Diabetes technology can change lives for the better and can vastly improve your diabetes care. But it’s not for everyone.
Being emotionally ready to use diabetes technology is just as important as learning how it works. It’s not a quick fix for better diabetes management, and it can take some extra effort to adjust to using it.
Technology isn’t a quick fix
If you’re moving onto an insulin pump, a closed loop system, or you have been given a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), remember that any improvement to your blood sugar levels, also called blood glucose levels, is unlikely to happen straight away.
Your routine is going to change, which can sometimes feel difficult, especially if you’ve been using insulin injections and finger-prick testing for a long time.
It’s important to remember that technology is only a tool to help you manage your diabetes. On its own, diabetes tech won’t help to increase the amount of time your blood sugar levels are within your target range.
But you can work alongside your healthcare team to help you use the technology to reach your individual blood sugar targets. If you go into using technology thinking it’ll do it all for you, you might end up feeling disheartened.
“I started using an insulin pump after approximately 85,000 injections. It is amazing technology but not perhaps the enormous improvement I was expecting. It’s quite hard being attached 24/7, but my control is so much improved compared to in my childhood days.”
- Peter, living with type 1 diabetes, who was diagnosed in 1956.
Technology gives you a lot of data
Devices such as CGMs constantly record your sugar levels. This gives you an insight into how your day-to-day life affects your blood sugar levels.
But getting this amount of data can feel overwhelming. People can become preoccupied with it. And if the data isn’t trending the right way it can be disheartening.
It’s important to think through how you’re going to feel about getting a lot of data that you’ve not had before.
You can talk with your healthcare team about how best to manage and respond to this data. You can also speak with others on our forum about diabetes technology.
Technology burnout
For some people, the amount of information they get from technology can be tough to take in.
Not only can you receive a lot of data on your sugar levels, but some people can find alarms from CGMs and insulin pumps overwhelming, especially at night.
Some people experience something called diabetes distress when they feel overwhelmed by the relentlessness of diabetes, and this can lead to diabetes burnout.
It can be frustrating when your blood sugars are trending up, even when you’re trying hard to maintain your target level, and having high blood sugar levels over a long period of time can increase your risk of developing diabetes complications. This can make you feel even more anxious or distressed – it can become a cycle of negative thoughts.
These feelings are understandable, and they can make it feel harder to take care of yourself and your diabetes, so it’s important to get support.
If you think you might be experiencing this, we have more information and support about diabetes distress and burnout to help you.
Tech can feel like a burden
Diabetes technology can make self-management easier for many people but using it does require regular upkeep and adjustments to routines.
If you have an insulin pump or a CGM then they will be attached to you almost all of the time. This can sometimes feel like a burden, and some people don’t like having their diabetes tech on show. Some people feel this way when they’re doing exercise, for example.
It might not bother you at all, but it’s worth keeping in mind when you’re deciding whether to use tech or not.
Feeling ready for tech
Here are a few things to think about to help you feel prepared for tech:
- How you’re going to manage the amount of data – think about how you can make sure it’s useful, but not overwhelming.
- What your expectations of using technology are – it’s good to have all the facts and be realistic about what it can do.
- How you might feel having the technology attached to you all the time – think about whether it might cause issues with exercise, or change how you feel about your body.
- Talk these things through with your healthcare professional. Feeling emotionally ready for technology is just as important as learning how to use it.
What if I’m not ready for new technology?
It might be that you don’t want to use certain technology. For example, if you use multiple daily injections, you might not want to switch to an insulin pump.
Your healthcare team might recommend you use certain diabetes technology to help with your diabetes management, however you should tell your team if you’d rather not use certain technology. They can they work with you on a plan going forward.
Remember we’re always hear to talk. If you’re unsure about technology or have questions, you can talk it through on our helpline.
