[beetfarmer]

I'm trying to get a sense of how difficult it is for people with Diabetes to keep track of their medical history and medications.

Comments below would really be appreciated too. Do you go through as much frustration as I do dealing with different doctors having different pieces of my medical information? Have you ever messed up taking your meds (forgetting, or taking the wrong amount)?

 

[marshagolightly]

I have never messed up with wrong meds or anything. I do make sure all my lab tests, visits to the dr etc are sent to all to whom I see so I don't have to always remember everything. I do keep a list of all meds with me just in case I see a new dr, er visits etc.

 

[beetfarmer]

It seems like a lot of people who are good with this develop their own system. How many meds do you take on average? Do you take them at the same time of day, or coordinate with testing or dinner or something? Do you think it would be helpful if you had something on your phone or computer or tablet that kept track of it all and reminded you when to take things. Or like a computerized watch that had all that information?

 

[policebox]

I requested all my medical records from various places and when I received them I scanned them into the computer as Acrobat (pdf) files then put the originals together in a binder. That way when I need to refer to something, I can look on the computer rather than having to find the paper.

I put all my lab results into a speadsheet, so that each row represents a particular test and each column contains the result and the reference range. That way I can see 12 years worth of blood test results at a glance.

I have another spreadsheet that I created and print-off. It gives me boxes to check off each day when I've taken a drug, a supplement, or an insulin injection. I also record pre-meal and post-meal blood sugar readings and the carb count of the meal I ate. It may seem like a lot of work, which it was when initially setting it up, but now it acts as quite a time-saver and removes all doubt as to whether or not I took something.

I have print-outs of all those things as well as data on some other things I track in a binder, which I then take to my appointments. Generally my summaries are sufficient during a consultation. If I need to provide copies of original records or documents, then they are stored on my glucose meter, which I also keep with me at all times.

So the bottom line is, I've expended a tremendous amount of time, energy, and care into compiling a lot of information that is essentially useless. Through all this I still don't feel any better than I did before all this began, except now I put additional burdens on myself in the form of fruitless record keeping. I probably should have taken a walk or stayed in bed instead.

 

[Shanny]

Welcome, beetfarmer. For my meds I use a medtracker - the kind with slots for four daily doses for seven days. I ignore the morning/noon/night labels and use it as a 28-day tracker. Then I only have to load it roughly once a month. I started out using two of them for morning and night, but it got to be a hassle so I just dump everything in one tracker and take everything at once. This won't work for everybody, but it works okay for me.

My PCP takes care of everything else. I can access my records on my doc's website, so that makes it easier than ever. He's my traffic cop and every referral comes from him, every consult is copied back to him, and if he doesn't like what we get from any of the referrals, he fires them and finds me another. Years ago I displayed some serious symptoms (possible meningitis) & he called in a neurologist. After the meningitis was ruled out, the neurologist called in an orthopedic surgeon, for whatever obscure reason (why ortho - not a neurosurgeon?). My doc didn't like the track record of the orthopod, so he fired both the orthopod and the neurologist. He then sent me to a St Louis neurosurgeon for the kind of care he wanted me to have.

There are computer sites for logging everything, and I used that in the beginning . . . I could print up graphs, etc., for my doc too, which helped a lot. But after we got past the initial trial & error, I stopped that too.

 

[beetfarmer]

Wow. You are the superman of keeping track of your health! I'm sorry it didn't help you more, but I can't tell you how much I respect you for doing everything right like that. Maybe you could donate the information to a researcher or something. You don't think it's helped you at all? The medications don't help? Do you control your diet/exercise as well as you do your health records (that would seriously make you the Hercules of fighting diabetes)

It shouldn't be this hard. Would you be interested in a phone or tablet app that did a lot of that for you? Or a computerized watch that could hold all of that information?

 

[beetfarmer]

Your doctor sounds amazing, Shanny. He really fights for you.

 

[Shanny]

Yes he does, and I wish there were a million more like him, so everyone could have one.

 

[MCS]

We use the paper dixie bathroom cups. I fix both my wifes meds and mine for the whole dayevery morning. If we go some where I simply fold over the top and staple it shut. I take a phenomenal amount of supps right now, you can barely close the top. We also try to get our family doc to write all of the scripts, sometimes its doeable, sometimes its not.

 

[marshagolightly]

I'm lucky beetfarmer that I only take 1 pill 3x per day. I'm a pumper so my insulin is ways with me. The device that operates my pump is also my tester. I test first thing in the AM. Before and after meals and bedtime. Keeping track is pretty easy for me

 

[policebox]

Wow. You are the superman of keeping track of your health! I'm sorry it didn't help you more, but I can't tell you how much I respect you for doing everything right like that. Maybe you could donate the information to a researcher or something. You don't think it's helped you at all? The medications don't help? Do you control your diet/exercise as well as you do your health records (that would seriously make you the Hercules of fighting diabetes)

It shouldn't be this hard. Would you be interested in a phone or tablet app that did a lot of that for you? Or a computerized watch that could hold all of that information?

Oh sure, I have a spreadsheet that I made that keeps track of food. If I eat something new, I look up the nutrition information at the Self Nutrition Data website (and others if the information is missing or incomplete). I then have a tab in my spreadsheet called "Refrigerator" where I enter in the data for the food item, that way once it's entered I never have to enter it again. Then I go to the tab that tracks each days food intake and if I eat something, I select it from a drop down menu of all the items in the refrigerator, type in how much I ate, and it automatically calculates every possible dimension of data you could want, scaled to the serving I ate: glycemic load, inflammation factor, fats, carbs, proteins, vitamins, minerals, yadda yadda. It then compares that information to my pre-established goals and gives me color-coded feedback; if it's green then it's good, if it's yellow I need to exercise caution, if it's red them I'm too far under/over my goal for the day.

Then at the end of the day I see all the red, realize what a failure I am, and eat two handfuls of gummy bears.

 

[naynay]

Then at the end of the day I see all the red, realize what a failure I am, and eat two handfuls of gummy bears.

Sounds familiar! :twitch:

 

[naynay]

I don't find a need to track all that stuff...It becomes obsessive. I was doing all that, but had to stop because I was giving myself anxiety attacks worrying about all of it. I've had to just calm myself down and do the best I can. I know what to stay away from and what is okay, even if my numbers jump around with no sense whatsoever!

As far as meds, I take probably more supplements than I do prescription meds, but I do use a AM/PM divider that is for seven days. I refill it every Sunday evening for the week ahead. This also allows me to know when I'm low on a supplement or a med and need to reorder.

I only take Metformin 2000 mg and basal/bolus insulin for diabetes. I do take Zoloft for anxiety. Other than that I quit all other prescription meds. I take several supplements, but that's it.

 

[newf]

I don't have a problem with taking my meds as I have a bottle at work in my drawer for morning metformin. The rest of my medications I take at night after dinner which keeps me on track. I don't have but two medications, and the rest are vitamins, melatonin and such. Hubby on the other hand has a weekly divider as well for his medications as he takes several different ones three times a day. As for keeping track of our medical information, we have a PCP that controls who and where we go due to our insurance. She is a wonderful doctor who keeps very good track of our information.