Hale & smidge, great numbers! Now that I am aware of SD it will really help me focus on trying to keep it under 1/3. Good to have a goal!
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Standard deviation
- Thread starter weeezer
- Start Date
hale710
Well-Known Member
weeezer said:
I've only been diagnosed 10 weeks and I have the "benefit" of honeymoon period on my side to help keep things down. Always room for improvement though!
Good luck working through yours!
Hey all!
Well, here's my averages and SD from Jan 2012 to Apr2013. This is based on the raw data i.e. not cleaned to prevent weighting towards hypos.
Interestingly I changed from Insuman basal to Levemir on 15 September 2012 - and I think you can see the lessening of control in the SD following that change, although not in the averages. I've had a lot of stress this month and I knew I'd had a bad month for highs and the odd nasty low, but couldn't really spot that in the averages, but, again, this is evident in the SD. I think keeping an eye on the SD will be very enlightening. I've graphed it and there is a definite upward trend that I'm going to try to address. What do you all think?
Month Average SDfromMean
Jan-12 6.4 1.5
Feb-12 6.5 1.7
Mar-12 6.2 1.7
Apr-12 6.2 1.6
May-12 5.8 1.4
Jun-12 5.9 1.4
Jul-12 6.0 1.8
Aug-12 6.2 2.0
Sep-12 6.4 1.9
Oct-12 6.3 1.7
Nov-12 6.2 1.7
Dec-12 6.4 2.0
Jan-13 5.8 1.8
Feb-13 6.0 2.1
Mar-13 6.0 2.0
Apr-13 6.1 2.3
Smidge
p.s. If anyone knows how to get the numbers to line up under the headings when posting here please give me a clue
Well, here's my averages and SD from Jan 2012 to Apr2013. This is based on the raw data i.e. not cleaned to prevent weighting towards hypos.
Interestingly I changed from Insuman basal to Levemir on 15 September 2012 - and I think you can see the lessening of control in the SD following that change, although not in the averages. I've had a lot of stress this month and I knew I'd had a bad month for highs and the odd nasty low, but couldn't really spot that in the averages, but, again, this is evident in the SD. I think keeping an eye on the SD will be very enlightening. I've graphed it and there is a definite upward trend that I'm going to try to address. What do you all think?
Month Average SDfromMean
Jan-12 6.4 1.5
Feb-12 6.5 1.7
Mar-12 6.2 1.7
Apr-12 6.2 1.6
May-12 5.8 1.4
Jun-12 5.9 1.4
Jul-12 6.0 1.8
Aug-12 6.2 2.0
Sep-12 6.4 1.9
Oct-12 6.3 1.7
Nov-12 6.2 1.7
Dec-12 6.4 2.0
Jan-13 5.8 1.8
Feb-13 6.0 2.1
Mar-13 6.0 2.0
Apr-13 6.1 2.3
Smidge
p.s. If anyone knows how to get the numbers to line up under the headings when posting here please give me a clue
phoenix
Expert
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Smidge, first no, the only thing I have found that works is to add dots.
Yes undoubtedly you can see a trend upwards. Is it relevant. Dr Hirsch says his I/3-1/2 formula is at low average glucose levels not relevant nor is it a high levels.
He doesn't explain (well not in any paper I can find) .#
At high levels I would think that it is because you are permanently at levels that cause oxidative stress and possible damage, a small SD ids irrelevant if all levels are high.
At low levels you aren't necessarily spiking into those realms but you may be going too low at times which is why he says the reasons for the low average need to be established. Moreover, at low levels smaller variations become more evident . Someone with an average of 7 would still have an excellent SD if it were only 2.3.
Why did you change from insuman? You say the rise dates from then but was it because it wasn't working well?
Obviously stress and other extraneous events can play a part but I also think that your more frequent excursions could be a result of deteriorating insulin function making very, very tight control less easy.
( I'm certainly finding tight control less easy now then I did. I used to have a SD of around 2, if anything it was biased by lows but now less so. I haven't downloaded by data for ages (burnout/complacency?) but I'm absolutely certain the SD would be higher now
)
Yes undoubtedly you can see a trend upwards. Is it relevant. Dr Hirsch says his I/3-1/2 formula is at low average glucose levels not relevant nor is it a high levels.
He doesn't explain (well not in any paper I can find) .#
At high levels I would think that it is because you are permanently at levels that cause oxidative stress and possible damage, a small SD ids irrelevant if all levels are high.
At low levels you aren't necessarily spiking into those realms but you may be going too low at times which is why he says the reasons for the low average need to be established. Moreover, at low levels smaller variations become more evident . Someone with an average of 7 would still have an excellent SD if it were only 2.3.
Why did you change from insuman? You say the rise dates from then but was it because it wasn't working well?
Obviously stress and other extraneous events can play a part but I also think that your more frequent excursions could be a result of deteriorating insulin function making very, very tight control less easy.
( I'm certainly finding tight control less easy now then I did. I used to have a SD of around 2, if anything it was biased by lows but now less so. I haven't downloaded by data for ages (burnout/complacency?) but I'm absolutely certain the SD would be higher now
)Hi Pheonix,
Thanks for that.
I changed from Insuman because it was dropping my levels very steeply at times. It worked well when I coincided its 4 -6 hour peak with a low-carb meal. It meant I didn't need rapid-acting for lunch for example, but as my own insulin became less strong, I found i was needing a unit or so of Apidra with lunch and when the Apidra and Insuman peak coincided, it was very difficult to control, so late morning and early afternoon I was prone to hypos, but my late afternoon and early evening the Insuman had worn off and my levels were rising into the 8s and 9s - it was either change to Levemir or start splitting the Insuman into 3 daily jabs, and I couldn't face that!. The Levemir is smoother in its action and lasts a little longer, so two daily jabs is OK. It still seems to have a bit of a peak for me at about 6 hours, though it's not as marked as the Insuman. So in some ways i'm happy with the change, but I have felt that my control has slipped a little since using Levemir. However, you are certainly right that I now produce less insulin, and maybe that is making it harder to control levels. I do still produce some insulin, but it is nowhere near as strong as a couple of years ago. I hadn't really considered that that would make tight control harder, but perhaps it is doing. I certainly love tracking my SD, though - yet another indicator for me to worry about :lol:
Smidge
Thanks for that.
I changed from Insuman because it was dropping my levels very steeply at times. It worked well when I coincided its 4 -6 hour peak with a low-carb meal. It meant I didn't need rapid-acting for lunch for example, but as my own insulin became less strong, I found i was needing a unit or so of Apidra with lunch and when the Apidra and Insuman peak coincided, it was very difficult to control, so late morning and early afternoon I was prone to hypos, but my late afternoon and early evening the Insuman had worn off and my levels were rising into the 8s and 9s - it was either change to Levemir or start splitting the Insuman into 3 daily jabs, and I couldn't face that!. The Levemir is smoother in its action and lasts a little longer, so two daily jabs is OK. It still seems to have a bit of a peak for me at about 6 hours, though it's not as marked as the Insuman. So in some ways i'm happy with the change, but I have felt that my control has slipped a little since using Levemir. However, you are certainly right that I now produce less insulin, and maybe that is making it harder to control levels. I do still produce some insulin, but it is nowhere near as strong as a couple of years ago. I hadn't really considered that that would make tight control harder, but perhaps it is doing. I certainly love tracking my SD, though - yet another indicator for me to worry about :lol:
Smidge
hale710
Well-Known Member
I thought I had managed to keep the geekiness out of my diabetes...... Until now. I did this purely on interest as I've not been diagnosed long enough, the earlier results are obviously because I had no idea what was going on! Nice to see the downward trend though and is motivation to keep going
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Hi Hale!
Oh, don't try to suppress the geekiness :lol: Seriously, I have 4 years' worth of daily and monthly test readings broken down into morning fasting, before food, after food, night and general - all graphed out so I can see trends in my averages of each category going back from the beginning to now - I can't believe other people haven't :lol: My diabetes Consultant thinks I'm deranged :lol: I'm sure he'll love to know I now have Standard Deviation figures to add to the discussion :lol:
Smidge
Oh, don't try to suppress the geekiness :lol: Seriously, I have 4 years' worth of daily and monthly test readings broken down into morning fasting, before food, after food, night and general - all graphed out so I can see trends in my averages of each category going back from the beginning to now - I can't believe other people haven't :lol: My diabetes Consultant thinks I'm deranged :lol: I'm sure he'll love to know I now have Standard Deviation figures to add to the discussion :lol:
Smidge
hale710
Well-Known Member
I have all of that too, it keeps me amused! I tried to explain to my consultant that I'm an engineer and love a good spreadsheet and he just stared blankly at me. He's old and possibly stuck in the dark ages where females can't do maths and certainly won't be engineers!
Standard deviation is just a new number to play with haha
Standard deviation is just a new number to play with haha
hale710
Well-Known Member
I'm just back from a holiday and so I though I'd look at my SD for the last fortnight. My average BG has gone up to 8mmol/l which I expected (**** hotel pastries) so I'm bringing that back down now, but oddly my SD has improved!
Ahh well if you can't have a higher than ave on hol then when can ya!? I have been working v hard on super tight control this past week, my ave has been 6.6 SD 2.5, I'm lovin these figures but know I have achieved them by sinking into hypo territory I am baffled at how I could possibly achieve the same without going low. The eternal quest...
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I am baffled at how I could possibly achieve the same without going low. The eternal quest...Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
hale710
Well-Known Member
My SD is now at 2, down from about 2.3. I'm hoping as I return to my normal diet now I'm back home I can keep the SD while still lowering the BG average
Reducing the average but having hypos doesn't sound ideal! I haven't been hypo for well over a month, lowest of 4.4. But then I'm not in hypo region with an average of 8 anyway!
Reducing the average but having hypos doesn't sound ideal! I haven't been hypo for well over a month, lowest of 4.4. But then I'm not in hypo region with an average of 8 anyway!
