Dealing with large carb meals

Youone...none of the information that the DVLA sent me 9mnths ago said 5.8 to drive...says 5 or below eat a snack, 4 or below don't drive until sugars above 5! Where did you get the information for above 5.8 from as I do a lot of driving with my job?

The law is 4.0 or less and you are classed as driving under the influence and will be treated the same as if you were over the drink drive limit.

I can well below the dvla recommendation is 5+ though as it doesn't always take much to curb of 1 mmol. You need to apply some of what you know about how you react and judge your levels from that as the dvla guidelines are just that a rough guide to apply to all that most of the time will be a fair fit but not always for everyone. Do what you need to so you can stay above 4 at all times and on long drives I belive they also recommend to test every 2 hours.

Hi
The Dafne course I was on in February of this year the nurse said your BG had to be above 5.8 to drive also if stopped you had to produce a meter reading to back this up. stating make sure the date and time where set correctly. I'm at work so I can't check the form I had to sign stating the nurse had informed me of this.
I'll double check when I finish my shift
Like you I drive a lot so this was a bit of a shock especially regarding if you have a hypo and need assistance.
Even the law change in how you dispose of disposables that we use.
If it wasn't, for the Dafne course I wouldn't have known.
I remember the discussion we had as a group a person on the course had been suspended for 12 months, maybe incorrect with the 5.8,but still a surprise

The course I was on...again in February the nurses said above 5 to drive, which is the same as the DVLA guidance I got, weird how your info from nurses is different! I did a 7hr drive in November with a stop every 2 and kept levels above 5.5 (through snacking) which with my understanding is well within limits.

I'll check the course notes,my course was in February of this year 2013
I also test at 2 hour intervals
above 5 to me is safer than 4 I wouldn't work machinery at that.
The Dafne target I was given had a low of 4.5 to 7.5

I have tight targets of 3.5-5.9 before meals and less than 7.5 after!!! Was feb this year I did my course too.
Ii would dream of driving if at 4, so on days I am driving lots tend to snack a lot without taking QA!
Generally we seem to have the same message!

Just to be clear I'm not recommending that anyone drive at 4.0, in the same way I wouldn't tell anyone they should try to get their breath alcohol up to 34micrograms (35 being the legal limit). What I'm trying to say is this is the line the law says you're endangering yourself and others and you need to take all necessary measures to be above this. Starting at 5+ when you enter the car is obviously a good first step as it gives you atleast 1 unit of comfort. I'm just putting the distinction between DVLA guidelines (which is advice to help you stay on the right side of the law) and the law (which will get your license pulled if you cross it)

HOWEVER if you are pulled over and (although I've never heard of it happening as unless you have a diabetic officer I'm not sure the police would even think of checking it) and you find you're say 4.2mmols then I'm just trying to make sure that you realise that as far as driving under the influence is concerned you are no more breaking the law than someone whos breath alcohol is under 35 micrograms. You may be cutting it close but you're not actually illegal.

When I started to ride a motorcycle I kept my levels foolishly high, if I was under 9 I'd have a 2CPs before I got on a bike. If someone had told me I needed to legally be 6 or over I'd have spent half the day with a BG level of 20 as I couldn't depend on my hypo awareness at all to pick up I was nearing a 6.

Again not recommending you drive at 4.0 just saying that's the line as far as the law is concerned and you need to take all reasonable measures to be above it.

Hi, I know this is an old thread but I am just wondering if anyone could give a bit of advice with regards to large carb meals. I find that I cannot eat any meals that would result in me giving any more than 8 units of QA insulin, it's a bit of a nightmare really cos I'm eating nothing but salad and veg. This way I can control my bloods easier. If I do give any more than 8 units then I hypo after about an hour, then 4 hours later my blood sugar starts rising for about 2 hours.

Hi tania. So the advice given to me from youone graduate is as follows. Take the amount of quick acting insuli. For your meal. Divide this in to 3. Give the first dose at the normal time e.g when you start eating. Then the second dose 2 hours later. Youone said to me then at 4 hours after your meal test your blood and give what she called a correction dose. This is the only point for me that i have needed to experiment with. I have eaten large carb meal at lunch and found that 4 hours after i was fine and also checked a few times over the nedt 4 hours after just to see if i started to rise but didnt so that was good. I had eaten a large carb meal in the evening and done the same. I was ok by morning time so that worked as well. I had eaten an extremely large pizza meal one evening though and when i checked after the 4 hours i was ok but by morning i was a bit high. So just a little bit of experementing will possible be needed. I have also tried this with high sweet meals. (I know this is extremeley u healthy but i just wanted to see how the 3 way split worked) it didnt quite work for that. I need to do a little more experimenting with that. It might be that because it is such qa sugar i may not need to divide. Do you take a 1:1 ratio for all your meals. Because i am currently on a 0.5:1 ratio for lunch and dinner. This also effects large carb meals for me. As i tend to not reduce. I just "trickle" the insulin as i like to call it e.g the 3 way split. I have found this an amazi g breakthrough for myself and find it is really helpful.

Hi gari
Been away so just got back to this topic
Taniahealy
Sorry to read your having issues with large carb meals, for some time I was the same when I was a lot younger.
I tried many different methods, but I always ended up high BG with no one to ask it was left to me to find a method that worked for me,
I say me because where all different similar to computers we all have different ratios of AQ and BI insulin's.
So any method you use is tuned to you
The way I approach the high carb meal was this
I found if I took more than 10 units of QA I had high BG readings 4 to 5 hours after and also issues later on, I felt terrible.
As I 'he said before in previous posts I decided that my body couldn't use more than 10 units of QA at once
Similar to a heavy rain storm the ground can only soak up so much leaving the rest on the surface to slowly drain away over time.
My understanding at that time was that QA had a life span of 4 to 5 hours my conclusion was that anymore than 10 was waste and not getting used.
That's where the 3 way split came in
I would divide the meal into 3 like you eat your starter main and sweet courses
This also helps with your calculation of the CP you have
When Gari said wait 2 hours after the 1st dose of AQ that was my starting point 'that will be determined by experience
To start if your meal is 24CP
The starter could be 3 CP
I would take 8 this is not true Dafne since your taking more QA than your eating
Soon as I've finished the main course I would take another 8 QA
I would also test my BG to see where it is I'm more looking to see if I'm lower than I should be
After the sweet I would take whatever ever the difference is between what I've taken and what I've eaten
Taking a BG 4 to 5 hours later and correct if needed
This takes experience which I've had over 40 years of been a type 1
But I enjoy large pizza meals with little issues
As long as the people in the party your with know your a type 1 you should be OK, but always test more when you change the way you do things
Be safe be happy
Bye the way Gari I'm a he
The correction is experience since you will still have QA that's working but over time you will register what your BG should be and since your testing more you have a safe control switch in place
Like I've said test more until your happy with what your doing