Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

Oct 10, 2014

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Cyborg Times (new BG meter)

day 3 and the beat goes on:
Sensor still attached and causing no problems. The data it is collecting is causing me the problems though. After the first night when my BG soared over night, last night it bumped along around 3 and until about 5:30 when it started climbing to about 8 at 7am. So although there was some dawn phenomenon it was not like the night before. So more info tonight may help. The really interesting stuff is what happens between normal BG tests, all the stuff you don't normally see.
I have to say the only criticism I have at the moment is the PC software which is very rudimentary and not really that useful. It does provide reports that you can view and print and even save as pdf. However the number of reports is 7 ( plus one settings report), of which 3 are variations of the same report over a day, a week , a month. Of course you can't format any of them like a DAFNE log book that might be quite useful. I would like to see a lot more flexibilty in the reporting, I don't know if software for their other meters provides a better range of reports. Given the wealth of data being collected the ability to examine this data would be a lot more useful.
I will feed this back to Abbott if they reply to my email.

Oct 9, 2014

gessie 2 posts

Topic: General Discussion / IBG STAR - reliable readings??

Hi Mdadds,
Thanks for your post. It pretty much follows my own experience and reactions - although I never got in touch with BG directly - as I knew they would say that - what else could they say?!!
The numbers offered by the iBG system just didn't "feel right" to me as a user - and - as you say would lead to unreliable inputs of QA insulin to treat the given numbers etc.
I'd be interested to hear from anyone who does use the iBG Star mini-meter with their iPhone - there must be plenty of them out there - but who has grown to trust the readings that the machine is giving - and who isn't finding problems of say being late to recognise a hypo and overreacting by shooting too much QA to reverse an overly high reading.
Best regards - gessie

Oct 9, 2014

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Cyborg Times (new BG meter)

day 2 in the cyborg house:
Well I have been wearing the sensor for over 24 hours now and to be honest often completely forget I have it attached. The only time is when I almost hit it on a door frame ! So thats why they recommend you wear it slightly on the back of your arm. Taking the readings is very simple, just press a button and hold it near the reader and it just works. Sadly my readings have been outside my target range today, but thats fine as it has shown me that my BG rose from about 3am last night until it hit 15 when I woke up. I dose adjusted as I have been doing and have watched my BG fall durign the morning and stay in range pretty much for the rest of the day. The most interesting thing is the apparent lack of spike post my lunch and dinner. Of course my BG went up but according to the meter it stayed below 8 the whole time ! I intend to change things tonight and see what happens to my BG's. Its really useful to be able to see what was happening overnight.
Being in IT, I only read the meter manual today after I had been using it. Turns out it has a built-in bolus calculator but this can only be enabled by a HCP with a special code, so I can't test that at the moment. I have of course installed the PC software and connected the meter. I'm a bit concerned to find that it only works with the meter connected and it doesn't seem to copy the meter readings to the PC. What happens if I loose the meter ? No readings to view Crying or Very sad

I have emailed Abbott to try to get contacts so I can ask about stuff like this and pass the information on. The funniest thing in the manual is the meter has a 'LO' warning, if you go below 2.2 it will just display 'Lo' and the advice is to contact your diabetes team immediately. Quite how they think you will do that whilst having a hypo is highly amusing, they obviously have not got someone to have a hypo and try this advice Very Happy

Well that will do for now, more tomorrow.
Oh one last thing it really is shower proof !

Oct 9, 2014

glen4 46 posts

Topic: General Discussion / BG diary help please (mum2westiesGill diary)

Your ratios at mid afternoon and your evening meal don't seem high enough! Try taking more insulin!? What about splitting your bi? Its evenly spread throughout the day. It seems to be short lived(running out in the daytime)!

Oct 8, 2014

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / New Glucose testing system

Hi, not as yet but I will be trying to get information and as and when I get it I will add it to the cyborg thread. As I said I have been told that the sensors currently cost Â£48. Generally I would expect this price to drop particularly if another company launches a similiar product to increase competition. I have no idea if this is likely as they will all keep things under wraps until they are launched.

Oct 8, 2014

wigworld 19 posts

Topic: General Discussion / New Glucose testing system

Decided to post here rather than on the new thread:
I was unable to squeeze any cost information out of Abbott when I phoned them, but they did say that the sensors could be bought individually, or that it would be possible to buy a subscription, so that they came automatically every month or every 3 months. Do you have any info on that?
Thanks,
David

Oct 8, 2014

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / New Glucose testing system

All I have started a new thread to record all the details of my Abbott Libre experiment. You can find it here

Oct 8, 2014

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Cyborg Times (new BG meter)

greetings humans Wink

I am now a Diabetic Cyborg having been fitted with my Abbott FreeStyle Libre sensor today. I intend to use this thread to keep you up to date with my experiences with the device. Hoepfully it will help you to decide if the device is for you ! Currently the NHS is adamant they won't pay for the sensors which cost Â£48 and last 14 days. We won't get into the logic and justifications for this at the moment. Lets concentrate on the device itself.

Ok the 'reader' as they are calling it is a BG meter with a touch screen. It can take Freestyle Optium test strips and ketone strips so you can do 'normal' blood tests on it. Part of the reason for this is they make it clear that the sensor measures interstitial fluid and NOT blood, this is the stuff under your skin in the 'flesh'/'fat'. It can lag the BG readings of blood by upto 15 mins, so if you think you are having a hypo they recomend you do a BG test to compare. This is not unreasonable since it is doing 'continuous' testing and looking at trends.

The 'sensor' is a disk about 3cm in diameter with what looks like a pin in the middle. You have to fit it to your upper arm as that is the only location they have fully tested readings from. They recommend that it is slightly at the back of the arm so it doesn't get caught on things. So far I have had no problems with this. If you do accidentally remove the sensor you have to fit a new one you can't re-attach it.
Its supposed to be water proof ( to be verified) and is worn constantly for 14 days. The applicator is a bit like a big lancet device, you open the senser pack put it in the applicator and pushdown on the location you want to fit it. Despite nervousness you don't feel it attach at all !
Once attached you scan it with the reader which logs it and then waits 60 mins before it will start taking readings. This is apparently so
the sensor acclimatises to your body. After 60 mins you just hold the reader over the sensor and it automatically gets all the readings. You can do this through clothes, I did it through a t-shirt AND sweatshirt and it read no problem. It emits a tone to indicate it has made the reading. You can then look at all the readings on the meter.

I will go into the use of the meter reports and the PC upload tomorrow once I have built-up an amount of readings.

Oct 8, 2014

Rafa 99 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Sweetcorn

Just found this thread. Have to say from experience i found for myself not to count sweetcorn. I had some yesterday for the first time in a long time and i was 13.2 three hours after but was back in range two hours later.

Oct 8, 2014

mum2westiesGill 502 posts

Topic: General Discussion / BG diary help please (mum2westiesGill diary)

A few more days of my diary.

Can anyone see any trends?

Any help in identifying trends and/or advice on how to improve my control would be greatly appreciated

Thank you

Oct 8, 2014

MBC 2 posts

Topic: General Discussion / sugar in urine

wigworld said:
Have you done a DAFNE course? How come you are testing urine rather than blood testing? Do you have type 1 or type 2 Diabetes?

HI IM TYPE 1, HAVE DONE THE DAFNE COURSE AND TEST MY BLOOD EVERY TIME DAFNE RECOMMENDS, THE URINE TEST IS DONE BY MY DOCTOR AND ITS A TEST THATS DONE BY THE C1 LICENCE CENTRE, THANKS FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN PROVIDE Confused

Oct 7, 2014

wigworld 19 posts

Topic: General Discussion / sugar in urine

Have you done a DAFNE course? How come you are testing urine rather than blood testing? Do you have type 1 or type 2 Diabetes?

Oct 7, 2014

MBC 2 posts

Topic: General Discussion / sugar in urine

hi, everyone im planning to go for my c1 licence but i still have sugar 3+++ in my urine, can anyone tell me how to reduce this as it may hinder my application, im sticking to my dafne routine and have lost weight and im kinda still insulin resisted, i dont eat junk food or drink none diet drinks, what am i doing wrong!!!! THANKYOU TO EVERYONE THAT CAN HELP ME Confused

Oct 7, 2014

MelDent35 5 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes education for non Diabetics

I really think that people without Diabetes need to be educated about the condition. When I was little people were still under the misapprehension that the slightest amount of sugar was fatal to people with Diabetes.

Even correcting the assumption that people with severe hypoglycaemia are actually drunk. In these binge drinking culture days I have found it extremely offensive to be asked by a paramedic if I have been drinking at 10 am. People NEED to be taught that not everyone who appears drunk actually is. If you're drunk you will be sober in the morning, if you were hypoglycaemic you could be dead in the morning.

What do you all think about this? Have you suffered because of someone's poor knowledge of Diabetes? Question

Oct 5, 2014

Peter 109 posts

Topic: DAFNE Graduate Group (DGG) / Formation of DAFNE Graduate Group (DGG)

Hi davidcragg and JayBee, Rather belatedly I'll try and address your questions. For a number of years dafneonline and the DAFNE User Group (DUG) were run a separate organisations, with separate memberships although in many ways they were trying to contact the same people - DAFNE Graduates. Earlier this year we decided that it would make more sense to have a single membership (hosted by dafenonline) through which DGG members could be contacted elctronically (whereas with DUG only postal contact details were held). However, we are acutely aware that the last thing many dafneonline users would want would be to start receiving unrequested communication by e-mail. Hence the request to opt in to receive communication from the DAFNE User Action Group (DUAG), of which I am the chairman.

You are correct that for existing members of dafneonline there is not a significant difference in the benefits of the combined membership, but for members of DUG significant change has been introduced both in terms of the information available, and the means of accessing it.

Unfortunately for JayBee this doesn't mean any change to the existing Android app which doesn't have anyone committed to keeping it updated in the same way that Simon does for the iOS version. I also use it, so know where you're coming from.

Finally yes we are doing what we can to get patients and Health Care Professionals (HCPs) talking. There was a presentation given at the last DAFNE Collaborative meeting on dafneonline to try and overcome some the difficulties faced by some HCPs. However, the biggest challenge is that some hospitals instruct their staff not to communicate with patients on-line as there are worries that insurance won't cover such discussions. It therefore seems to be up to the individual HCP professional to decide whether they will become involved, and to what level. It also has to be remembered that most contribution is being made outside working hours so that limits the likely involvement. Failing all else, you can always post a message on the Questions to HCPs forum where there are several HCPs who do respond.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Oct 5, 2014

Peter 109 posts

Topic: General Discussion / New Glucose testing system

Will certainly look forward to your feedback Mark. Closest I've managed to get to one so far is in meeting someone who had just had it fitted. His reaction after a couple of days was positive. I'm seriously considering getting one when they are finally on sale in the UK. It's very interesting that Abbott are focusing all their advertising at patients rather than professionals presumably in the belief that the user demand will drive volumes up more quickly than waiting for approval from NICE. Hopefully that will cause prices to fall and we'll quickly reach the point where the price difference with strips becomes minimal. I suspect that this will mainly be driven by the next manufacturer to produce a similar system charging less than Abbott. Could we see the end of test strips in a few years? Hopefully.

Oct 5, 2014

wigworld 19 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Just finished my course today. ..

Welcome Chiara! The key thing is making sure your background insulin is correct. Once you've cracked that, everything else should fall into place.

Oct 5, 2014

chiara 1 post

Topic: General Discussion / Just finished my course today. ..

Hi everyone! Just finished the course. feeling a bit scared by the precision required in the use of Dafne. But I'm full of good will in the hope that, as you all seems to think, this will change my unstable relationship with diabetes.
Still early for results on my HbA1c....still working out Ratios. Rolling Eyes

I'll keep reading your posts for help and advice! Chiara

Oct 5, 2014

mum2westiesGill 502 posts

Topic: General Discussion / BG diary help please (mum2westiesGill diary)

A few more days of my diary.

Can anyone see any trends?

Any help in identifying trends and/or advice on how to improve my control would be greatly appreciated

Thank you

Oct 4, 2014

Muna A H 34 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Lantus - Splitting

Thanks all for your helpful advices Very Happy

Oct 4, 2014

MelDent35 5 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Lantus - Splitting

Warwick said:
I think you received bad advice there. My endo had no issue with me splitting Lantus, and it worked fairly well for me. The reason I switched to Levemir was that I do long-distance endurance events and I had to mke changes to Lantus about three days prior to my events to avoid hypos during the events. Levemir seems to be better at responding to changes.

Thanks Warwick. I don't do long distance endurance events unless you count the fact I walk pretty much everywhere since I don;t drive and am probably the only able bodied person in UK, if not the world, who can't ride a bike. I'm finding Levemir suits me much better as I was getting high around tea time which is when Lantus would have run out. It's early days but I'm keeping an eye on post Levemir results and changing dose if I see a pattern. I know from dafne that you need to wait 2 - 3 days before changing to see if a pattern emerges. This morning I took 12 units instead of 10 so waiting to see what pre lunch BG is.

Oct 4, 2014

wigworld 19 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Just finished my course today. ..

In our area, they require you to do the DAFNE course before they'll allow you to have a pump. After doing the course, one of the guys on our course decided he wasn't interested in the pump any more.

Like everyone else here, my mind was blown by how much I learned on the DAFNE course. I've been diabetic for 40 years, and I'm a pharmacist, so I was sceptical that I would get any benefit from it. How wrong I was!

At least part of it for me was unlearning some of the garbage I've been told over the years (glycaemic index, anyone?)! And how come no-one has ever told me until now that 4mm needles are plenty long enough, when I've been using 8mm needles for around 20 years!?!

Anyway, enough of my ranting. DAFNE is superb, the best thing I've ever done. Smile

Oct 10, 2014 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Cyborg Times (new BG meter) day 3 and the beat goes on: Sensor still attached and causing no problems. The data it is collecting is causing me the problems though. After the first night when my BG soared over night, last night it bumped along around 3 and until about 5:30 when it started climbing to about 8 at 7am. So although there was some dawn phenomenon it was not like the night before. So more info tonight may help. The really interesting stuff is what happens between normal BG tests, all the stuff you don't normally see. I have to say the only criticism I have at the moment is the PC software which is very rudimentary and not really that useful. It does provide reports that you can view and print and even save as pdf. However the number of reports is 7 ( plus one settings report), of which 3 are variations of the same report over a day, a week , a month. Of course you can't format any of them like a DAFNE log book that might be quite useful. I would like to see a lot more flexibilty in the reporting, I don't know if software for their other meters provides a better range of reports. Given the wealth of data being collected the ability to examine this data would be a lot more useful. I will feed this back to Abbott if they reply to my email.

Oct 9, 2014 gessie 2 posts	Topic: General Discussion / IBG STAR - reliable readings?? Hi Mdadds, Thanks for your post. It pretty much follows my own experience and reactions - although I never got in touch with BG directly - as I knew they would say that - what else could they say?!! The numbers offered by the iBG system just didn't "feel right" to me as a user - and - as you say would lead to unreliable inputs of QA insulin to treat the given numbers etc. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who does use the iBG Star mini-meter with their iPhone - there must be plenty of them out there - but who has grown to trust the readings that the machine is giving - and who isn't finding problems of say being late to recognise a hypo and overreacting by shooting too much QA to reverse an overly high reading. Best regards - gessie

Oct 9, 2014 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Cyborg Times (new BG meter) day 2 in the cyborg house: Well I have been wearing the sensor for over 24 hours now and to be honest often completely forget I have it attached. The only time is when I almost hit it on a door frame ! So thats why they recommend you wear it slightly on the back of your arm. Taking the readings is very simple, just press a button and hold it near the reader and it just works. Sadly my readings have been outside my target range today, but thats fine as it has shown me that my BG rose from about 3am last night until it hit 15 when I woke up. I dose adjusted as I have been doing and have watched my BG fall durign the morning and stay in range pretty much for the rest of the day. The most interesting thing is the apparent lack of spike post my lunch and dinner. Of course my BG went up but according to the meter it stayed below 8 the whole time ! I intend to change things tonight and see what happens to my BG's. Its really useful to be able to see what was happening overnight. Being in IT, I only read the meter manual today after I had been using it. Turns out it has a built-in bolus calculator but this can only be enabled by a HCP with a special code, so I can't test that at the moment. I have of course installed the PC software and connected the meter. I'm a bit concerned to find that it only works with the meter connected and it doesn't seem to copy the meter readings to the PC. What happens if I loose the meter ? No readings to view I have emailed Abbott to try to get contacts so I can ask about stuff like this and pass the information on. The funniest thing in the manual is the meter has a 'LO' warning, if you go below 2.2 it will just display 'Lo' and the advice is to contact your diabetes team immediately. Quite how they think you will do that whilst having a hypo is highly amusing, they obviously have not got someone to have a hypo and try this advice Well that will do for now, more tomorrow. Oh one last thing it really is shower proof !

Oct 9, 2014 glen4 46 posts	Topic: General Discussion / BG diary help please (mum2westiesGill diary) Your ratios at mid afternoon and your evening meal don't seem high enough! Try taking more insulin!? What about splitting your bi? Its evenly spread throughout the day. It seems to be short lived(running out in the daytime)!

Oct 8, 2014 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / New Glucose testing system Hi, not as yet but I will be trying to get information and as and when I get it I will add it to the cyborg thread. As I said I have been told that the sensors currently cost Â£48. Generally I would expect this price to drop particularly if another company launches a similiar product to increase competition. I have no idea if this is likely as they will all keep things under wraps until they are launched.

Oct 8, 2014 wigworld 19 posts	Topic: General Discussion / New Glucose testing system Decided to post here rather than on the new thread: I was unable to squeeze any cost information out of Abbott when I phoned them, but they did say that the sensors could be bought individually, or that it would be possible to buy a subscription, so that they came automatically every month or every 3 months. Do you have any info on that? Thanks, David

Oct 8, 2014 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / New Glucose testing system All I have started a new thread to record all the details of my Abbott Libre experiment. You can find it here

Oct 8, 2014 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Cyborg Times (new BG meter) greetings humans I am now a Diabetic Cyborg having been fitted with my Abbott FreeStyle Libre sensor today. I intend to use this thread to keep you up to date with my experiences with the device. Hoepfully it will help you to decide if the device is for you ! Currently the NHS is adamant they won't pay for the sensors which cost Â£48 and last 14 days. We won't get into the logic and justifications for this at the moment. Lets concentrate on the device itself. Ok the 'reader' as they are calling it is a BG meter with a touch screen. It can take Freestyle Optium test strips and ketone strips so you can do 'normal' blood tests on it. Part of the reason for this is they make it clear that the sensor measures interstitial fluid and NOT blood, this is the stuff under your skin in the 'flesh'/'fat'. It can lag the BG readings of blood by upto 15 mins, so if you think you are having a hypo they recomend you do a BG test to compare. This is not unreasonable since it is doing 'continuous' testing and looking at trends. The 'sensor' is a disk about 3cm in diameter with what looks like a pin in the middle. You have to fit it to your upper arm as that is the only location they have fully tested readings from. They recommend that it is slightly at the back of the arm so it doesn't get caught on things. So far I have had no problems with this. If you do accidentally remove the sensor you have to fit a new one you can't re-attach it. Its supposed to be water proof ( to be verified) and is worn constantly for 14 days. The applicator is a bit like a big lancet device, you open the senser pack put it in the applicator and pushdown on the location you want to fit it. Despite nervousness you don't feel it attach at all ! Once attached you scan it with the reader which logs it and then waits 60 mins before it will start taking readings. This is apparently so the sensor acclimatises to your body. After 60 mins you just hold the reader over the sensor and it automatically gets all the readings. You can do this through clothes, I did it through a t-shirt AND sweatshirt and it read no problem. It emits a tone to indicate it has made the reading. You can then look at all the readings on the meter. I will go into the use of the meter reports and the PC upload tomorrow once I have built-up an amount of readings.

Oct 8, 2014 Rafa 99 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Sweetcorn Just found this thread. Have to say from experience i found for myself not to count sweetcorn. I had some yesterday for the first time in a long time and i was 13.2 three hours after but was back in range two hours later.

Oct 8, 2014 mum2westiesGill 502 posts	Topic: General Discussion / BG diary help please (mum2westiesGill diary) A few more days of my diary. Can anyone see any trends? Any help in identifying trends and/or advice on how to improve my control would be greatly appreciated Thank you

Oct 8, 2014 MBC 2 posts	Topic: General Discussion / sugar in urine wigworld said: Have you done a DAFNE course? How come you are testing urine rather than blood testing? Do you have type 1 or type 2 Diabetes? HI IM TYPE 1, HAVE DONE THE DAFNE COURSE AND TEST MY BLOOD EVERY TIME DAFNE RECOMMENDS, THE URINE TEST IS DONE BY MY DOCTOR AND ITS A TEST THATS DONE BY THE C1 LICENCE CENTRE, THANKS FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN PROVIDE

Oct 7, 2014 wigworld 19 posts	Topic: General Discussion / sugar in urine Have you done a DAFNE course? How come you are testing urine rather than blood testing? Do you have type 1 or type 2 Diabetes?

Oct 7, 2014 MBC 2 posts	Topic: General Discussion / sugar in urine hi, everyone im planning to go for my c1 licence but i still have sugar 3+++ in my urine, can anyone tell me how to reduce this as it may hinder my application, im sticking to my dafne routine and have lost weight and im kinda still insulin resisted, i dont eat junk food or drink none diet drinks, what am i doing wrong!!!! THANKYOU TO EVERYONE THAT CAN HELP ME

Oct 7, 2014 MelDent35 5 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes education for non Diabetics I really think that people without Diabetes need to be educated about the condition. When I was little people were still under the misapprehension that the slightest amount of sugar was fatal to people with Diabetes. Even correcting the assumption that people with severe hypoglycaemia are actually drunk. In these binge drinking culture days I have found it extremely offensive to be asked by a paramedic if I have been drinking at 10 am. People NEED to be taught that not everyone who appears drunk actually is. If you're drunk you will be sober in the morning, if you were hypoglycaemic you could be dead in the morning. What do you all think about this? Have you suffered because of someone's poor knowledge of Diabetes?

Oct 5, 2014 Peter 109 posts	Topic: DAFNE Graduate Group (DGG) / Formation of DAFNE Graduate Group (DGG) Hi davidcragg and JayBee, Rather belatedly I'll try and address your questions. For a number of years dafneonline and the DAFNE User Group (DUG) were run a separate organisations, with separate memberships although in many ways they were trying to contact the same people - DAFNE Graduates. Earlier this year we decided that it would make more sense to have a single membership (hosted by dafenonline) through which DGG members could be contacted elctronically (whereas with DUG only postal contact details were held). However, we are acutely aware that the last thing many dafneonline users would want would be to start receiving unrequested communication by e-mail. Hence the request to opt in to receive communication from the DAFNE User Action Group (DUAG), of which I am the chairman. You are correct that for existing members of dafneonline there is not a significant difference in the benefits of the combined membership, but for members of DUG significant change has been introduced both in terms of the information available, and the means of accessing it. Unfortunately for JayBee this doesn't mean any change to the existing Android app which doesn't have anyone committed to keeping it updated in the same way that Simon does for the iOS version. I also use it, so know where you're coming from. Finally yes we are doing what we can to get patients and Health Care Professionals (HCPs) talking. There was a presentation given at the last DAFNE Collaborative meeting on dafneonline to try and overcome some the difficulties faced by some HCPs. However, the biggest challenge is that some hospitals instruct their staff not to communicate with patients on-line as there are worries that insurance won't cover such discussions. It therefore seems to be up to the individual HCP professional to decide whether they will become involved, and to what level. It also has to be remembered that most contribution is being made outside working hours so that limits the likely involvement. Failing all else, you can always post a message on the Questions to HCPs forum where there are several HCPs who do respond. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Oct 5, 2014 Peter 109 posts	Topic: General Discussion / New Glucose testing system Will certainly look forward to your feedback Mark. Closest I've managed to get to one so far is in meeting someone who had just had it fitted. His reaction after a couple of days was positive. I'm seriously considering getting one when they are finally on sale in the UK. It's very interesting that Abbott are focusing all their advertising at patients rather than professionals presumably in the belief that the user demand will drive volumes up more quickly than waiting for approval from NICE. Hopefully that will cause prices to fall and we'll quickly reach the point where the price difference with strips becomes minimal. I suspect that this will mainly be driven by the next manufacturer to produce a similar system charging less than Abbott. Could we see the end of test strips in a few years? Hopefully.

Oct 5, 2014 wigworld 19 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Just finished my course today. .. Welcome Chiara! The key thing is making sure your background insulin is correct. Once you've cracked that, everything else should fall into place.

Oct 5, 2014 chiara 1 post	Topic: General Discussion / Just finished my course today. .. Hi everyone! Just finished the course. feeling a bit scared by the precision required in the use of Dafne. But I'm full of good will in the hope that, as you all seems to think, this will change my unstable relationship with diabetes. Still early for results on my HbA1c....still working out Ratios. I'll keep reading your posts for help and advice! Chiara

Oct 5, 2014 mum2westiesGill 502 posts	Topic: General Discussion / BG diary help please (mum2westiesGill diary) A few more days of my diary. Can anyone see any trends? Any help in identifying trends and/or advice on how to improve my control would be greatly appreciated Thank you

Oct 4, 2014 Muna A H 34 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Lantus - Splitting Thanks all for your helpful advices

Oct 4, 2014 MelDent35 5 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Lantus - Splitting Warwick said: I think you received bad advice there. My endo had no issue with me splitting Lantus, and it worked fairly well for me. The reason I switched to Levemir was that I do long-distance endurance events and I had to mke changes to Lantus about three days prior to my events to avoid hypos during the events. Levemir seems to be better at responding to changes. Thanks Warwick. I don't do long distance endurance events unless you count the fact I walk pretty much everywhere since I don;t drive and am probably the only able bodied person in UK, if not the world, who can't ride a bike. I'm finding Levemir suits me much better as I was getting high around tea time which is when Lantus would have run out. It's early days but I'm keeping an eye on post Levemir results and changing dose if I see a pattern. I know from dafne that you need to wait 2 - 3 days before changing to see if a pattern emerges. This morning I took 12 units instead of 10 so waiting to see what pre lunch BG is.

Oct 4, 2014 wigworld 19 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Just finished my course today. .. In our area, they require you to do the DAFNE course before they'll allow you to have a pump. After doing the course, one of the guys on our course decided he wasn't interested in the pump any more. Like everyone else here, my mind was blown by how much I learned on the DAFNE course. I've been diabetic for 40 years, and I'm a pharmacist, so I was sceptical that I would get any benefit from it. How wrong I was! At least part of it for me was unlearning some of the garbage I've been told over the years (glycaemic index, anyone?)! And how come no-one has ever told me until now that 4mm needles are plenty long enough, when I've been using 8mm needles for around 20 years!?! Anyway, enough of my ranting. DAFNE is superb, the best thing I've ever done.