Mark Austin is a 43 year old Contact Lens Optician who has been living with type 1 diabetes for 29 years.
Aged 14, Mark was displaying the classic symptoms of diabetes such as extreme thirst, fatigue and a dramatic loss of weight.
Mark carefully monitors his blood sugar levels but it wasn’t until he started using a Contour USB blood glucose meter that his worries over certain daily activities, such as sports, meetings and sleeping, reduced.
Running sugars high to avoid hypos
The two main areas of Mark’s life that have been affected by his diabetes are his work and sports such as his regular football games.
Working days are busy for Mark; when not seeing patients he is often committed to attending various meetings.
Meetings were a concern for Mark and to prevent hypos from occurring , he used to ensure his blood sugar levels were sufficiently high. This wasn’t an ideal solution, even in the short term, as the high blood glucose levels would affect his concentration and performance.
Hypos at night were a further worry for Mark and he would occasionally wake up sweating and shaking. The shock would often lead Mark to overcompensate for the hypo by eating too much food to correct his low blood sugar and would end up too high later on.
Making sense of the test results
Before Mark bought a Contour USB, he was entering his blood sugar levels into a spreadsheet he created himself. Whilst the spreadsheet helped Mark to pull the results together, he still found it difficult to draw useful conclusions and gain a real insight into how to tailor his lifestyle and manage his diabetes better.
The Contour USB has been especially useful for Mark as it has allowed him to learn from previous experience and adapt his regime to take these experiences into account.
During times of stress and illness, Mark has found that his new glucose monitor has helped him to record variations in his blood sugar over these difficult periods.
Mark likes the GlucoFacts software as it allows him to email his results to his healthcare team, which can help particularly between regular check-ups.
This means that if an issue comes up which needs attention; Mark can easily upload his latest test results and email them to his health team.
Mark’s impression of his Contour USB meter
Mark’s Contour USB meter has helped to take away a lot of stress and uncertainty he used to experience.
Whilst Mark has had diabetes for 29 years, he feels the Contour USB will also be particularly useful for someone who has been newly diagnosed and is trying to get to grips with managing their diabetes, as the meter could help to reduce some of the stress and worry that comes with a blood testing regime.
