ACCURATE BG READINGS

i wonder if you could help me with a couple of queries.

1.does novo-rapid quick acting insulin when taking have a effect on my bg readings of up to 5 hours after a meal/snack?

2if that is the case to obtain a correct ratio of food to insulin if i say had a meal at 1.00pm and took lets say a 1/1 ratio of novo-rapid and relaxed for the next five hours if my bg reading at 6.00pm was within target then i would assume that my ratio was correct?

i do realise that a lot of factors can effect the result but in principle is yhe above the correct assumption?

3. is it better to adjust your background insulin to achieve the target result or to increase/decrease your q/a insulin ratio first?

i realise that we are looking for patterns over 2/3 days and that i would only adjust one thing at a time. i would appreciate your thoughts and comments

cheers

paulj

Yes, your understanding is correct. Snacking between meals and injecting for it will skew the results; and as you recognise, things like exercise, stress, etc can also effect the results - this is why testing needs to be done at least two days in a row.

If your BI is correct, it should hold you steady; if you were not eating for example. DAFNE in the UK does not count proteins which can effect sugar levels so not eating for a max of 5 hours would deem more reliable results than eating (if you do try the non-eating option, feel free to post your results on this Experiment 1 thread: http://www.dafneonline.co.uk/forums/1/topics/2098).

What you change first purely depends on what results you're getting under the circumstances you're testing your body's response under.

Jwo can you explain why you think Protein affects blood glucose ? Some references etc, I'm not sure I agree with your statement. The reason DAFNE ( not just the UK as far as I am aware) do not
count Protein is it is a very complex area that is not straightforward. This is why I am cautious about stating it as a 'fact'.

We had this discussion at the Dafne course and followup meetings we had...it appears that some people do "count" protein but usually only in higher amounts. For example I can have one chicken drumstick and a salad (which I count as 10g CHO) but if I have two (with same amount of salad) then the BGs are higher. Similarly with scrambled eggs...one is fine but I count the second as 6-8g CHO (I also weigh the bread). If I keep the protein to <100g weight then it appears as if I am OK. I think it is a matter of testing for a couple of days and working out what is working for you. I have found that counting carbs and believing, in Dafne speak, that you can eat anything is really not very helpful as there are too many complicating issues. I have reverted to a much more regular eating pattern and I experience more success with "flatter" BGs. I believe that Dafne is great as a guideline but diabetes is a very idiosyncratic condition and we have all got to master our own particular version of it.

I think that sums it up nicely, 'we have all got to master our own particular version of it'. DAFNE gives you a set of guidelines NOT a set of rules that work in the same way for everyone. Protein is one of those areas where it is just not a simple case of X = Y, which is why it is not covered in the Course in believe. Most of the medical stuff I have read on the subject relates to the levels of insulin available and how these 'interact' with protein. However like the rest of us, I am not an expert in the theories and research I'm just a lab rat running round and round the wheel

I have just finished a DAFNE course. I really enjoyed it but my levels have been high. I increased
my BI but I have put it up again because it is mostly in the morning. I am not going to snack and see how I go on.

Hey Nettie,

Feel free to post your diary to the forum and we can then make some suggestions to help you out. Also, let us know what insulins you are on and whether you are on a single daily BI dose or more.

Cheers,
Warwick.

marke said:
Jwo can you explain why you think Protein affects blood glucose ? Some references etc, I'm not sure I agree with your statement. The reason DAFNE ( not just the UK as far as I am aware) do not
count Protein is it is a very complex area that is not straightforward. This is why I am cautious about stating it as a 'fact'.

Warwick said:
2) Protein - Gary believes that protein does raise BGLs but only if no carb is consumed with it. So if you consume carbs and protein, don't worry about the protein portion, but if it is a carb-free meal with protein, then treat the protein as being half carb, and dose for it. E.g. if you have 30g of protein and no carb, then take QA as if you had had 15g carb.

The 'warwick' part was my understanding of the Diabetes Experiment book i.e generally your body will only breakdown protein to glucose if it has no other option i.e no carbs to convert. I believe that protein conversion is also slower than standard carb conversion i.e like a low GI food. I think it is excluded from DAFNE because it is too complex an area for most people to try to get their heads round especially as a lot of people may have just been introduced to catb counting and a lot of other new ideas.