Thursday, October 12, 2006

Bad Habits

I stink at logging. I was hoping the pump would solve this problem, allowing me to simply upload nad have beautiful logs to take to my endo. I was sorely disappointed when I saw that the CozManager does nothing like that, rather, I can get a list of everything happening. What the heck does that do for me? Nada.

I discovered the CoPilot, despite recalls preventing it from being used (for over a year- how long does it take to fix a bug?), I still used it. And it was...interesting. I finally got statistics, and that was fun. The insulin use charts showed me where I was doing a lot of corrections, but the log has crap all over it saying stuff like "imported from cozmanager" next to every bolus or bg level, making for a cluttered piece of mess. And the program decides if a bg was before or after a meal based on time of day. That's perfect if you eat at the same time everyday. I don't. That's why I pump. Why can't it figure out when you ate based on when the bolus was given, not time?

So I am back into an excel chart. I like it, I just need to keep up with it. Then hopefully I will have some good info to show my endo.

And I am realizing something- I have a lot of bad habits going on here.

My tests fall in no particular order. I seem to have gotten into a habit of just testing when I feel like it. This results in maybe 3 hours I tested every hour, then gaps of 5 hours without testing. Yeah, I get at least 6 tests in a day, but do they really tell me anything? I need to be testing before meals and two hours after if I really want to see how things are going.

Which brings my to my next bad habbit. I am a grazer. I eat what I want, when I feel like it. Yesterday I ate 196 grams of carbs for the day. Not bad. Except I didn't eat till 11, then ate around 11, 12, 1, and 2, about 20 grams each time. Then I didn't eat again till 7. Then I ate at 7, 8, and 10. Who the heck follows that kind of eating schedule? It can't be healthy. And the grazing results in a higher A1c according to Gary Scheiner in Think Like a Pancreas.

Allow me to break here to share something that annoys me with my pump, but yet I have no clue how it would be fixed. My bs is 77 right now. I'm cool with that. But I want to throw a load of clothes in and take a shower before I eat. I can do that, since I don't plan on dropping much lower. But it will be an hour before I eat likely. I enter my bg in my pump, so I know it's there and can upload it, see info in Copilot, and reference it when filling in my Excel sheet. But in an hour when I eat, I want my bolus reduced for that 77. I can enter the bg again when I bolus, but then that skews my testing averages. I guess I'd like the pump to offer the option to use the last taken bg as a correction (even if it was more than 10 minutes ago), or enter another bg then. What I do now is just cut about 10 grams of carb off the bolus to raise my bg a little.

So if I really want to see if my meal boluses are working, I need to both log, eat real meals, and test appropriately.

I like to think diabetes doesn't play a huge role in my life, and with pumping, it doesn't, but it does in this sense.

2 comments:

Scott K. Johnson said...

Hi Megan,

You know, I've yet to find any computer or automated logging that I'm really and truly happy with.

One of the problems with many of the commercial software out there is just as you mentioned. They decide if a test was pre or post meal, based on time of day. I'm the same as you in that I don't often eat at the same times or even time periods from one day to the next.

I also think that if I am going to log stuff, I need to make notes of things that impact the readings, for example any exercise, stress, sickness and/or dietary choices. All that is just really hard to do in most of the software available.

I too have been using an excel spreadsheet, one that I got from Kevin. It's nice, and I would be happy to send it to you if you would like. Send me an e-mail if you would like it.

I'm also the same in you that I'm testing all over the board. Sometimes it's one hour after eating, other times it's 5 or 6 hours in between. How the heck can you find any patterns or trends if the data points are not consistent?

And guess what... I'm a grazer too!! I swear, I could eat all day.

So, not sure if it makes you feel any better, but you're most certainly not alone with your habits. I'll let you know if I find anything that helps me break them. No guarantees though.

Take care!

BetterCell said...

A new Pancreas with fresh Beta Cells and an Immune System that will accept what is within, will "take care of all your current problems and concerns."