new to DAFNE

Hello, im quite new to the DAFNE principles...and struggling to get control of my blood glucose readings. Any ideas???
Im grateful for any advice, main problem is that i still get hypos during the night yet ive tried putting BI dose down which makes all readings during the day very high, its one or the other and dont want either!

Welcome to the forum
Good to see that you are using the online diary.
Like to encourage you to do a BG every day before bed to help you understand what goes on overnight and add some 03:00 am tests too to help get your BI right.
Slowly does it though.
May I ask what BI you use?
Personally I split my Lantus BI taking equal amounts at around 06:30 and 18:30 each day with breakfast and dinner respectively.
Will take some time to get things right. Don't be discouraged. We are all our own worst critics.
Your results are comparitively good...not many green figures show yet, but with a controlled structured approach they will improve.
Regards
Garry

Hi Garry thanks for your reply, i have done some 3am tests before and they were generally quite low which is scary as im sure i sleep through the hypos sometimes and wake up feeling terrible. my BI is lantus and QA novorapid i thught about splitting the dose but really trying to avoid more injesctions (i have huge issues with needles..best not to ask) also i dont understand why the corrections dont work sometimes (23-03-12) yet do at others.

Garry said:
Welcome to the forum
Good to see that you are using the online diary.
Like to encourage you to do a BG every day before bed to help you understand what goes on overnight and add some 03:00 am tests too to help get your BI right.
Slowly does it though.
May I ask what BI you use?
Personally I split my Lantus BI taking equal amounts at around 06:30 and 18:30 each day with breakfast and dinner respectively.
Will take some time to get things right. Don't be discouraged. We are all our own worst critics.
Your results are comparitively good...not many green figures show yet, but with a controlled structured approach they will improve.
Regards
Garry

Welcome to the forum....................

Your corrections may work sometimes but not others because you need more units the higher your BG is, so the rule that 1 unit drops your BG by 2-3mmol/l will not work at higher levels, you will need to test and experiment to find out what levels need what correction......

You seem to be having quite a lot of hypos, are you recently diagnosed?

I ask this because you are on a 1:1 ratio for the second half of the day but are still getting them. Suggestions to split your dose are recommended from me too, even if its Lantus, but preferably Levemir. It does mean an extra injection unfortunately but your background needs will be changing by the hour so splitting it up into AM and PM will be most effective.......

Its obvious that your overnight needs are considerably smaller than your daytime, so without a split it will never be right.....

you mention a problem with injection, if you want to chat about it, here is the place to do it........

Yeah i understand about the corrections and how much it is supposed to lower you but it doesnt always work even doing +2 or +3 which should have a big effect on the levels. Heehee had to laugh when you asked if im recently diagnosed erm...21years and counting LOL, i feel like theres no hope for me sometimes but i carry on. I realise i should probably split the BI dose to stop the hypos and highs but as i said i have a huge needle fear and every injection i have to do is a big deal, i feel like they take over my life.

I have HUGE needle fear too.....but I get around it by using little itty bitty ones....4 mm 31 gauge

If you are confident enough to discuss it, I am sure that there are many folk on here with similar problems.
They may be willing and able to share their strategies for overcoming this sort of difficulty.
Regards
Garry

I cant begin to imagine how hard that must be for you having a phobia of needles..............

Have you had any help regarding this like therapy etc..........[I don't know what else would be available...].....?

As I don't have the phobia trying to explain that there is nothing to worry about it pointless I suppose. Has it not eased of your 21 years, the needles now, as you well know are considerably different to the ones you first encountered.....

Having a fear like this will be effecting your quality of life and therefore would qualify you for a pump, however this still requires inserting a cannula which some find a bit more invasive, so might scare you even more.......has a pump been mentioned...........

What I was saying about the corrections is that the rules you know about, the 2-3mmol/l one, will not work if your BG is above 10-11mmol/l, so you need to investigate and test to see how much 1 unit drops you when your BG is at different levels..........

For me at the extreme end of the scale, I worked out the if my BG is above 17mmol/l, 1 unit of insulin only drops me 1mmol/l, so if was 20mmol/l, which aint that often....... , I would need 15 units correction.....

Another question, where do you do your injections, I can assume with a fear of them, you may have picked one spot to use more than others, which can come with absorption problems if your not rotating.....

Yes you are right every injection is in my legs which are very bruised and sore at the best of times, i used to use my arms but have been advised to stop this as i havent got alot of meat on them and probably hitting muscle each time.

My needle phobia does effect my quality of life and it always has, i have not been offered any help like therapy, i think this problem gets overlooked by healthcare professionals, i think a lot of people dont understand how a diabetican CAN have a fear of injecting.

Thank you for the insight about your personal corrections, I will experiment with the corrections and have noticed if my BG is 14mmol/l or over the correction doesnt work but it does under 14 so i will change the ratio for that.

I have been put forward for a pump but dont know how long the wait is, i have a great consultant who really helps and listens so hopefully wont be long.

novorapidboi26 said:
I cant begin to imagine how hard that must be for you having a phobia of needles..............

Have you had any help regarding this like therapy etc..........[I don't know what else would be available...].....?

As I don't have the phobia trying to explain that there is nothing to worry about it pointless I suppose. Has it not eased of your 21 years, the needles now, as you well know are considerably different to the ones you first encountered.....

Having a fear like this will be effecting your quality of life and therefore would qualify you for a pump, however this still requires inserting a cannula which some find a bit more invasive, so might scare you even more.......has a pump been mentioned...........

What I was saying about the corrections is that the rules you know about, the 2-3mmol/l one, will not work if your BG is above 10-11mmol/l, so you need to investigate and test to see how much 1 unit drops you when your BG is at different levels..........

For me at the extreme end of the scale, I worked out the if my BG is above 17mmol/l, 1 unit of insulin only drops me 1mmol/l, so if was 20mmol/l, which aint that often....... , I would need 15 units correction.....

Another question, where do you do your injections, I can assume with a fear of them, you may have picked one spot to use more than others, which can come with absorption problems if your not rotating.....

If you carry no fat why not ask your Health Care Professionals if you can try shorter needles.
As I said before I use 4 mm 31 gauge, which are the shortest out there at the moment. They may help avoid muscle damage.
Regards
Garry

Sorry i didnt get back to you sooner garry but thanks for your reply, i use the 4mm needles. My issues have always been about actually putting the needle in, because i can see it i know when its going to hurt (i probably sound so stupid) and i cant look away for fear that i will do it wrong, it takes a long time for me to actually inject myself and i get in such a state sweating, shaking, even crying at times if im already feeling down. Im lucky to have a supportive partner who does some of the needles for me, he sees how worked up i get and takes the pressure off me by doing maybe 1 a day. I know its all in my head but i cant escape it.