RECORDING YOUR BLOOD GLUCOSE
To keep track of your blood glucose (BG) values, you have two options: you can write down the
numbers in a blood glucose diary, or you can download the data from your meter into your computer and take them
to the doctor’s office for analysis. Even if you cannot write down numbers regularly, do so for a week before
you go to see your doctor.
Downloading the data to your computer may seem like less work, but there are a few
disadvantages to this approach:
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First and most important, your tendency may be to download
data into the computer and print it out just before your doctor’s visit. This is not as helpful
because you do not review data as it is generated, and so you do not intervene between office
visits. On the other hand, if you write down the numbers, it is very easy for you review the data
as you go along, looking for patterns and making interventions as
necessary.
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Second, if you do not enter insulin dosage, carbohydrate
intake, and other factors such as exercise that might have affected a particular glucose level,
it is difficult to put the downloaded glucose values in context.
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Third, meter manufacturers each have their own software,
and quite often the software does not display data in formats that are easy to
analyze.
Even if you keep a
pen-and-paper log, your doctor may periodically review the BG numbers in your meter’s memory if he or she
believes you aren’t recording accurately. Sometimes people don’t write down very high or low glucose values, in
an attempt to make their diabetes appear better than it is.
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