My wife is tired of continued weight gain over the more than 30 years since having been diagnosed as a T1. Over the last six years her A1c has been in the range of 7.4 to 9.8. She is a two time cancer survivor.
She is technology averse but we have made some headway. She got a cell phone about three years ago and uses it for calls and text. As she would say, she likes texting and using emojis only if the #$@&%*! cursor did not mess things up. Is there a way to get rid of it?
Over the last month we did a trial of Dexcom G4 while transitioning to a whole-food, plant-based way of eating. We have improved insulin sensitivity and she has lost 16 pounds.
Want to continue use of CGM while keeping costs down. That is why I’m looking into XDRIP. May eventually consider a simple pump.
In the meantime, would like to improve glucose control, get better A1Cs, improve health and activity level. Have several health issues like arthritis, knee problems and reduced range of motion with arms (difficulty reaching up). Currently, she enjoy walks with our two small dogs.
Welcome @bewell! Collectively, FUD has over 1,000 years of combined experience so please ask any questions you have and someone will most certainly be able to help! Congratulations on the long marriage, and to your wife for surviving two successful battles with Cancer!
Very nice to have you at FUD, the site that UNLIMITED Diabetics call home.
I can help you with xDrip+. It’s going to either be easy as pie, or frustratingly difficult. Mostly depending on your hardware. Being that you already have a Smartwatch 3 is most helpful.
And with 30 years of T1 your wife can’t be too tech averse!
I am also cancer survivor, and T1D for 50+ years. Last year I started using metformin, and it is increasingly being used by T1Ds.
My primary reason to start metformin was based on studies that show it may lower risk of cancer, or reoccurring. It has also helped me with BG control and losing a few pounds. May want to check with her doctors about it.
T1Ds often get shoulder issues, or frozen shoulder, and I had my share of that 20 years ago. This can be treated and improved- sometimes with just PT (physical therapy), or may require steroid injections in more severe cases.
Welcome!
I’m definitely low tech in the cell phone category, and participate here using tablet or laptop. Hope your wife joins here too.
This week I got a reconditioned Dexcom G5 transmitter and box of sensors that I plan to extend the use of by keeping it glued on and starting the sensor multiple times. I got a Sony SmartWatch 3 SWR50. It is just out of the box and has been charged using the USB cable. Nothing else has been done to it and it is not paired with a smart phone at this time.
I need steps to set up the SW3 as the collector. To help with the technology aversion, I need the SW3 to have minimal other functions/interruptions (no email, messages, fitness stuff, whatever). At this point, I am not sure if the SW3 is dependent on a smart phone at some point in time for setup. I do expect to setup a smart phone as a follower and to act as an alarm while the SW3 is being charged.
Welcome @bewell! So awesome that you support your wife and want to better her (in turn your) lives. I am hoping that positive outcomes with recent weight loss will fuel her fire to try out new technology-based items.
As @MM2 said, maybe frozen shoulder… this is a common issue in people with diabetes, and more commonplace in women over 40. Have been dealing with this in one shoulder since January this year. The ‘down’ side from my physical therapist is that the condition itself can sometimes be relieved with cortisone; in those that can’t the condition just takes time to resolve.
PT is helpful to help prevent muscle atrophy and keep some flexibility until it resolves.
We are rolling. I first set up my Samsung Galaxy S8 with xDrip+ and got readings from the Dexcom G5. Then I paired the Sony SmartWatch 3 SWR50 with the smart phone. The xDrip+ software automatically loaded onto the watch as part of this process. I set up the watch as the primary receiver and my phone is being kept updated when in range (update occurs from watch to phone). This is well described in the following link (https://github.com/jamorham/xDrip-plus/blob/master/Documentation/WatchGuide.md). I set the watch face to xDrip and it’s a beautiful thing seeing the Dexcom G5 data on the watch without having to have the phone nearby. Occasionally, we miss some data but putting the watch near the transmitter seems to get it going again at the next 5 minute reading. The watch needs charging about once or twice a day.
Next week we plan on starting a trial of the Omnipod pump. Do you have any advice or point me to a document on how to take xDrip+ to the next level? How do I use the xDrip+ data to fine tune basal levels and determine the insulin/carb bolus ratio? Right now I’m entering treatments specifying the net carbs and insulin units. The predictive glucose levels based on treatments entered are not at all accurate of where the blood glucose goes. Does xDrip+ learn/improve as it gets more history? Should one enter, total insulin load that takes half the protein into account? Are there any guidelines for changes to insulin sensitivity based on fat grams consumed?
@bewell You can go into and set xDrip predictive simulation>low level prediction values and set things like insulin duration and some liver values that have to do with fat metabolism.
But how about playing with C:I and CF to bend the predictions to where they’re more realistic? It took me quite a while to get the prediction to look like reality.
As far as machine learning I’m afraid the answer is no. I’ve been asking for the prediction to be heuristic for months to no avail.
Or you could just do fats and proteins as however they affect your wife as carbohydrate and enter that as total carbohydrate.
But if you want it to calculate a split or extended bolus, there’s no way to do that in xDrip+. It’s really a very simplistic prediction. A more robust one would probably be its own app.
You should buy a copy of Pumping Insulin by Walsh. It explains in detail how to set basal rate and figure out carb/insulin ratio, correction ratio, etc. It will also give a lot of useful details on using and adjusting pump and CGM.
