Addicted to data?

[Jollymon]

This last month I struggled to get expendables from my DME supplier- Test strips & infusion sets. It made me very upset. Today I had my appointment with my endo- the one that prescribes those things. I went very upset- I didn’t have enough to get me by.

I was short and angry with them. And I made my point. I needed more test strips and infusion sets than what they’d set me up for. I left that appointment drained.

On my way home I thought, maybe I’m addicted to too much data. For how I’d just reacted in my dr’s office, I could have probably come off as someone hooked on data as a drug. Their lack of prescription for me put me at risk of not getting my “fix”. It was an interesting “flip” of the situation. And I felt bad.

I can’t say that keeping on track of our data is a bad thing, but are we becoming “junkies” of it? It’s a thought- “junkies” of our data.

 

[Robbity]

I worked in information/data related type jobs for most of my working life, and I'm not sure that I would call myself addicted to it, but it is now sort of embedded in me. But while I might choose for example to monitor my glucose levels, I definitely don't - , nor have I ever had, any wish to - monitor every step i take each day.

BUT, I'm T2 so while data is useful to manage my diabetes, it's not an essential part of trying to keep me alive, as I always think of it being for our T1 members.

 

[tim2000s]

This last month I struggled to get expendables from my DME supplier- Test strips & infusion sets. It made me very upset. Today I had my appointment with my endo- the one that prescribes those things. I went very upset- I didn’t have enough to get me by.

I was short and angry with them. And I made my point. I needed more test strips and infusion sets than what they’d set me up for. I left that appointment drained.

On my way home I thought, maybe I’m addicted to too much data. For how I’d just reacted in my dr’s office, I could have probably come off as someone hooked on data as a drug. Their lack of prescription for me put me at risk of not getting my “fix”. It was an interesting “flip” of the situation. And I felt bad.

I can’t say that keeping on track of our data is a bad thing, but are we becoming “junkies” of it? It’s a thought- “junkies” of our data.

If you are finger pricking that much, why aren't you using a CGM?

On a different note, no, I don't think we can be junkies on data. As long as we can use it to identify patterns and then adjust around those patterns, it's very beneficial. So, there's data and there's information. And if we can make it useable information, then there can never be too much...

 

[KennyA]

This last month I struggled to get expendables from my DME supplier- Test strips & infusion sets. It made me very upset. Today I had my appointment with my endo- the one that prescribes those things. I went very upset- I didn’t have enough to get me by.

I was short and angry with them. And I made my point. I needed more test strips and infusion sets than what they’d set me up for. I left that appointment drained.

On my way home I thought, maybe I’m addicted to too much data. For how I’d just reacted in my dr’s office, I could have probably come off as someone hooked on data as a drug. Their lack of prescription for me put me at risk of not getting my “fix”. It was an interesting “flip” of the situation. And I felt bad.

I can’t say that keeping on track of our data is a bad thing, but are we becoming “junkies” of it? It’s a thought- “junkies” of our data.

Interesting question. I worked for years somewhere that had all the data you could possibly want on just about everything, but had actually very little information, because very few people actually bothered analysing it. For example we used to report performance in a particular sector as an "average" (mean) of all the individual units, and this came out (iirc) at about 68%. However once you picked it apart, it became clear that most units were scoring in the 90%s (the median was 93) but we had a troublesome group in the 20s and 30s, with nothing in between. Nobody actually scored 68% and treating the high and low groups as if they did meant we got it wrong consistently. It was because that was how the spreadsheet had been set up originally, and it had never been questioned.

It's achieving understanding that's crucial, and actively using data to drive the understanding. That should give you useful information.

 

[JAT1]

It's achieving understanding that's crucial, and actively using data to drive the understanding. That should give you useful information.

Wise. Important to keep that in mind.

 

[Jollymon]

If you are finger pricking that much, why aren't you using a CGM?

On a different note, no, I don't think we can be junkies on data. As long as we can use it to identify patterns and then adjust around those patterns, it's very beneficial. So, there's data and there's information. And if we can make it useable information, then there can never be too much...

I’m hypoglycemic unaware. I did try cgm and had a bad run on making a judgment with bad sensor data. In working with the company they said cgm uses interstitial fluid and that’s not blood sugar. If I needed the question the data I should then test blood sugar. So then why should I bother with cgm? And stopped using it.

So if I need to figure out my blood sugar, I test blood sugar.