Result.

Did the course about 3 yrs ago. Thought it was brilliant, learnt so much about the condition. Came out of it really hopeful of a better future. Worked tirelessly since, measuring, balancing, adjusting. Unfortunately control is still no better, still up and down readings all over the place, went for MOT yesterday and feel like we have gone backwards.

Cheer up vic. Just look back and review the good advice that you have given others through this forum.
Take heart from that.
We are all in the same boat. Like you, I work hard at achieving a balance and felt like I was doing really well, with a graph largely in the green - but whilst on holiday....the wheels have come off......and 5 days on, I'm still trying to get things back in control. Goodness knows what has gone wrong but I'll keep day-by-day trying to get back on an even keel.

Regards
Garry

Thanks for the positive feedback Garry, but this has all become a bit disheartening. Unlike you, I have never been able to achieve largely greens. In fact after 3 yrs, I have never once had a complete day of readings in the green. Was put on a mission to look at a pump a while ago but preferred to stay with the needle, perhaps a mistake. Maybe there is some other factor that we are all missing but much as I enjoyed the DAFNE course and continue to follow the principals, the results have not made a jot of difference for me

Do your results show a problem with insulin doses at certain times, or is there no obvious patterns............

I have heard of folk having 'brittle' diabetes and having conditions like gastroparesis where managing sugars is difficult and unpredictable,could be something like that....

No patterns at all, that is the major difficulty. Hypo this afternoon when normally I would never get one at that time of day. My long acting results have never improved since the course and we have always put this down to so many hypos and corrections causing the results to just go high or low.
Very annoying having worked so hard at it.

You sound like me. Even after 3 years I'm still having trouble finding my body's requirements however in the last six months some things have come to light. Hopefully we can help each other - even if it means just encouragement.

You have to factor in a lot of things, beyond just looking at carbs and adjusting to blood results (frustrating I know).
Examples are:
~knowing what your exercise needs are (because I've learnt that the exercise rules don't apply in the same way to me to as we're taught on the DAFNE course - I need to do a lot of exercise before I need to look at eating something)
~stress (look at your work environment or if there's something in your life that constantly makes you anxious (like a bully's behaviour) - I find my levels rise without fail if I'm anxious or upset and can continue to rise despite correction over at least 12hours)
~patience to give your insulin time to work (after learning that it could take 2-5hours for my humalog to finish, I would regularly try to test again after it was 5 hours so I could catch true patterns - this did mean letting myself be high if I got it wrong for a little while which in itself is distressing - trying to stop myself correcting too soon was a very hard habit to break after years of only giving my body an hour or two to get me down).
~learning your insulin sensitivity (It took me years to learn that 1:1 ratio was too much. I now understand that 1QA takes me down by 4-5BG, not 2-3BG - this is such a big difference to my control and worth considering here; could be seen under the "brittle" label perhaps but I haven't been given that tag yet and nor do I want to)

It can be so hard to make a call on things and it is disheartening. I frequently have felt I'm fighting a losing battle when I couldn't see these things I've mentioned just now. We need to be so familiar with our bodies to make progress.

I'm currently looking more into things like zen meditation and just learning how to stop my body "triggering" anxiety after a GP's suggestion. A feat in itself I know but while I'm going through a difficult time in my life (I've had a lot of one thing after another in the last year at least, including death in family), it's something. I have also asked my workplace for help which they are now looking into.

Don't feel bad about not being on a pump either - it's not a miracle cure. Even though it provides more injecting flexibility, you'll still need to see what are causing the highs and lows to prevent them.

Best wishes.

Edit: I hope your HbA1c hasn't been too high above the recommended range. I've been stuck between 8%-9% but with some changes (like the work situation etc) this has been starting to drop. I hope my next HbA1c is below 8%, will have to wait and see.

Thank you JWo, very interesting and in many ways similar.
My work can be very active as I am outside in all weathers and summer is a lot more intense than winter.
Stress is never far away again through work but also illness at home. I however can not point the finger at these factors for my rise and fall in blood test results.
I am on Lantus rather than Humalog.
Interesting what you say about ratios as I have always found myself to require a lot less insulin than my friends, which I always put down to being very active.
I am sorry to hear that you have experienced such pain in life and wish you well for the future, also that you find a way to control the anxiety.
Think my HbA1c has hovered around 8%-10% always but was told it should drop by 0.5% each 6 months following the course. This has never been the case.
Good luck in your fight and don't get depressed.
Cheers for being so open.

Thanks vic.
I suspect that we're both quite active generally then, which could suggest insulin sensitivity in both of us...

My BI is Levemir and my QA is Humalog. I was on Lantus before, split dose, but would frequently suffer hypos so my DAFNE team moved me on to Levemir. I was told Levemir is more suitable for an active lifestyle but I'm still not sure how true this is. I've had less of a difficult time reaching some stability from changing to it though.

My current "when not ill/stressed" arrangement understanding is 0.5:1 meal ratios (Humalog half unit per 10g) across the day and split Levemir 11/17 taken at 7am/7pm. Is that similar to you?

I'm glad to hear that you have diabetic friends to compare to. I'm often alone with my diabetes on that front.

I do wonder how well certain suppressives (like anti-depressants for example, or using sleeping tablets to get more sleep to help with coping, stuff like that) would be effective, but what does one do if it's not something usual? I would rather not take anti-depressants to sort my situation out. I'm still too pro-active to take that route in my opinion. Hopefully shall get somewhere soon though. Just got to find the answer..!

vic demain said:
Guess this really should be a pm, but if it helps others, then all the better.

Sorry JWo, for getting the insulins wrong. I am on Novorapid fast acting and Lantus, have been since before Dafne. Must admit my Lantus has been so up and down due to hypos and is currently on the increase again.

I would be similar to you about 0.6:1 at breakfast and lunch but after work increase to around 1.3:1 however corrections I have always done at 1:1.

My eldest daughter is also type1 but has not done the course, as for my friend, we met on the course, bought into it, filled in the diaries on this site for a couple of years and have tried to help each other, but we both have difficulties getting results. I like to talk with others who understand the feeling of dealing with diabetes.

Sure doctors know all the book details but they have never experienced that out of body feeling of having a serious hypo and how scary it is. They tell you to run high, but that has other problems which are not pleasent. How many times has someone said to you "improve your control and you will be better"? I want to drag them over the table and tell them about the daily ongoing battle.

Sleep has thankfully never been a problem, I go off like a log. Also never used anti-depressants (yet) so can't make an informed judgement.

Ah the answer about as elusive as the cure for cancer, at least we can live normally with diabetes and that in its self is a huge blessing.

Hi Vic and JWo

I've never been on here - wander if this will work!
Vic bet your laughing thinking I'm being mad again.
JWo - I met Vic on the Dafne course!
I have to say I've been reading your conversation. One thing stands out that we all agree on the consultants at the hospitals have not been helpful in the past! I remember one (no names mentioned) telling me that it says in a book .... Bla bla. Really she is supposed to be helping / educating diabetics and she didn't have a clue!
One dietician told me one to eat a yogurt and I said really its got a lot of sugar! She looked puzzled and said maybe don't eat it then!
I struggled for years in double figures till a family member told me she did the Dafne course!
I went to my gp whose a diabetic and asked to be referred! She asked me what Dafne was?? I told her what I'd been told and she referred me. I copied my manual for her as she's a diabetic herself and now shes very nice to me lol.
The other point you were discussing I agree you have to learn your own body. Theres no set rules everyone differs.
My last blood test was 7 something. Had another test today! I used to be 9 + before Dafne so it's helped educate me.
I speak to so many diabetics who are older through work and they all count sugars in foods not carbs still. They are not trained at all!
Something's I noticed:
If I have a hypo I can only control it well with glucose or jelly babies otherwise I go high after. Once I'm high after a hypo it's a hard battle!
Excercise is a nightmare - so hard to work out. I usually test before during and after! And eat jelly babies / glucose during!
I find different carbs act differently for example pasta is a rubbish carb for my body, may as well assume I'm eating carb free! Potatoes similar but not as bad unless fried likes chips or something!
Stress is a nightmare - sends me up or down - no pattern to that!
And lack of sleep - I'm not a good sleeper and I find that makes me shakey and I need to eat more and inject more if tired!

Just thought I'd confirm - we are all different and I agree with you both!

Oh and lastly (for now) I'm on novarapid and lantus too. I don't alter my lantus very often though prob should look at that as some nights I drop over night. The nova rapid I find keeps working for at least 4 hours and so I have to eat regularly spacing approx 4 hours between meals and struggle to eat later than 6.30pm for my evening meal as I have to wait to test my levels 4-5 hours after eating so I know I'm ok through the night. Do you both keep strict meal times?

Hope your both feeling ok anyhow!

Speak soon
Jayne
Ps Vic - your scrabble move lol