study on the reliability and efficacy of the CGM has been done - including an appropriate number of people with Type 1 diabetes, especially if it is being marketed to them.

We do not know much about the accuracy of the sensor, especially for those living with Type 1 diabetes. When trying out new sensor technology, it is always best to do so cautiously.

Community members have shared that they usually test out new CGM devices alongside their original/trusted sensors, or ensure multiple finger prick tests to determine the accuracy of low and high glucose events.

Any feedback from our community is very welcome!

26/01/2024

The first few weeks of 2024 have been an abundance of balance of all of my favorite things.

Lots of outdoor time and delicious home made meals.

This month I also decided to start habit tracking and the habits I decided I needed to work on were:
1. No spend month - only buying needs and not wants. This has really helped in terms of meal planning and prepping and not just buying convenience meals from the shops.
2. Moving for 30 mins a day - this can be anything from a stroll to a jog or a stretch. I’ve found getting my 30 minutes done in the morning is best, I tend to be lazier in the afternoons.
3. No gluten - I’ve been getting rashes, vomiting, nausea and severe bloating from something. I’ve been for allergy and celiac disease tests but everything has come back negative. So my next step in this journey is to cut out gluten for a month and if that doesn’t work ill be cutting out dairy for a month next 🙌🏻 even tried gluten free pizza for the first time (pic 8)
4. Changing my needles- one area of my diabetes management that I struggle to do, sometimes only changing the needle if it’s sore or if it’s time for a new pen 🙈 so this month I’m challenging myself to change my needle once daily 🙌🏻

Every evening I have to tick off whether I have achieved the habit or not on my habit tracker which is stuck on my cupboard so that I see it every day! (Pic 7)

Next month I will be choosing some new habits to track- what habits are you looking to change? ☀️

15/01/2024

When you go on a hike in 26 degree weather and your glucose levels are kind to you 🫶

Woke up low. Had a pronutro bar (15g carbs) and just before the hike I took a few units of insulin, knowing that I usually spike in the morning.

Checked my glucose regularly while we were hiking but stayed stable and didn’t need any corrections. When we got to the peak, I ate another pronutro bar with no insulin and managed to get back to the car park with no lows 🙌🏻

The rest of the day I also required less insulin because of the extra exercise 😊

06/12/2023

And just like that another year slows to an end and the festive season begins 💫 It’s time to unplug, disconnect and slow down to take it all in before we enter a whole new year!

When your work involves social media, you have to take advantage of the fact that the office is closing which means I get to take a much needed break from the online world. ‘Offline is the new luxury’.

Wishing you all the best festive season, I’ll be seeing you all in the new year 🫶

04/12/2023

Forever that girl at a social gathering who is making best friends with the dog!

23/11/2023

This week I went for tea with a man who is in his 80’s and has been living with Type 1 diabetes since he was 15 💙

16/11/2023

Yesterday I attended the first in-person Diabetes Summit in South Africa 🇿🇦

The discussion of the day was around the National Strategic Plan targets and how we can translate policy into reality.

The one topic that really stood out for me was the comparison of the way the nation has addressed HIV versus Diabetes.

Andrea Feigl shared that a colleague had a patient who said “I would rather have HIV than diabetes because then I would have access to treatment”

Attached is an image from Zaheer Bayat’s presentation, who suggested that if the nation gave report cards for HIV and Diabetes control - HIV would get an A+ and Diabetes would get an F.

With only half of people living with diabetes getting diagnosed, and only 25% on treatment - a lot needs to happen to reach the targets that have been set for diabetes in South Africa.

I hope that we can collaborate with the change makers in HIV care so that people living with diabetes, can have better access to the treatment and support that they need to thrive with diabetes.