I've been pumping for 4 mos now and wouldn't trade it for a million ... er, a ...thousand dollars. The Carelink Reports and Graphs are a feast for the eyes, but way more info than I can assimilate at any given moment. Can you give me some pointers on how to access the most important numbers I need to know to help my control right here right now?
Thanks, my new friends!
For me, I find the average summaries (by time of day) most helpful. I like to look at the data that shows, over a two week period, what I'm averaging at different times of days. That's been the most helpful at discerning patterns. To get this, you select "modal day periods" from the left hand side of the reports page. It will give you both your averages by time of day for a specified period of time (I usually do two weeks at a time) and a scatter plot of sorts to show where your readings are falling.
I mostly rely on where my averages fall to make changes to my basal rates. For example, I'm looking at my data now (had to access it to remember which selection I usually make) and see that my after-lunch readings are averaging out of my range of 90-120. So, I will likely tweak my midday basal rate a bit to get that down.
I am not using the CGMS at the moment (running out of real estate on my body!) but there are other reporting options for CGMS users as well I think. But I don't use those.
I agree about the utility of the modal day periods reports being useful. The CGM has a more detailed report showing graphs of your %age in range, low and high that are useful too, if you have the CGM. I look at Std Deviation that shows up on some of the reports too, as a measure of how stable I've been. My A1C has been ok but I feel like my control has been off, more spikes, maybe too not wiped out as I've gone from running 30-40 miles/ week to 10-12 miles and laid off totally for about 3 weeks after surgery in late October. It doesn't suprise me that std dev is up. I need to focus but between the onset of winter and busier other activities, the working out just isn't "flowing" as much as I'd like it to and it kind of shows up in my numbers. So I have something to fuss about, even though the numbers "passed the test" at the doctor and she said "you're doing great".
Thanks for your reply and I think your running stats are amazing!
Please explain the standard deviation as it applies to us.
I don't think I have a Carelink manual.
Great idea for tweaking basal. I just tweaked mine by the TINIEST increment possible midnight to 6 cuz I had been waking up too high (145ish). Consquently I ran in the 50s all night even after glucose tabs. Go figure. There is no # to choose inbetween. I'll let it ride for a couple more days to see what "it's" up to.
I feel the same way. I am still trying to decipher thru them even after the tutorials. Wish they had cliff notes.
Lori
Standard deviation is kind of a measurement of the swings, the lower the number, the less your numbers are deviating from the average. You can average 100 with 50 +150 and have a std deviation of 50 but if you have 95-105-95-105, you will likely have felt better during that period of time and a std dev of 5, if that makes sense? It's sort of like a "slot machine" in that I pull the lever and don't know what it will be but I also sort of have an idea. Part of that is because I ***reuse*** to log anything and just let the machine keep track of it. At the same time, I watch my numbers and if I go about 3 days being off, I will make adjustments.
Thanks for running stat applause however I am not very fast!! :-)
OK - thanks. When things quiet down here (death in the family), I'm going to see what I can make of it. I have 4 basal rates. I just tweaked the overnight two by the smallest increment possible and my bs is turning out to fall right in the middle of the two tweaks!
You are the ONLY people who understand the life of a Type 1 !!!!!
Hi Lori,
Did you get any kind of a manual or reference material with your Carelink? Right now I'd like to look up which report standard deviation is on.
Cindy
I did get a manual. I have no idea about standard deviation??
Lori