Browsing through the latest issue of Wired magazine (my favorite print pub!), I stumbled upon a “reader rant” that stopped me in my tracks. A guy named Edward Aboufadel from Ada, Michigan, was responding to a recent article titled Living by Numbers, about our new data-driven lifestyles. He writes:
People who are really ‘living by numbers’ are type 1 diabetics, who struggle every day to keep their blood glucose in range with carbohydrate counts, insulin doses, and exercise. Given the rapid development of continuous glucose monitors, perhaps Nike and Apple could team up with Medtronic to develop a hardware/software/social networking system similar to Nike+ but for diabetics.
Right on, Edward. Sometimes I feel like I can see numbers swirling around my head. So many of them, every friggin’ day. No wonder I can hardly remember a single phone number by heart these days.
To prove Edward’s point I thought I’d keep a detailed log for a full day this week (yes – just one day!), and share it with you all here:
6:28am – 110 BG (blood glucose)
7:32 am – 3 units (insulin dose) for 45 gram carbs
9:26 am – 166 BG
10:51 am – 173 BG (after 0 carbs – sheesh!!) –>.85 units correction
11:48 am – 156 BG with .70 units IOB (insulin on board)
12:43 pm – 3.5 units for 55 gram carb –> with .50 IOB
3:12 pm – 130 BG
5:40 pm – 121 BG
7:22 pm – 107 BG + 3.65 U for 55 g carb
9:37 pm – 126 BG + .30 U correction
… and this was an “easy” day, since I didn’t work out (messes with the math) and I went to bed early.
So, if the numerical soup above means anything to you, then you are a bona fide insulin-toting type 1 diabetic. My condolences.
For those who are not, but assume that daily diabetes care is “like brushing your teeth,” think again. Maybe it would be — if your life depended on toothpaste and every gram of food you ate had to be matched per a precise ratio to the exact amount of toothpaste you ingested.
****
Editor’s Note: Just in case you’re one of those egghead types who actually enjoys living by numbers, check out these Wired guides:
How to Live by the Numbers: for Nutrition, for Exercise, and for General Health.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by DiabetesMine and Cherise Nicole. DiabetesMine said: [Blog] Also, why daily #diabetes care is NOT like brushing your teeth http://bit.ly/TyM9H Geez… [...]
Kudos to that guy! Perhaps he is a type 1 himeself?
If daily diabetes care is like brushing your teeth, we type 1′s have a toothbrush in our mouths all day.
That’s a detailed log? Mine includes everything I eat, plus blood pressure and weight checks, plus a weight timeline, plus nutritional analysis and (of course) workout info.
At this point I’ve not found a good omnibus application to handle health-specific information (bg, bp, and other health-related quantifications such as IOB/basal/bolus, ketones, any other periodic at-home blood checks (might be needed for people dealing with cancer, leukemia, or anemia), any output checks (urine volume/home urinalysis for people w/ kidney disease)) in conjunction with complete dietary input (with customizable database) and exercise information (including fitness-monitor upload for all levels of Polar, Nike, Garmin, Timex, etc. monitors)…
I am seriously considering upgrading my Polar Heart Rate Monitor to one that hooks into a detailed analysis program, primarily to be able to view anomalous excursions, but I think it will also help to me understand my fitness/recovery cycles and where I need to improve my training. For my normal stuff it’s overkill, but being able to record anomalous excursions will allow me to share with my medical team and understand how my body reacts as I grow older.
Interesting captcha: pictures reclines….
[...] glimpse into why I sometimes might look at you with a dazed and confused look on my face… Life, By the Numbers. This entry was posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 9:33 am and is filed under Here Come [...]
Yep. D requires me to rember so many numbers.
@Faye: I actully do brush my teeth several times a day. I have those travel size disposable Colgate Wisps in my desk and in my car and D kit.
The first thing that struck me was “Holy crap – she corrected for a 126 at bedtime?!? I would be ecstatic with a 126 at bedtime!” since my +-50 pts overnight rise/drop would still keep me fairly safe… I guess YDMV, and it usually does ; )
PS liked the toothbrush comparison, both yours and Faye’s.
Insulin dependent T2′s go through the same thing, just much less risk of DKA.
-Lloyd
We need to introduce our insulin pumps to the Apple guy. Awesome idea.
I’m “that guy”, and a friend told me about the blog. My son has type 1, and he is 10 years old.
I don’t know anyone who works for Apple or Nike, but I am trying to get connected to someone at Medtronic.
Wow Amy, I remember the good old days when my daughter’s I:C was 1:15. She was MDI then, and it made for easy math. Now, she’s pumping and I’m glad because her I:C is 5 and the CGM still shows very sluggish response. And how about three cheers for IOB another awesome improvement from waiting it out with MDI. (Yikes, that’s alot of anycromns.)
Amy –
OUTSTANDING!!!
I LOVE Ed and would love to buy him a beer, and I don’t even drink beer!
As for the “numerical soup,” great job!
Growing up I was never any good at numbers. Heck, I was a Litt major in college and stayed far away from the Math Lab. But diabetes forces us to get very good at numbers, whether we want to or not!
kelly k
PS- I used a lot of exclamation points, but this post required them all!!
Hey Ed – actually, someone already designed this. Have you seen the “Nike + D” entry in this year’s DiabetesMine Design Challenge?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14815880/NikePlusD
Nike +D — that’s a great start! I’m new to DiabetesMine, so I haven’t seen this before.
Amy,
Is the OmniPod system now keeping track of Insulin on Board for meal boluses as well as for correction boluses? When I used it, it only kept track of correct boluses, and it was impossible to see the actual IOB number on the PDM. Perhaps Insulet has made some improvements besides fancier colors on their screen.
off-topic, but I know we were all alarmed by the NYT article this summer abt the lack of accuracy in Bg meters. The conversation here inspired me to switch to the Wavesense Jazz meter — almost. I have had no trouble getting my Dr., ins. co., and pharma to get me the strips – just a darn hard time getting my hands on the meter! Seems they are in limited distribution and only available thru on-line companies that require you to buy the strips from them (or something like that). As a group of folks very concerned abt our numbers, I thought I’d share.
And ps thanks to Ed!
Most people don’t give Type 1 diabetics or Type 2′s on insulin enough credit…. the math and numbers never stop! Esp for a Type 1 child growing….
“For those who are not, but assume that daily diabetes care is “like brushing your teeth,” think again. Maybe it would be — if your life depended on toothpaste and every gram of food you ate had to be matched per a precise ratio to the exact amount of toothpaste you ingested.”
I thought this is possibly the BEST quote to be given to anyone who cares about a Type I diabetic…it is quite possibly the best way to put how we take care of ourselves as diabetics! It is a constant amount of “guesswork”, and we can never be sure of the outcome…we just have to be prepared for the worst, whether it be high or low. Like the Boy (and Girl) Scouts, always be prepared!
(or is that “like the Boy and Girl Scout cookies,” xim1970?
I have terrible trouble remembering other important numbers in life because of all the diabetes numbers constantly swimming in my head!
Try the low carb lifestyle promoted by Drs. Eades, Dr. Richard Bernstein, Dr. Mary Vernon, et al, also at sites like dsolve.com, nmsociety.org. I’ve been doing it for 3 weeks–lost 6 lbs., lowered insulin dosage by 27%, feel great, lots of energy, no ravenous hunger, no carb cravings. Dietary fat => heart disease is bogus. It’s the high sugars AND HIGH INSULIN, which you will never hear from your mainstream endocrinologist. The info’s all on the web from reputable, bonafide medical and research professionals.
I think the Animas pump is better. I’ve been on it for several years, and it does have IOB as well as “EZ BG” for which you enter amount of carbs, BG, and it calculates bolus while showing IOB.
i wish they would make something like that for the G-Phone that doesn’t cost a fortune.
The numbers thing is so true! I once had a nightmare where I got confused and began switching all of the “numbers”. I didn’t know if 100 was a good blood sugar reading and I didn’t know how many carbs per unit of insulin, etc. I just ran around in my dream trying to get a hold on what all of the numbers meant! I woke up amused to say the least!
Hi there…I was turned onto your blog by a friend of ours. You see, our 18 month old son was diagnosed with Type I on September 10th….it already seems like a lifetime ago. Our lives now revolve around food, carbs, needles and keeping a constant vigil in fears that we will miss something and will pay for it dearly. We are doing it ‘old school’ and not using the pump for a few reasons, the utmost being to learn the basics and always have a fall back method of ensuring that peace of mind. Plus our health care doesn’t support the pump and as a result we pay out of pocket for it. Please, forgive my ignorance as I am so new to this. I am just curious why it is that you take so many BG readings throughout the day. Is it based on how you feel (if you are feeling ‘off’) or is there something we are missing because we are on the needle and confined to when we can give insulin? With our little guy, we do a reading before each meal/snack….which need to be a minimum of 2 hours before and after the last ingestion of carbs and then one at our bed time and one at 3 in the morning….so usually about 7 a day. Love to hear your input!!!