I started to measure the sugar level in the blood regularly and record these data on a spreadsheet.
It is relatively convenient to keep track on these data in this way, but it has many limits, especially when I started to collect other data as well, like the weight, my daily intake of carbohydrates, how much exercise I do, what medications I'm taking and when, and so on.
This article describes the way I started to collect/store/retrieve information using LibreOffice Calc.
I'm sure exists many other better ways to do so, but this is my way.
Software
The main tool used to store the data is LibreOffice Calc.I'm using it in two flavors :
- LibreOffice Calc 4.3.1.2 for Windows
- LibreOffice Calc 4.2.7.2 for Linux
The spreadsheet is divided in different tabs.
A tab for each month, a tab to recollect all the data, a tab to recollect only the fasting measurements and other tabs for the conversion (will be discussed in other articles).
Let see more in details the main tabs.
Let see more in details the main tabs.
Monthly tab
Each month of collected data has a tab, named with Month and Year, like "January 2015".
The data collected in the tabs are the carbs intake, the glucose reading, what medications are taken, the weight, the ketons and some notes.
Additionally in the notes field is reported what kind of exercise is done and other remarks.
Here the columns on this tab :
The data collected in the tabs are the carbs intake, the glucose reading, what medications are taken, the weight, the ketons and some notes.
Additionally in the notes field is reported what kind of exercise is done and other remarks.
Here the columns on this tab :
| Date | Meal | Carbs | Daily carbs | Glucose reading | Time | ml/dg | Medications | Weight (lb) | Notes | Ketons |
- Date
The date of the measurement.
Since the tab contains different data, there are at least 6 entries for each date, i.e. every day there are 6 entries (rows) with the same date. - Meal
Indicates a specific period of the day. It is used to record the intake of carbs in gram.
The values of this column are : - Breakfast
- Snack (morning)
- Lunch
- Snack (afternoon)
- Dinner
- Snack (night)
- Carbs
A value in grams of the net carbs for each specific period (see previous column) - Daily Carbs
A sum of the 6 previous field (see Carbs) - Glucose reading
A description associated to the glucose reading.
The three major measurements of glucose are done before breakfast, before lunch and before dinner.
There are three "fixed" descriptions, plus a random description (up to three) : - Before breakfast
- Before lunch
- Before dinner
- Random
- Time
Time of the glucose reading - ml/dg
Value of the glucose reading - Medications
List of the medication taken in the day - Weight (lb)
Weight measured. Usually once a day. not in a specific time. - Notes
Generic notes. Usually I put in here what exercise I do and how long or other notes, maybe associated to other fields - Ketons
Value of the ketons. I'm trying to mimic the colors used by the strips and putting an estimate value in one of the cell. - bpm (after March)
- Systolic
- Dyastolic
Here an example of a monthly tab, how is look (is a demo page, the values are fake):
After March, three extra columns will be added, to save the blood pressure and the heart beat.
Chart
In the end of the table, a chart is present to show the main collected data.
The chart is a linear one and shows the weigh, the glucose level, the daily carb intake and the carb intake.
The colors used and the scale are kept for all the monthly tabs in order to facilitate to compare them.
The chart is a linear one and shows the weigh, the glucose level, the daily carb intake and the carb intake.
The colors used and the scale are kept for all the monthly tabs in order to facilitate to compare them.
Here an example of the monthly chart (it's a demo - fake values):
There are two different scales on the Y axes.
On the left from o to 200 for the weight and ml/dg.
On the right from 0 to 400 for the carbs intake.
The reason was to leave more space between the carbs and the other two lines.
Using the same scale, sometime the lower part of the glucose line and the upper part of the daily carb intake, were mixing. The chart is important to show quickly the patterns, not reading specific values, so the two scales are just OK.
On the right from 0 to 400 for the carbs intake.
The reason was to leave more space between the carbs and the other two lines.
Using the same scale, sometime the lower part of the glucose line and the upper part of the daily carb intake, were mixing. The chart is important to show quickly the patterns, not reading specific values, so the two scales are just OK.
All times tab
This tab recollect all the data present in the monthly tabs.
Originally the data were simply copied in this tab, since January 2015 some operations are automated, so that the update happens when the monthly tab is updated.
Originally the data were simply copied in this tab, since January 2015 some operations are automated, so that the update happens when the monthly tab is updated.
The reason to have an extra tab to recollect all the data previously collected, is to easily generate a chart.
| Date | Meal | Carbs | Daily carbs | Glucose reading | Time | ml/dg | Weight (lb) |
- Date
The date of the measurement.
Since the tab contains different data, there are at least 6 entries for each date, i.e. every day there are 6 entries with the same date. - Meal
Indicates a specific period of the day. It is used to record the intake of carbs in gram.
The values of this column are : - Breakfast
- Snack
- Lunch
- Snack
- Dinner
- Snack
- Carbs
A value in grams of the net carbs for each specific period (see previous column)
Since January the value of this cell is copied automatically from the specific monthly tab.
Example : =IF(('January 2015'.C2 = 0),"",'January 2015'.C2) - Daily Carbs
A sum of the 6 previous field (see Carbs) - Glucose reading
A description associated to the glucose reading.
It is used to divide the day. The three major measurements of glucose are done before breakfast, before lunch and before dinner.
There are three "fixed" descriptions, plus a random description : - Before breakfast
- Before lunch
- Before dinner
- Random
- Time
Time of the glucose reading
Since January the value of this cell is copied automatically from the specific monthly tab.
Example : =IF(('January 2015'.F2 = 0),"",'January 2015'.F2) - ml/dg
Value of the glucose reading
Since January the value of this cell is copied automatically from the specific monthly tab.
Example : =IF(('January 2015'.G2 = 0),"",'January 2015'.G2) - Weight (lb)Weight measured. Usually once a day. not in a specific time.
Since January the value of this cell is copied automatically from the specific monthly tab.
Example : =IF(('January 2015'.I2 = 0),"",'January 2015'.I2)
Chart
In the end of the table, a chart is present to show the collected data.
The chart is a linear one and shows the weigh, the glucose level and the daily carb intake like the monthly one, but it will include more months.
The chart is a linear one and shows the weigh, the glucose level and the daily carb intake like the monthly one, but it will include more months.
All time only fast tab
This tab recollect all the data present in the monthly tabs but only for the "Before breakfast" glucose levels.
Originally the data were simply copied in this tab, since January 2015 some operations are automated, so that the update happens when the monthly tab is updated.
Originally the data were simply copied in this tab, since January 2015 some operations are automated, so that the update happens when the monthly tab is updated.
The reason to have an extra tab to recollect all the data previously collected, is to easily generate a chart.
Basically this tab is identical to the previous one (All times tab) but the glucose values copied are only the ones before breakfast.
Basically this tab is identical to the previous one (All times tab) but the glucose values copied are only the ones before breakfast.
| Date | Meal | Carbs | Daily carbs | Glucose reading | Time | ml/dg | Weight (lb) |
- Date
The date of the measurement.
Since the tabspreadsheet contains different data, there are at least 6 entries for each date, i.e. every day there are 6 entries with the same date. - Meal
Indicates a specific period of the day, used to record the intake of carbs in gram.
The values of this column are : - Breakfast
- Snack
- Lunch
- Snack
- Dinner
- Snack
- Carbs
A value in grams of the net carbs for each specific period (see previous column)
Since January the value of this cell is copied automatically from the specific monthly tab.
Example : =IF(('January 2015'.C2 = 0),"",'January 2015'.C2) - Daily Carbs
A sum of the 6 previous field (see Carbs) - Glucose reading
A description associated to the glucose reading.
The three major measurements of glucose are done before breakfast, before lunch and before dinner.
There are three "fixed" descriptions, plus a random description : - Before breakfast
- Before lunch
- Before dinner
- Random
- Time
Time of the glucose reading
Since January the value of this cell is copied automatically from the specific monthly tab.
Example : =IF(('January 2015'.F2 = 0),"",'January 2015'.F2) - ml/dg
Value of the glucose reading
Since January the value of this cell is copied automatically from the specific monthly tab.
Example : =IF(('January 2015'.G2 = 0),"",'January 2015'.G2) - Weight (lb)Weight measured. Usually once a day. not in a specific time.
Since January the value of this cell is copied automatically from the specific monthly tab.
Example : =IF(('January 2015'.I2 = 0),"",'January 2015'.I2)
Chart
In the end of the table, a chart is present to show the collected data.
The chart is a linear one and shows the weigh, the glucose level and the daily carb intake like the monthly one, but it will include more months.
More articles will follow in order to describe the system I'm setting up to deal with all these data.
More articles will follow in order to describe the system I'm setting up to deal with all these data.
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