When I was at my last Endo appt in December, I went in unprepared – I did not have any numbers to bring with me, nor did I remember to bring my most recent CGM graph. (I’ll blame it on my pregnancy forgetfulness) 
So what he does in those instances is scroll through my meter to get an idea of what numbers I’ve been getting. But what it doesn’t do is show him patterns, etc.
I’d already bumped up my basals a tad since my last visit, seeing that the pregnancy has already started to establish a pattern.
But I was sure I needed to bump them up more, and when I asked him about it, he gave an honest answer – “I don’t know.” And his reasoning was he did not have the data to back up when/how much of a change needed to occur.
And that was my bad.
And he said something interesting … he said that with all this new technology out there, diabetics are actually becoming LESS in tune with monitoring their diabetes – they are leaving it to the devices to do all the work for them. And when I thought about it, he’s right.
Back in the olden days when I was dx’d, I had a huge pack thing that carried all of my supplies – my NPH, my Regular insulin (that was the name of it), my rather large One Touch meter, test strips, syringes, an ice pack, and my trusty log book. (I actually still have that pack in a box in the garage.. but my pack rat issues are beside the point… )
I used that log book every day without fail. And then gradually, it stopped becoming a necessity once I believed I had a hold on this thing called diabetes. I remember my mom would make the log books at work and bind them for me and that’s what I used for years. I even had a doctor when I was in college send me a letter saying she could not be my Endo anymore because I could not do my part as a patient and provide her with data that would enable her to best treat me.
So as I was checking out of that Endo appt, I asked if they had any log books I could have. I was given 2 or 3 of them, and the next day I tried to reverse my bad habits and I started logging again. I did great for the first 3 days. So much so that I saw a pattern that I had a bad site – it was in my hip and I just don’t get very good absorbency there (too much scar tissue) :/
So I changed my site and whaddayaknow…. my numbers were back in range.
Then the weekend came, and I have no idea why it’s so much harder to remember to log during the weekend, but it is. So on Monday mornings, I’m usually sitting at my desk, scrolling through my meter and my pump to look up my BG and bolus history to write it down.
Might not be pretty … but it’s a start
But I will say that my dr was right about something – I do have much more awareness about what I’m eating, and how much insulin I’m taking when I take the few seconds to write it down. And there are times I think “I shouldn’t eat that because I don’t want to have to write that impending high BG down in my log.” Whatever works, right?
So I’m on week 3 now of logging .. and it’s spotty, but it’s a start. Like I always say, even after 20+ years living with this, I’m still a work in progress.
my bloodcount meter will automatically log my bloodcounts, amount of carbs , insulin doses and when i changed my basal and then automatically uploads to the computer (either mine or my endos) so much more useful than logging cause i can just glance at the ‘trend’ report and see at a glance what my bg is like and the drs have lot more info than they ever got on logging
What kind of meter do you use, Hannah?
Woah! That’s dedication. Good for you
Thanks, Alanna – I’m trying!
I am so impressed by this! Personally, I like downloading all of this stuff (except for actual meal-descriptions or, come to think of it, site locations) from my pump. But I guess like you and your endo said, when you write it with your own hand, it has more meaning and you pay more attention to it..
Thanks, Scott! And yea, the numbers are all over the place .. but it’s a start. And I hope he’s impressed when I go back this month.
As much as I hate logging, I think I agree with your doc. I don’t do much *thinking* about my diabetes when I’m not doing at least some record keeping. I just wish it was easier to keep the logging going for longer than a brief few days (in my case).
I agree. I hate to admit that it’s Tuesday afternoon and I haven’t logged anything since Friday. Even though it’s right there in my meter pouch. I keep checking my BG and thinking, I’ll go back and write it down later, but I haven’t yet. :/ I will do that tonight, though. It’s just not as easy as it sounds! (Preaching to the choir, I know …. )
Because I use RapidCalc to calculate my boluses (since I’m on MDI) it automatically logs everything, just like a Bolus Wizard memory. But instead of having to download anything, I can look at the chart and averages within the app. The charts are not very good, but I can get a sense just through scrolling what my BGs are like. The numbers are color-coded so you can look to see when the yellows (kinda high) and reds (either really high or low) are occurring. I really like anything that auto-logs. I couldn’t stand the time it takes to hand-write, so I’m much more likely to upload in one go. I’ll also say that I pay way more attention my numbers on MDIs because I have to input every single number, draw up my own insulin, etc.