The other day, Kerri posted about logging. General consensus among the comments and on Twitter was that we hate logging. It may be extremely helpful, but the very act of writing down each blood sugar, insulin dose and carb count borders on torture. So most of us just don't.
Enter me, the OCD freak. Yes, I do log. Practically every day (although some days I do slip a bit). I buy (yes, buy!!) the logbooks from Minimed and write down everything.
That's right, EVERYTHING (although it looks like I forgot to fill in a couple of things toward the end of that day). Reading from the top down, you can see the time of my blood sugar checks and the numbers. The carbs counts. The food bolus and correction bolus amounts. My basal rates are written in every day, even though they haven't changed in months. I put a check in the box when I exercise. Instead of noting ketones (which I rarely have & can note on the bottom page if I need to), I write down what my CGM read at the time of my finger-stick. Under that, I write down how much that reading varied from the finger-stick. Oh, and I also note if I calibrated or not.
On the bottom page, I fill in exactly what I ate for each meal and snack, along with the carb count for each food. And I note what exercise I did, and what my blood sugars where before and after.
Nothing like being thorough, huh? Yeah, my logbook is my Freak Flag, and I might as well wave it high!
I love that you are a logbook freak! You inspire me to get my own logbooky act together. :)
ReplyDeleteBut I'm laughing at "freak flag." Great phrase!
(Also, I owe you that email and I've now gone and broken my own stupid streak. Emailing now!)
I refuse to log; after 33 years of living with type 1, I no longer seek input from my doctor or educators on how to make decisions, therefore the issue of logging is an exercise in irritation for some of us!
ReplyDeleteI wish more of our patients logged like that!!!
ReplyDelete- nicole/@TOTALeMEDICAL
Karen -
ReplyDeleteWave your "freak flag" sister!
Your Dr. must love you and your ff, you totally put me to shame!
I don't have a "freak flag" log book.
Alas, I just freak out~
k2
PS Word verification is "flogi," how freaky ;)
You are far from a freak. Yes, you had admitted to OCD but that is ok.
ReplyDeleteI log too. In an Excel file. I log Everything too. (except basal since it has not changed in awhile) But I log Everything little thing, even things I am thinking sometimes, if emotions/feelings etc get the best of me and blood sugar level.
I'll wave it with you because I simply want to learn from my logging. No, it's not fun. I hate it, in 24 years I did not do it for the last 2, I just started up again. I do hate the micro look into my life, my days, my moments but in the long run it should help me, hell, it better!!
Keep up the good work!
Woohoooo! Wave that flag sista!
ReplyDeleteI'm anal about logging as well. Since Kacey is only 9 months into diagnosis, we're still faxing logs to the Endo each week. It's so much easier to see where those changes need to be made with logs. I'll have to share what our log looks like :)
Happy Freaking ...hahaha!
Jill
Scott, I admire your confidence. I'll be hitting the 30 year mark at the end of this year, and I agree that we old timers are really good at making our own decisions and knowing what works for us. On the other hand, I love to still be open to new information and tips to test out, and I find that precise logging helps that information flow. But like most aspects of diabetes, what works for one doesn't always work for all.
ReplyDeleteThat's a nice looking logbook. I think logging your BG numbers as well as the other info is good to reinforce changes or to see there is a need to change.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, there isn't a good option to do this in an automated fashion. The only thing close, which I currently use is Medtronic's CareLink. But even CareLink has its drawbacks.
The benefit to Excel is you can analyze the numbers to see the trends, deviations, averages, etc. Whereas in a hand written logbook, you need to do that visually or manually transfer it to Excel. I would venture to bet that if you take two people and with everything being equal, the one logging would have better BG and A1c numbers.
I applaud your dedication and judging by the numbers, you're doing a great job!
Great post. I too very much admire your logging! And actually, not only the logging, but deciding to log what makes a difference for you.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that Tony, being the "data dude" that he is, didn't suggest entering all of that data into a database that can be analyzed. :-)
I just print the data right off my meter and pump. I've never filled out a paper logbook! Sorry, guys.
ReplyDelete