Originally Posted by *Paul
In my previous thread about BP readings you discussed you techniques and that you had many readings you have taken over the years. I was wondering do you have an effective spreadsheet you use to understand these readings (That you wouldn't mind sharing), after all those readings you must have a great system in place.
I use a database program to store my readings by date, by hour. Then I use the database to summarize my readings by day, or by year and week, or by year and month, or by hour, and then copy and paste the summarized readings into my spreadsheet for charts.
If you didn't have a database program, or weren't familar with one, then you could use a word processor to enter your readings, or a product like Notepad.
I use a 24 hour clock for storing my readings. Here is an example of how I would store my readings using Notepad:
Notice that I only store the hour, without the minutes. The 20 on 11/23/2004 means 8pm. The easy way to convert is to add 12 to the "pm" time starting with 1pm through 12pm, which converts to 13 through 24.
Most spreadsheets allow you "text to column" operations, which allows you to take the readings, separated by commas and spread them to individual cells so that you can do charts.
Once you get the readings spread to individual cells, you can then do "sort" and "subtotal" type of data functions to average your readings by day or by hour. If you want other types of averagings, like by month and year, you would have to massage the date, using date functions.
One of my favorite charts is the one by hour. It shows me my blood pressure pattern during the average day, and also shows me when my blood pressure meds kick in, and when they start losing their effectiveness. Each one of us has a circadian rhythm, which controls at which times our endocrine system pumps chemicals (hormones) into our systems, which effects our blood pressure during the day. So, summarizing the readings by hour, and then doing a chart by "hour" will really open your eyes regarding how your blood pressure might change during the day.
At present my own spread sheet caters for 2 readings a day (AM and PM), but if i try adding and more the how sheet becomes muddied and i think the doc will have trouble following it. If you don't mind sharing your secrets that would be much appreciated. |
Thanks for all your advice
I don't mind at all.
I don't understand why your spread sheet only allows 2 readings per day. You can store anything you want in a spreadsheet.
What do you think about storing the readings in a world processor, or text processor like notepad? You can actually store your readings in the spreadsheet, if you find that more suitable, and then you would not have to cut and paste it into your spreadsheet.
Let me know if you have any more questions on how to do this, or questions about the individual steps or any problems you encounter while attempting to set it up. It would be interesting finding out what kind of charts you come up with, and what they tell you about your own blood pressure experiences.