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Data Nerdery and recording

Tom.thomas61 said:
For those who are using excel, do you have any good templates to share?
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For graphing I just use the chart function in excel itself although I'm still running excel 2008 (until they stop supporting it then I'm switching to Libre Office as of 2019 I think..
 
I use an excel spread sheet and have done since 2014. I designed it myself.

All my meter test results are on there, plus BP, cholesterol & lipids, liver & kidney functions, full blood counts, vitamin and mineral test, weight, HbA1cs, Libre data, and food diary (although I got fed up with this and stopped keeping it in October)

I have graph data for all my meter tests split into fasting, before each meal, and after each meal at different times (1 hr, 90 mins, 2 hrs, 2.5hrs and 3hrs. ) plus bedtime.

At the moment I am having a testing holiday. I stopped on 10th November but am using a Libre. I only use my meter at the moment for some comparison tests with the Libre.
 
Boo1979 said:
That was on another thread responding to a suggestion from you that we should have some kind of sub fora for people to post their individual data - I think my view on that is very clear from the post you have quoted. Numbers are very important at an individual level, but almost completely irrelevant beyond that level, although the means of data capture and entry are more broadly relevant beyond the individual
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Disagree. I used mine to a) trim the timings and doses of meds, (b) show the GP and get agreement to change scrips accordingly, (c) justify my use of SMBG and get GP to supply second meter and strips on scrip. (d) to show to other HCP that the LC diet I am using is working for both weight control and bgl control, and BP lowering. (d)+1 Use in discussions with other diabetics how I have turned my condition around (f****) No I am not swearing, but that is the next letter - Impress the Mormons to educate them in LC ways since they are coming tomorrow to discuss this very topic. Makes a change eh? (g) share info with forum members to demonstrate that I am expressing my own experiences not some fantasy adventure,

So to return to the OP Yes I use EXCEL since it is available as open access for free on the web, and can use cloud computing so I can access it anywhere I want to even if my laptop goes T***ts up
 
Bluetit1802 said:
I use an excel spread sheet and have done since 2014. I designed it myself.

All my meter test results are on there, plus BP, cholesterol & lipids, liver & kidney functions, full blood counts, vitamin and mineral test, weight, HbA1cs, Libre data, and food diary (although I got fed up with this and stopped keeping it in October)

I have graph data for all my meter tests split into fasting, before each meal, and after each meal at different times (1 hr, 90 mins, 2 hrs, 2.5hrs and 3hrs. ) plus bedtime.

At the moment I am having a testing holiday. I stopped on 10th November but am using a Libre. I only use my meter at the moment for some comparison tests with the Libre.
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Do you/can you download your Libre data into the spreadsheet?
 
Oldvatr said:
Disagree. I used mine to a) trim the timings and doses of meds, (b) show the GP and get agreement to change scrips accordingly, (c) justify my use of SMBG and get GP to supply second meter and strips on scrip. (d) to show to other HCP that the LC diet I am using is working for both weight control and bgl control, and BP lowering.
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I wasnt saying there was no purpose / point in recording data. - its an obvious and Inwould say essential part of self management of any chronic health condition
What I was saying was that individuals posting their individual data onto a forum covering a varied audience with a whole range of diabetic diagnoses and where there are already multiple sub fora dedicated to sharing data appears like a pointless exercise which I would find incredibly boring.
 
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Boo1979 said:
I wasnt saying there was no purpose / point in recording data. - its an obvious and Inwould say essential part of self management of any chronic health condition
What I was saying was that individuals posting their individual data onto a forum covering a varied audience with a whole range of diabetic diagnoses and where there are already multiple sub fora dedicated to sharing data appears like a pointless exercise which I would find incredibly boring.
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I tend to agree - my eyes glaze over every time I glimpse a graph that has no meaning or context for me. No doubt of use to the person who made it, but I doubt of much use to anyone else. Same reason I never go into any of the BG posting threads - somebody else's BG levels hold absolutely no relevance for me personally.
 
bulkbiker said:
Do you/can you download your Libre data into the spreadsheet?
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I think that presents a challenge to anyone

https://flameeyes.blog/2016/03/21/reverse-engineering-the-freestyle-libre-cgm-chapter-1/

Not a Libre user myself, so not going to pursue this further, but it seems that you can use an App called Diasend to milk the data and then export it back out in different formats. EXCEL talks text or csv format, but has other data import formats such as XML and ACCESSDB formats.
 
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I would struggle to keep a food diary or record & graph BG readings so just rely on the basic functions of the meter to inform my dietary choices which works ok for me. I guess if you're a data enthusiast then there's plenty of Apps and tools out there so go knock yourselves out!:)
 
Indy51 said:
my eyes glaze over every time I glimpse a graph that has no meaning or context for me. No doubt of use to the person who made it, but I doubt of much use to anyone else.
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The reason I started to do a few graphs was to get up my GP's (at the time) nose, she demanded a paper logbook she supplied.

She got printed logbooks and most of the graph stuff I post here as well, every time I saw her til I finally got to her and pushed enough of her buttons for her to tell me to find another GP. I used to call her Doc Holiday as she was forever taking them.

My GP looks through them briefly and says "Good good, I will look at them in depth later." He probably chucks them in the bin soon as I go out the door. :D
 
I've just started using mysugr and although I have to manually enter data for now, it's really easy to use and is helping me start trying to eat to the meter.
 
MySugr, Fat Secret and My M Health. I do need to explore MySUgr and learn to put in food, exercise and weight data and then maybe I can ditch Fat Secret.
 
I use Mysugr and myfitnesspal they seen to complement each other quite well. I also eat a ketogenic diet and this seems to work for me. I'm about to be given a Freestyle Libre monitoring system so it will be interesting to see my readings from that.
 
bulkbiker said:
Not sure if anyone is interested but I was wondering how many of us take great care in recording things like food intake, BG levels weight etc and like playing with data.
I have a relatively simple Excel spreadsheet that I use but I'm also interested in apps or other tech stuff that other forum members use to record their personal data.
Thought I'd start this thread to see what others are using and exactly how nerdy we all are!

Feel free to stick up anything you like or recommendations for tech tools.

Thanks
M
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I use the apple health app that's built in - over the years I've kinda gone through this journey of always wanting to use 3rd party apps but lately have found that really all you need is to use the built in apps from phone/smartdevice. Things tend to integrate better (which makes sense because it's all made by the same developer), plus it's nice to be able to see graphs and charts to get an idea of how you're doing over the long run
 
bulkbiker said:
Yep I've created quite a few graphs..

FBG for example
View attachment 29910
That's 2018 so far.. the odd straight line bit is in June where we were on hols and I left the meter at home... Dips are when doing extended fasts
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Hi. I have recently been using a Freestyle Libra sensor and am a bit confused with the morning readings. I tested on waking and levels had been between 4.5 and 5.3 throughout the night by the time I'd had a shower and tested again before breakfast it was 7.9!! This is on the high side for me. Is this normal to have these spikes without eating or drinking anything?
 
jillsymes66 said:
Hi. I have recently been using a Freestyle Libra sensor and am a bit confused with the morning readings. I tested on waking and levels had been between 4.5 and 5.3 throughout the night by the time I'd had a shower and tested again before breakfast it was 7.9!! This is on the high side for me. Is this normal to have these spikes without eating or drinking anything?
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Not a T1 so not sure.. could be your basal running out? Maybe start a new thread in the T1 area and you'll get more visibility?
 
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