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08
Dec

TAG – Total Available Glucose

[2009]

Today I was reading a blog post by Amy Tenderich over at Diabetes Mine called, Betting Our Lives on Guesses.

I made a comment as follows:

Lately I’ve been studying TAG (Total Available Glucose) of not only carbs, but protein and fat too. It’s a much better and more accurate way of bolusing for T1 than just counting carbs. I have a pump, so I do extended boluses for all but small meals and snacks. That seems to work better too.

The one thing that also drives me crazy is the inaccuracy of meters. Thank heavens we have them, but really, by now they could be much more accurate. The other one is that I wonder sometimes how some manufacturers get to their carb counts on food packs. I’m sure sometimes they’re just guessing.

TAG is a system that takes into account not only the carbs in foods but also the available glucose of protein (about 58%) and fats (about 10%) and working out boluses on that.

Not that boluses are inaccurate only because you’re not doing TAG. There’s so much more to take into account: fighting an infection, inflammation, pain, stress, weather, hormones and a whole lot more. It makes looking after diabetes, once thought of as a science, more of an art-form at times.

There’s a great discussion over at TuDiabetes. It started off about doing combo/extended boluses on a pump and evolved into a discussion about TAG. Read more about the posts in “Dual Wave Bolus”

Even if you don’t have an insulin pump, it’s well worth the read.

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Diabetes Types

Type 1 Diabetes autoimmune
Type 2 Diabetes many forms of non-autoimmune diabetes in both thin and overweight people
LADA - Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adulthood officially classified as Type 1, or Type 1.5, a slow onset form of T1
Gestational Diabetes onset in pregnancy, often disappears after birth
MODY at least 6 forms of gene mutation causing defects in insulin production
PCOS & Type 2 polycystic ovarian syndrome and T2 often go together
NDM neonatal diabetes mellitus
Type AB unofficial term T1 with insulin resistance
MIDD maternally inherited T2 with some deafness
FPLD children with unusual fat distribution at puberty who develop insulin-resistant diabetes that are one of the following: type A syndrome, leprechaunism, and Rabson-Mendenhall syndrome
TNDM babies needing insulin at birth but not later in infancy. May again develop diabetes later in childhod/adulthood, may not require insulin treatment.
Diabetes associated with Friedreich's ataxia, cystic fibrosis, and hemochromatosis.
KPD ketosis-prone diabetes (KPD) is a widespread, emerging, heterogeneous syndrome characterized by patients who present with diabetic ketoacidosis or unprovoked ketosis but do not necessarily have the typical phenotype of autoimmune type 1 diabetes.

There are also other types related to other causes. Any more, or see mistakes? Please let me know!

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