Freestyle Libre CASE Giveaway! (UK Only)

Recently the lovely folk at Cara Collection contacted me with the offer of three beautiful cases for a Freestyle Libre Case Giveaway (UK only)!

Cara Collection make absolutely beautiful bracelets and accessories, but better still they come from a place of knowing about type 1 and wanting to make a difference using their skills and reach.  

I have THREE of their beautiful cases for a flash (geddit) giveaway on your favourite all-things-diabetes blog! 

Check out the full video for details, but if you want to get your hands on one of these gorgeous cases ABSOLUTELY FREE, all you need to do is:

1.  Enter why you just LOVE your Libre in the comments and leave a clue as to who you are (no personal details please, there are weirdos out there!)

2.  Send me an email at anna@insulinindependent.com so I can link up your  comment with who you are in case you are a winner

3.  If you are one of three lucky winners  - go ahead and enjoy your Libre in style!

Competition closes 16th October, 2016 at 6pm!

And don't forget to check out Cara's gorgeous webshop for stylish and gorgeous things you will love! They post to the UK and deliveries take just 5 days so enjoy the things you buy even quicker xxx

Paraphernalia free.

Wearing an insulin pump and Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), irrespective of how life-changing and valuable they have become to me, does come with its drawbacks: the paraphernalia, for example. 

The insulin pump is a fashion faux-pas whose clunky outline forever graces my profile. It either sits on my waistline likening me to an 80s yuppie with my pager in tow (anyone under 25, look it up), or it nestles between the 'twins', occasionally protruding and distorting the shape of my chesticle area. Much to the horror of unsuspecting onlookers. 

My CGM sensor usually graces my upper arm and although a great deal smaller, is perhaps even more obvious because upper arms aren't normally fitted with their own on/off switch. Mine is, however.

Cannulas changes happen every two days (the drawback of steel over Teflon). And CGM sensors last between two and three weeks. So paraphernalia-free baths are few and far between. I imagine planets align on a more frequent basis. But now and then, the ducks line up. 

You very quickly learn to wash paraphernalia areas with a certain caution, because a knocked-out £50 CGM sensor ruins even the most sunny day, and a pulled out cannula is no picnic. So a day when all landscape is free and clear is a treat not oft-enjoyed, but deeply treasured.

This afternoon as my 18-day CGM sensor expired and my set-change alarm piped up on my phone, I knew what delights would lie in store for me tonight. The water heater is primed to stay on that edge hour for that slightly deeper bath, and my bath bomb has been retrieved from the back of the cabinet. 

Between 8 and 9pm tonight, the door will go unanswered. 

Do you treasure the paraphernalia-free moments? 

Face cannula?

January 2014 will mark the fourth anniversary of my jumping on the pump wagon (that sounds somewhat racy, if you found this blog looking for something else, I can only apologise for what is about to follow...).  In that time I have reaped the many benefits of life using an insulin pump that converts spout about all the time; better BG control, more predictable BG levels, rarely bruising, no more needles, more freedom. Not exactly uncovering any secrets there.

But there is a little problem I has discovered as the years roll on: serious lack of 'landscape'.

By this I mean that once you remove your two or three day-old cannula, you need to move at least an inch away and allow that space time to heal for two weeks (ideally). That may sound easy, but after four years I am discovering that fleshy real estate on a diabetic is a valuable commodity. 

This weekend, as I prepare to join my cousin at her beautiful outdoorsy country wedding, and having reached a bit of a stale mate on the diet front, I decided to purchase some of those hideous monstrosity pants (Bridget Jones-esque) that suck you in and lift you up. You know the sort of thing like nickers with a girdle in. Smokin'.

As I 'hoiked' them up (actual term for the process of giving oneself a full-body lift while squeezing metres of your body into millimetres of garment), I realised that my usual stomach cannula site wasn't going to work. There was no room for anything else in this pant-horror.

But where to re-site it? My right arm currently rocks the Dexcom sensor, my giant pants rule out my midriff (I kid you not, they are THAT big) and I don't really want medical devices on both sides of my body when I sleep. They are a little 'lumpy' sometimes. 

So that leaves me with two options: my thighs or my face. You ever see anyone wearing a face-cannula? No, me either. 

So tonight I am trying out a thigh site. So far it feels awkward and obvious, like I am insanely aware of it being there. But that's how I felt about arm sites, stomach sites and love handle sites, too. And I have no doubt a face site would do the same. 

Perhaps I am about to discover my new favourite site, perhaps not. Time will tell. 

Do you use thigh sites? Or better still, a face-cannula?