My BG range is set at 70 to 180. I was wondering what most of you have your range set at? What makes this confusing to me is when I go back and start looking at my numbers anything in this range is telling me that this is in normal range; that gives me the feeling that I'm doing good even when my numbers are above 140.
After eating how high is to high at the 2 hour mark? A lot of times I see where I am at 190 and this concerns me. After eating how high of a spike is to high?
Uniboy
I have my pump range set at 100. The range will be used to calculate your bolus. Say you are 200 and your upper range is 180, then the pump will make a small correction to only get you to 180. The same is true the other way. Anything between your target range, then the pump will not recomend a correction.
I would recomend that you lower your upper limit and I would STRONGLY recomend that you do not have a target under 100. A slight mis-calculation can easily lead to hypos.
I keep my range at normal 80 - 120. I don't care if it's 2 hours after I eat or 5 minutes, my goal is to have normal bg at all times.
So - How high is too high for me may not be the same as you, that is why the pump allows us to set our range according to our own management needs.
190 is reason to be concerned, A. It's pretty darn high, and B. It's above your desired range.
from 9:30 pm to 7 am my target is 100-115
During the day, the target is 90-105
For my CGM my alarm settings are similarly higher at night - during the day the high is 137, at night it's 150. I like to sleep more than I like to be in super-tight control.
edit to say I agree with both Karen and Capin - while karen and I both gave you ranged below 100, it's best to set ~100 and not push that too much. Crashing isn't a good thing.
Mine is 70-140. The maternal/fetal specialists want me below 120 at all times but my endo doesn't think that is reasonable for me with such insulin resistance.
My range is 90 +/- 10 (so 80-100)
I keep mine set at 90-120 during the day and 100-140 after 10pm. I would say that 180 is too high, but that's just my opinion. If you have hypo unawareness or a very insulin sensitive, it might be appropriate. I know when I was younger, my target ranges were more lenient, but now that I'm older, I try to stay as "normal" as possible. I sometimes won't correct a 130 or 140, especially if I know I'm going to exercise or be more active, but otherwise I generally correct.
I go w/ 85-100. I look at it as I want the pump to get my BG where I want it to be. I have the CGM alarm set to let me know when it hits 70 low and 130 high.
Gary Scheiner of Integrated Diabetes Solutions, wrote an article for Diabetes Health online news letter called "Your Glucose Meter Number?", he recommends not using a range, just a target number, I'm not sure I agree but here's his reasoning.
In terms of using a target "range" (which is an option with many insulin pumps), my recommendation is don't. When correcting to a range rather than to a specific number, you increase the chances that your next reading will be too high or too low. Ranges are for evaluating your control, not for determining a correction dose.
For example, if you correct your highs down to 160 (9) and your lows up to 80 (4.5), you are less likely to be within the range of 80 - 160 (4.5 - 9) the next time you check than if you corrected your highs and lows to exactly 120 (6.7). Using a sports analogy (which is about all I know), correcting to a range is like an archer aiming for the outer edges of the target. But correcting to an exact target number is like aiming for the bull's eye. It's obvious who is going to win that contest.
The article is at: http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2011/06/05/7176/your-glucose-met...
Thanks for posting the link! That's an interesting article and theory!!
Good article and I get what he's saying but doesn't it kind of set you up for failure.
I actually have my target set at 100. The BG range I am talking about is when I download the information to Diasend website to review the normal range is set at 70 to 180. I'm not sure if this is something I can change or if this is the way they have the site set up. To me this range isn't normal.
When I was in training with the nurse from Animus she would tell me I got 85% in range and 15% out of range and that I was doing really well. I still don't think I'm doing well With my control and the numbers are misleading because of the normal range being set the way it is.
A nondiabetic person has BG's of 70 to 140 so why would you set up a website and say normal is 70 to 180.
Thanks for all the responses One day I hope to have a lot better control. Uniboy
Yes, you can change it on the website. If you don't find it I'll have a look tomorrow. Mine is set 80-120.
I'd suggest that it's not a "pass" or "fail" but more like a destination? If your aiming at one number, you're more likely to get cloe to it? I'm gonna try it out and see how it goes but I'm thinking getting rid of the "high" at 100 might help nudge things down a bit?
I am also now at 70/180. I turn CGM off when I go to bed. Been on the pump for a long time.I consider myself lucky. I wake up and its usually around 100-120 before breakfast. I check 2 hrs after any meal. I bolus at 150. Last A1C 6.0. Sept 2011. You are doing great Uniboy.
Thanks for this tip!
Just realised my pump always corrects me to the mid range which is fine, but as you say, lowering that upper limit a touch may tighten up my control.
:)
I just went and changed my range on the Diasend website to 70 to140. Now I can see that I'm not doing as good as I would like to. I tested 332 times in 30 days. 66% is in normal range 30% is above range and 4% below range. The only part I'm happy with is below range. My highest was 306 and my lowest was 52. Hope to get my above range down to 15% or better. I see alot of correction bolus in my future.
Average number of carbs per day is 123 grams. This figure will not be 100% acurate because of eating snacks before excersizing and not giving myself a bolus.
I will have to repost in 30 days to let ya'll know how I do.
Ok Uniboy, this is good, you have a baseline now and can set goals.
Did you see any patterns in highs that are consistent for certain times of day? The modal day graph is good for seeing those. If you have highs at the same time of day for a week or so, you might want to increase your basal slowly by small increments starting 1/2 hour before the highs and ending 1/2 hour before the #s come back down.
Don't shoot for perfection, shoot for something like decreasing high range/increasing normal range by 5% over the next week. If you can accomplish that you're doing great! The pump can have a huge learning curve, you need to look at data over a long time to figure out what to tweak.
Is it working to not bolus for snacks before exercise? Have you considered a temp basal of -10% or so instead of snacking?
My range is "95" but I double my back correction with meals if I'm 85 or below. I aim for under 140 and 2-3 hours; 190 is too high and you might try pre-bolusing, cutting back on your carbs or eating lower glycemic index foods to avoid those spikes.
Maurie