My diabetes PA

If it can’t be expressed in numbers, it’s not science. It’s opinion.

Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love

Diabetes:M was a real life-saver when I was new to diabetes, and it remains part of my day to day management. When I first left the hospital with insulin pens and fixed doses, I was terrified of making any changes. As I dropped the carbs from the two-hundred grams recommended by the diabetic nurse I had no choice. The insulin had to come down. 

To calculate the new doses I used the bolus-calculator in Diabetes:M. Not only did it give me the confidence to set my doses, but it put me on to some useful techniques like pre-bolusing insulin when sugars ran high, or to split-bolus for certain meals.

Whereas I don’t use the bolus-calculator anymore, I still put all my data into Diabetes:M. By adding my blood sugar readings and insulin doses before and after meals it spots trends that are easy to miss. If my blood sugar starts running high between meals Diabetes: M knows it.  When I’m having too many lows it lets me know. 

There’s a nice statistics panel that calculates your average blood sugars and glycemic variability week by week. The app also has some useful charts and estimates your HbA1c. The more data you give it the more accurate these estimates are. As I’m obsessed with numbers I tend to feed it quite a lot, and my HbA1c estimates have been accurate with the lab results. 

I think it’s invaluable with a disease like diabetes to have a number cruncher that helps with your self-management. It’s nice to hear that you’re doing well, even when it’s just coming from a friendly AI. At eight dollars a month, it’s a bargain. If you want to stay on top of your diabetes, this is the app for you.

Please note that I’m not affiliated with Diabetes:M. I’m just a happy customer. Here’s a link to their website should you want to check out the app for yourself.