I know I've written about this before, but it keeps coming up. So bear with me as I talk this out.
The last couple times I've gone to the endocrinologist the nurse takes my pump to download all the goods: insulin:carb ratio, basal rates, and the blood sugar readings from my Ultra Link meter that automatically enters my blood sugar into the log in my pump (man do I love that feature!).
So as the PA (who I'm growing to like) looks over my numbers she asks roughly what times of the day I have breakfast, lunch and dinner. She writes the times on the sheet and continues examining the numbers.
And as she's asking me about certain numbers and times of day and mentioning some horrendous highs I have come to realize that while I know how important logging can be abstractly it is even more important when you're talking about adjusting basal rates based on the time of day or insulin:carb ratio based on the time of day.
Typically my schedule is pretty set: breakfast around 8 a.m. while I drive to work (half peanut butter sandwich with a touch of strawberry jelly to help it go down and typically a Diet Coke), lunch around noon, and dinner around 6. But there are times when I don't feel like eating lunch until 1 p.m. or I go early. And there are just as many times that I don't feel like eating dinner at 6 p.m. and wind up eating around 8 p.m. or not really having a meal at all and just having a granola bar and a glass of milk.
So when K is looking over my readings and sees a number at 1 p.m. there's no telling if that's a pre-meal or post-meal reading. And that means a lot when you're talking about tweaking rates.
So I'm torn right now because I know and understand the value of logging not only my blood sugar, but what I've eaten and when. However, based on my past attempts to log my track record basically stinks and I'm not sure I want to start again knowing that it might not last. And yet while I'm not using Dexcom right now (another post on that soon) I also see how much *more* beneficial logging would be since I can't look back at that trend line.
Hi,
I'm trying to get back in the habit of logging again as well. What do you think may help you to keep a log? I know I have trouble with a written log. I just signed up today to try online logging.
Good luck.
I also am terrible at logging. I have been diabetic for 44 years now and have never kept a log for more than a couple months before I stop writing stuff down.
The next pump I get, I want one with the continuous glucose monitoring because I have a lot of lows when I try to keep my sugars around 100 or lower and I can't tell when that is happening most of the time. Good thing my husband can tell!