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Home > Knowledge & support > Managing type 1 diabetes > Working with your healthcare team > Getting the most out of your clinic appointments
If you use type 1 technology like an insulin pump, continuous glucose monitor (CGM), flash glucose monitor or smart insulin pen, it makes it easier to share your data with your diabetes healthcare team.
Adding some details to your data can be helpful too – then you’re not just showing your diabetes healthcare team what happened, but also giving them an idea of why it happened too.
See if the app that’s connected to your device lets you add notes alongside your data. You don’t have to do this all the time, perhaps just for a couple of weeks before your appointment.
If you don’t have an app you can use, you can keep a diary of your glucose levels, insulin dosages, carbohydrate intake and physical activity for a couple of weeks before your appointment. You can find some good templates on the Gary Scheiner clinic website.
Make a note of any factors that might have caused a hypo or if your glucose levels have gone above target range. This will help your Diabetes Healthcare Team understand the whole story behind the numbers – for example, you ran for a bus, had a stressful meeting, or treated a suspected hypo before checking your glucose.
It’s a good idea to keep a record of your basal insulin dosages too.
If you’re using multiple daily injections and want to move onto an insulin pump, keeping a regular log of how your type 1 management is going can help your discussions with your Diabetes Healthcare Team about whether a pump would be suitable for you.
There are other things that it would be useful for your clinician to know at your appointments, particularly if you don’t see the same person every time. Keeping a note of the things listed below will help save time during the appointment:
You might want to consider keeping a food diary as well as a log of the amount of carbohydrate you’re eating and drinking. Doing this may help you identify if there are any particular foods that trigger a blood glucose response that you’re not expecting or if you’re miscalculating how much insulin you need.
Take some time to think about what you want to get out of each diabetes appointment. Consider if there’s anything you’d like to be different about your life with type 1 and if there’s anything you’d like to improve. For example:
Setting an agenda can help you feel more confident about talking openly and honestly in your appointment, which is important. Even if you’re not doing something you think that you should, talking about it in the clinic could bring up ways to deal with it, or you might find you’re expecting too much of yourself. Talking things through can often lead to a more positive outcome.
Remember that your clinic is there to support you to manage your condition, not to make you feel judged.
It can be helpful to take a pen and paper with you to your appointment so you can take notes. There’s sometimes a lot of information to take in so something to remind you later can be useful.
If your consultant, nurse or dietician recommends any changes, don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions and write down the answers. Here are some examples:
If you’re attending an appointment and want to talk about getting a device to help manage your type 1, like a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), flash monitor, insulin pump or hybrid closed loop system, it’s a good idea to get as much information together before you go.
You can find lots of information in our technology guide on how different pieces of tech work, how they can help you and the different models available. Taking specific information to your appointment can help your discussions, for example you might have found a particular make of CGM that you think will best meet your needs.
You can also find out what is available to you on the NHS before your appointment. This differs for each piece of equipment and can depend on whether you live in England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland. Use our Type 1 diabetes technology-finding tool to see what you might be eligible for.
You can also visit our pages which outline the guidance and process for getting a CGM, flash monitor, insulin pump or hybrid closed loop on the NHS.
Learn about type 1 management, including glucose levels, treating hypos and counting carbs.
Learn about what technology is available to manage type 1 and how to access it.
Find out more about complications and what you can do to help reduce your risk.