Recently I put together a table for my endo. It showed how my blood glucose numbers had changed month to month since I started using the Dexcom. I was able to use the Dexcom software to get this information, based on its readings.
I wanted to show it here for a few reasons. (And apologies to anyone who is vision impaired. Blogger does a lousy job with tables, so I had to post a screen snapshot of this.) First of all, my average (Mean column) is improving most months.
My standard deviation (SD column) is also improving. Here standard deviation indicates how tight my control is. It is now more accepted that tight control may mean less complications. If I can keep my standard deviation to about one-third of my average value, then my control is tight. And I'm nearly there.
In the last column I've shown my A1C values. Again there's improvement there, but not as much as the averages would predict. A blood glucose value of 135 mg/dL should give me an A1C of about 6.0%.
This is why I believe the Dexcom readings are lower than my true blood glucose values. And I blame that on the meter it's being calibrated against. Hence my impatience for the new Dexcom model.
It still amazes me how much those of us with diabetes focus on numbers. It's not like we have a choice. We test several times a day and then do some calculation with the numbers to decide how to correct (carbs or insulin). We try to guesstimate the amount of carbs in the food we're eating and how much insulin we need to cover this. We're constantly calculating to try and be substitute pancreases.
I look forward to the day when we're no longer forced to be math geniuses.
One thing that diabetes has taught me is the importance of water. We all need it just to keep hydrated. But anyone with diabetes probably needs water even more.
Whenever my blood sugar goes high my kidney have to work harder to take that excess sugar out of my bloodstream. And the higher sugar concentration isn't good for many parts of my body. So anytime I get a number higher than 180 mg/dL, I try to drink extra water. If my numbers are over 220, I'll drink about a pint of water or more. It's refreshing, it helps my kidneys flush that extra sugar and it also (I like to think) dilutes the excess in my bloodstream just a little.
There is no cure for diabetes.
Yet.
There's a great collection of photos that reflect life with diabetes at the diabetes365 project.
Those of you in Red Sox nation will understand my late posting.
I spent three days last week at a technical conference. A reasonably large turnout and a lot of interesting sessions for a geek like me.
In the middle of one session my continuous glucose monitor let me know my blood sugar was going low.
Naturally, I always carry something with me to help me correct it. In this case I used Smarties. These contain a good deal of dextrose which is quickly absorbed by the body. And they taste reasonably good.
If anyone noticed me, they probably thought I was just snacking on some candy. But I was really stopping my blood sugar from going lower and causing more problems.
Diabetes365 day 11 Thursday, October 18, 2007 - Fog
If you have Type 1 diabetes, you already know just how hard it is to control it. Every morning for breakfast you have the same things and you eat them at about the same time. When you test your blood sugar two hours later (a postprandial test) you get wildly different results.
And why is this? Well maybe you were stressed on one day and not on the other. Or you're coming down with a cold and that drives your blood sugar up. Or you ran for the bus and that made your blood sugar go down.
Managing diabetes is not a rigid, well-defined, set of instructions like a baking recipe. There are guidelines and lots of numbers and ratios. But a big dose of judgment is also needed.
When I see my endocrinologist (diabetes doctor) and they fill out that form with all the checkboxes afterwards, one of the boxes has the code 250.93 beside it. That's the one is normally marked for me.
It means "Type 1 diabetes - uncontrolled".
Well it's not that my diabetes is uncontrolled or out of control. It's just extremely hard to control it. The control is defined based on my blood sugar readings.
And what affects those readings? Food, exercise, sleep, illness, stress, menses. You know, the things of everyday life.
So I wander through a light fog trying to follow the markers and pretty much sticking to the path. And most days it's actually pretty good. As long as I don't think about it too much.
There's no cure for diabetes. And I really wish there was.
There's a great collection of photos that reflect life with diabetes at the diabetes365 project site.
This isn't a big surprise to me, but a new study that will be published in Diabetes Care shows that children with Type 1 diabetes who watch more TV have poorer control.
My guess would be that's because they lose the opportunity for extra activity, and probably snack some more, I guess I'll have to read the full report when it's available.
The numbers are pretty amazing. The number of hours per day of TV watched, is tied to the average A1c for the children in the study.
The Diabetes Technology Blog is focused on using technology to life better with diabetes. I review: blood glucose monitors; continuous glucose monitor; blood sugar meters; diabetes software and living with diabetes.
About Me
Name: Bernard Farrell
Location: Massachusetts, United States
I was born in Ireland and now live in the US.
I have had Type 1 diabetes for over 35 years. I struggle with my blood sugar, the same as most people with diabetes.
I wear a Cozmo 1800 insulin pump and a Dexcom SEVEN CGM to track my blood glucose levels. I also take Symlin to help control my post-meal blood sugars.
I'm blessed by God, and every day brings the possibility of a cure.
