Thanks everyone! I have the OmniPod and the 1st generation PDM so unfortunately at download it only does 4 days. Can you believe that? Seems bogus. I just haven’t taken the time to download stuff every 4 days. I’ll definitely be checking out all the links you’ve all mentioned. Thanks again! Big help!!
Ouch. can you download it at home (thinking when you change your pod, you could try to get into a routine of syncing your PDM)?.. Didnt realize the older PDMs only could hold 4 days worth of data (even the bg numbers?)…Im curious, how long have you had the PDM… (are you holding out due to insurance or waiting for Dexcomm integration)
Problem is id suggest other glucose meters but you dont want to be changing strips and stuff…
The thing that really annoys me with the Freestyle strips is the meters are rather dumb… pre/post tagging, things like that… Not existant… Even with a pump I tend to use the OT UltraSmart but you dont want to be changing meters just for a report, esp since the OT strips take more blood… it will summarize a lot of things for me…
Im a non-paper person.I really dislike writing out logs and paper notes… I tend to print out my BG log from the OT (and a few of the daily reports), and my pumps log… (My pump isnt very intelligent on the pump, it uses a PDA for the software but the PDA doesnt like to sync with windows vista/7)
I tend to make a paper food log only for about a week before my appointment… Time of day, carbs, bolus, and items i ate along with the totals… Try to make quick notes of what you eat during the day, and just type a cleaned up version at the end of the day, can use your PDM to see what your bolus and your carb counts you used were.
I wondering about this myself. Being new, I am just using the paper log that came with the meter. I am, sometimes, writing out my food, portions and the calories, carbs, fiber, fat and protein content of each meal. I am just starting so I only have a few meals down on that one yet - I tend to eat alot of the same things.
But I am a techy girl so I would love some software to put this all in. Unfortunatley my meter does not do downloads and I have no insurance so I can’t afford one that does. Although, I was eyeing them at the pharmacy.
I will probably create something in Excel for now. I don’t mind writing the numbers down in the paper log for now and I can remember what I eat (if the doctor wants to know) but I would love something for the meals. I might have to develop something myself. That would be great if there was something that excepted downloads from all meters or you could manually enter and you could put in your meals and it would save all the info for those so you would automatically have your carbs etc and just pick your meal if you eat the same meal so you wouldn’t have to type it all over again.
Between my pump, meter, and my Dexcom I keep pretty good logs. I just download all three and take my laptop to the ENDO. She goes through the various reports and makes recommendations for basal changes, different combo bolus’ (or is it “boli”) for certain meals, etc… Having both of us with some computer literacy makes this process pretty easy. I try and download Dex every night (less than a minute) and study the day’s trends while what I ate and my activity levels are still fresh in my mind. I do my last finger stick just before I go to bed. It makes for a pretty easy routine.
Please do. And take a hidden camera so we can all witness 
Ryan,
Your smart chart is the one that the book recommended, but I don’t like writing out the daily detail, it is much quicker for me to type, so I set up my own chart page using the smart chart example on a spreadsheet 4 posts below that can be opened using either Microsoft Works Spreadsheet or Excel.
Saves writing out basal info too for the endo when it is already added in to the daily template.
Cheryl
Here is the best answer everyone should have a pump that is bluetooth to a computer that updates all needed doctors every 72 hours all provided under the healthcare bill.
I also have wavesense and I’ll do periods when I’ll track everything. Otherwise I just download off my meter and take it in to the Doc.
Allison,
I think you may have just simplified our lives. We have been using a version of the smart chart, which also requires detail of the actual foods eaten and not just the total carb info. I am going to try the pump sheet that you referenced for the next endo visit and we’ll see how that goes over. I don’t think the endo is too concerned about the actual foods that are eaten as we are conscientious about avoiding high fat, high sodium and fast foods, she is more interested in seeing BG trends from one day to the next and not too worried about David’s accuracy carb counting.
I think this simplified chart may help me to pass the charting responsibility on to the one 17 year old T1 in our family as he will find it easier to keep current.
Cheryl