Comments on: Breaking Ground with “The Self-Managed Disease” http://www.diabetesmine.com/2005/06/breaking_ground.html A gold mine of straight talk and encouragement for people living with diabetes Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:52:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Pamela Vander Linden http://www.diabetesmine.com/2005/06/breaking_ground.html/comment-page-1#comment-34270 Pamela Vander Linden Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:45:53 +0000 http://diabetesmine.dreamhosters.com/2005/06/15/breaking-ground-with-the-self-managed-disease/#comment-34270 My 18 year old son was diagnosed almost 10 years ago. He has "fits" for a lack of a better word of agitated, agressive angry behavior. There is no rationalizing with him, it has even led to his arrest. Of course, when asked if he has tested his blood sugar, he gets extremely defensive, "It's always the diabetes"!! But many times it is and he is not testing to correct his glucose value, that will in turn effect his behavior. He is a very angry man and extremely difficult to live with. I have expressed my concerns at his 3 month appointments, but the Drs don't seem to want to touch the emotional/behavior aspect of the diabetes. Sorry, this is huge! My 18 year old son was diagnosed almost 10 years ago. He has “fits” for a lack of a better word of agitated, agressive angry behavior. There is no rationalizing with him, it has even led to his arrest. Of course, when asked if he has tested his blood sugar, he gets extremely defensive, “It’s always the diabetes”!! But many times it is and he is not testing to correct his glucose value, that will in turn effect his behavior. He is a very angry man and extremely difficult to live with. I have expressed my concerns at his 3 month appointments, but the Drs don’t seem to want to touch the emotional/behavior aspect of the diabetes. Sorry, this is huge!

]]> By: DensityDuck http://www.diabetesmine.com/2005/06/breaking_ground.html/comment-page-1#comment-34269 DensityDuck Mon, 20 Jun 2005 16:42:33 +0000 http://diabetesmine.dreamhosters.com/2005/06/15/breaking-ground-with-the-self-managed-disease/#comment-34269 With a pump, spreadsheets are a lot more important because there are more degrees of freedom in your control; do you adjust your basal rate to get the baseline lower? Do you change your carb/BG/bolus ratio? The spreadsheets are very important for that. Also, I've found a very useful thing to add to the spreadsheet. If you're on a sliding scale (which, frankly, everyone ought to be) then the delta is often just as important as the value. So on your spreadsheet, put in columns for "change to next BG test" along with the usual "BG test". Then, when presenting my average values, I put in a "high correction" (average of all deltas when the BG reading was >140) and a "low correction" (deltas when the BG was 60, which would mean that the typical BG reading could have been as high as 150...or as low as 30! So you see, just using "average" doesn't really help to determine how well-controlled you are. With a pump, spreadsheets are a lot more important because there are more degrees of freedom in your control; do you adjust your basal rate to get the baseline lower? Do you change your carb/BG/bolus ratio? The spreadsheets are very important for that.

Also, I’ve found a very useful thing to add to the spreadsheet. If you’re on a sliding scale (which, frankly, everyone ought to be) then the delta is often just as important as the value. So on your spreadsheet, put in columns for “change to next BG test” along with the usual “BG test”. Then, when presenting my average values, I put in a “high correction” (average of all deltas when the BG reading was >140) and a “low correction” (deltas when the BG was 60, which would mean that the typical BG reading could have been as high as 150…or as low as 30!

So you see, just using “average” doesn’t really help to determine how well-controlled you are.

]]> By: AmyT http://www.diabetesmine.com/2005/06/breaking_ground.html/comment-page-1#comment-34268 AmyT Fri, 17 Jun 2005 00:08:22 +0000 http://diabetesmine.dreamhosters.com/2005/06/15/breaking-ground-with-the-self-managed-disease/#comment-34268 Nick: I know I should use the tracking software, but somehow I just don't want spreadsheets on my blood sugars! I've got spreadsheets for work, for my kiddies' activity schedule, nanny schedule, travel plans, etc., etc. Tracking overload! Although it would be nice to see the trends... Nick:
I know I should use the tracking software, but somehow I just don’t want spreadsheets on my blood sugars!

I’ve got spreadsheets for work, for my kiddies’ activity schedule, nanny schedule, travel plans, etc., etc. Tracking overload!

Although it would be nice to see the trends…

]]> By: Shannon Lewis http://www.diabetesmine.com/2005/06/breaking_ground.html/comment-page-1#comment-34267 Shannon Lewis Thu, 16 Jun 2005 11:38:11 +0000 http://diabetesmine.dreamhosters.com/2005/06/15/breaking-ground-with-the-self-managed-disease/#comment-34267 I just wanted to add that my cousin is an extreme case. He would only test if he felt lousy, dose if he felt lousy, etc. Since his parents pretty much left his management to him since he was 7, burnout contributed to his lackadaisical ways. Sorry if I scared anyone, but if you test and dose regularly, keep up with endo visits and test for A1C's, damage won't happen to that extreme as I described above. I just wanted to add that my cousin is an extreme case. He would only test if he felt lousy, dose if he felt lousy, etc. Since his parents pretty much left his management to him since he was 7, burnout contributed to his lackadaisical ways.

Sorry if I scared anyone, but if you test and dose regularly, keep up with endo visits and test for A1C’s, damage won’t happen to that extreme as I described above.

]]> By: Shannon Lewis http://www.diabetesmine.com/2005/06/breaking_ground.html/comment-page-1#comment-34266 Shannon Lewis Thu, 16 Jun 2005 11:27:29 +0000 http://diabetesmine.dreamhosters.com/2005/06/15/breaking-ground-with-the-self-managed-disease/#comment-34266 My son's endo is the same as Carol's in that if we call her with a problem she asks "What do you think you should do"? Then she'll either say yay or nay to our solution. My motivation to caring for my son is not only that he's my son and I want to protect him from harm, but seeing my 29 yr old cousin in end stage Type 1 diabetes because HIS parents didn't help him out when he was a kid and he burned out as a teenager. Seeing him in a wheelchair after 3 strokes, 1 quintuple bypass surgery, dialysis, on the waiting list for both kidneys to be replaced, legal blindness...that's enough motivation for me to get my son on the pump within a year of diagnosis, test him several times a day, dose him when needed, pouring over glucose numbers to dectect trends, etc, etc. Keeping Brendon from turning out like my cousin is my own personal motivation. My son’s endo is the same as Carol’s in that if we call her with a problem she asks “What do you think you should do”? Then she’ll either say yay or nay to our solution.

My motivation to caring for my son is not only that he’s my son and I want to protect him from harm, but seeing my 29 yr old cousin in end stage Type 1 diabetes because HIS parents didn’t help him out when he was a kid and he burned out as a teenager.

Seeing him in a wheelchair after 3 strokes, 1 quintuple bypass surgery, dialysis, on the waiting list for both kidneys to be replaced, legal blindness…that’s enough motivation for me to get my son on the pump within a year of diagnosis, test him several times a day, dose him when needed, pouring over glucose numbers to dectect trends, etc, etc.

Keeping Brendon from turning out like my cousin is my own personal motivation.

]]> By: Nick http://www.diabetesmine.com/2005/06/breaking_ground.html/comment-page-1#comment-34265 Nick Wed, 15 Jun 2005 19:51:55 +0000 http://diabetesmine.dreamhosters.com/2005/06/15/breaking-ground-with-the-self-managed-disease/#comment-34265 In December 2004, I started putting all my blood sugar readings into a computer spreadsheet. This allows me to see trends better, as well as compute daily averages and rolling 7-day averages. In December 2004, I started putting all my blood sugar readings into a computer spreadsheet. This allows me to see trends better, as well as compute daily averages and rolling 7-day averages.

]]> By: carol http://www.diabetesmine.com/2005/06/breaking_ground.html/comment-page-1#comment-34264 carol Wed, 15 Jun 2005 18:12:42 +0000 http://diabetesmine.dreamhosters.com/2005/06/15/breaking-ground-with-the-self-managed-disease/#comment-34264 My daughter (8) was diagnosed 1/25/05 and when I called her endrochron day two out of the hospital with her numbers, his first comment was: what trends are you seeing? five days after diagnosis! After I recovered from shock, I appreciated the motivation; to have us be the point people on the team. This Dr. answers any question with "what would you do?" It helps him judge our understanding and encourages self management. I think it's a great approach. As I become independent, I am teaching my daughter to be so, as well. As I tell her often: we're smart women and we can manage this. And we can. And we do. Thanks for your site. My daughter (8) was diagnosed 1/25/05 and when I called her endrochron day two out of the hospital with her numbers, his first comment was: what trends are you seeing? five days after diagnosis! After I recovered from shock, I appreciated the motivation; to have us be the point people on the team. This Dr. answers any question with “what would you do?” It helps him judge our understanding and encourages self management. I think it’s a great approach. As I become independent, I am teaching my daughter to be so, as well. As I tell her often: we’re smart women and we can manage this. And we can. And we do. Thanks for your site.

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