Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

May 12, 2014

michaelj 45 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Time zone change

Anette,
I spent 3 weeks in New Zealand Jan 2014 and had no problems with this. If your flight goes late evening as mine did you can take your basal at your usual time in the evening. The first leg depending on where you stop ( mine was Malaysia) takes about 12 hrs so your am units could be done on the aircraft.There will be a stop for some time before the next flight. You can work this out from your air tickets. Second leg is usually 10 hours so you may have to be a little flexible about timing you next dose. I find if you keep to UK time for the first 24 hrs this will help with your timings, as New Zealand is 24 hrs in front of us and when you get there you can do a simple swop.
I take my basal in one go and just break it down to half dose for the first 12 hours and then started on NZ time. Would agree with Warwick about stocking up with insulin and and other bits. Make sure you have plenty of test strips as you will probably be testing a lot more than usual.. Frio wallets are fine for insulin but NZ can get quite hot, and some test strips can be affected by temperature, so check the box and if needed, get a small cool bag for them. I personally always take twice as much medication as I would normally need to make sure I don't run out. New Zealand is pretty much up to speed on diabetic issues, they use the same insulin's as we do. run Daphne courses and do have a diabetic association, so life out there is not normally a problem. I even found a diabetic drop in shop in the town of Blenheim and chatted for a while to a very nice lady about diabetes in New Zealand. They are having pretty much the same problems with this disease as the UK
Have a great time and enjoy yourself. It's a fantastic country.

May 12, 2014

Rachel454 2 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / CP free lunch

Thanks for that Warwick I will bear that in mind, I did think that might be the case!
Rachel

Warwick said:
Some people (including me) find that in a carb-free meal, protein can raise blood glucose levels. Your lunch contained several sources of protein - ham, egg and cheese, and it may be that this has raised your BGs as a result. I usually need to take a small amount of QA if I just have scrambled eggs without toast.

If you had the salad without the omelet, then the rise would probably be negligible. You'd get hungrier though :-)

May 12, 2014

Warwick 423 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Time zone change

Hi Annette,

There are a couple of good websites with detail about this here which may be helpful:

http://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/21/2/82.full

http://www.diabetesexplained.com/diabetes-and-time-zone-crossing.html

Realistically, it will be a bit hit and miss. Although I live in Australia, I travel to New Zealand a couple of times per year (my home land). Although the two hour time difference doesn't affect me too much, the flights always do. Part of that is travelling with small children - hypos galore followed by highs from guessing badly the carb content of the airline meals.

Some things I recommend:

The Frio travel wallet: http://www.diabetesfrio.com/frio-wallets/cat_3.html?ccUser= It keeps insulin cold, even on hot airline flights. I use these for about 9 months of the year. All it needs is to be dipped in water about once per week.

Make sure you have enough insulin in your hand luggage to last an extra week in case your hold luggage gets lost. You would be able to get replacement insulin in New Zealand, but you'll need to see a doctor for a prescription first. Ditto for carrying extra insulin in the hold luggage in case you lose your hand luggage.

Get a letter from your GP to show a local GP in NZ if you run out of insulin for any reason. Prescriptions are fairly cheap in NZ (for locals, not sure about tourist visitors). Needles are about $25 per box of 100, so if you can get them cheaper in the UK (They are free here in Australia), then bring them with you.

Have fun. NZ is a great country (although I am naturally biased), and you shouldn't have any issue with being diabetic there.

Cheers,
Warwick.

May 12, 2014

Warwick 423 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Need advise

Hi Avanella,

Are you able to record your BGs in the DAFNE online diary and share it with this forum? It will make it easier to help you.

Thanks,
Warwick.

May 12, 2014

Warwick 423 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / CP free lunch

Some people (including me) find that in a carb-free meal, protein can raise blood glucose levels. Your lunch contained several sources of protein - ham, egg and cheese, and it may be that this has raised your BGs as a result. I usually need to take a small amount of QA if I just have scrambled eggs without toast.

If you had the salad without the omelet, then the rise would probably be negligible. You'd get hungrier though :-)

May 11, 2014

Rachel454 2 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / CP free lunch

Hi, I'm currently doing my DAFNE course today and yesterday I had the same carb free lunch Ham and Cheese 2 egg Omlette with salad that consisted of lettuce, toms, cucumber, spring onion and beetroot. I've been testing my BG every hour since my lunch and its gradually increasing from 6.5 before my lunch at 2pm it has just reached 13.5! I've not even had any milk in tea or coffee so I'm unsure as to why this could be. I usually take 20 of BI at 12am I did this on Friday however the reason for doing the CP free lunch as I had a suspicion my BI was running out towards 6pm so yesterday evening I did 14u of BI at 12am and a further 6u at 12pm today in the hope it may fix the problem. I realise I can't make a judgment on one day's results but I'm concerned I miss calculated the CP content of my lunch.
Any thoughts welcome!
Thanks Rachel

May 11, 2014

natalie fitch 5 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Need advise

What is your meal ratio at lunchtime?you could try increasing your lunchtime ratio

May 11, 2014

natalie fitch 5 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Need advise

What is your meal ratio at lunchtime?you could try increasing your lunchtime ratio

May 10, 2014

avanella 9 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Basal Correction

Hi.. Using glargine/lantus for basal. The BG has been high for the past two days. I take 12 hourly, jab at 10am and 10pm. Morning:7 QA and evening 6 QA.. Jus increased the basal in the morning to 8 QA today. Earlier, at abt 1pm had hypo bg was 3.1, evening bg increased to 14.1.

May 9, 2014

Annette Bell 72 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Time zone change

I don't think that'd work as both doses are different & I'd be doing daytime things in the day so my night dose wouldn't be sufficient etc. Unfortunately I no longer live in a DAFNE area, so my diabetes nurse knows nothing about DAFNE. I'm pretty much on my own. Am hoping a DAFNE HCP might see this & help! Thanks anyway!

May 9, 2014

Sharon doodle 15 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Time zone change

Could you keep your BI doses on your uk time, or thereabouts? I'm not sure what the health professionals would say....discuss it with your specialist nurse, I'm sure they will be asked this a lot?

May 9, 2014

Sharon doodle 15 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Time off for Hospital Appmts

No, they have to allow the time off, but it is not paid time. This is because hospital appointments are usually on set days or set times, so cannot be arranged out of work hours.

May 9, 2014

Annette Bell 72 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Time zone change

I am travelling to New Zealand next February, a 29 hour total flightime, and across several time zones. I am wondering what to do about timings of my BI doses. I am using Levemir, 8 units a.m. and 6 units p.m. Can anyone advise me on this please?

May 9, 2014

Jono20201 5 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Time off for Hospital Appmts

Hi,

Asking this for my Dad, as I am self-employed so doesn't really apply to me.

His employer says that he is able to take time off work for hospital appointments, however it is unpaid. I know the DAA says they must give time off for you to be able to attend appointments, but does it also state that they must pay you for this time?

Thanks!

May 9, 2014

marke 681 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Basal Correction

Hi, I think you will need to provide us with more information. When do you inject your background insulin and what dose do you take. Do you inject your
background insulin one or twice a day. Also one high reading is not necessarily a problem does it happen every day ? This is why the key to DAFNE is recording
your BG before every meal and looking for patterns.
Welcome to the site by the way, its good to have graduates posting from Singapore Smile

May 9, 2014

avanella 9 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Need advise

I just graduates DAFNE from Singapore.
My BG is very high in the evening. Please advise and share your opinion.

Breakfast (9am) : 11 mmol/l
CP : 32.9g | QA : 4 +1

Lunch (1pm) : 4.4 mmol/l
CP : 47.6g | QA : 5 +1

Dinner (8pm) : 25 mmol/l
CP: | QA :

May 9, 2014

avanella 9 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Basal Correction

I just graduates DAFNE from Singapore.
My BG is very high in the evening. Please advise and share your opinion.

Breakfast (9am) : 11 mmol/l
CP : 32.9g | QA : 4 +1

Lunch (1pm) : 4.4 mmol/l
CP : 47.6g | QA : 5 +1

Dinner (8pm) : 25 mmol/l
CP: | QA :

May 9, 2014

Sharon doodle 15 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetic jokes

D-Dose adjustment for normal eating
A-Always there from dawn 'till dusk.
F-Figure out your ratios, hypos- we must stop meeting,
N-Nearly there, carb counting's a must.
E-Eventually we can curb the cheating, and QA we can adjust.

May 8, 2014

Sharon doodle 15 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Buddies

Hi, I don't know if this has been mentioned before.... I have used other online websites (for weight loss) that use a buddy system. I found this really useful to have a buddy for support...those times when you need a listening ear. I know there are probably some people here who read lots of posts, but never comment. Wink

Anyway, I would Iove a buddy.... I've been diabetic 30 years, who would like to be my buddy?

Post below if you would like one too Very Happy

May 8, 2014

Sharon doodle 15 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / iPhone app redesign

Hi, I've just read through these posts...I'm wondering if the iPad users out there know that you can download an iPhone app onto the iPad....you just have to search in the App Store for iPhone apps. The iPad will make the app fit the screen- so may also be useful for the partially sighted people? Just a thought....

May 8, 2014

africanparsley 1 post

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / iPhone app redesign

I love this app and Dafne in general, I'm still trying to get it all to help with improved HbA1C and I hope that soon this will happen.
However, I'd like exercise to be split in 2 please - we know that resistance exercise (lifting weights) and cardio (running) affects BG differently, which results in needing different starting BGs and usually different ending ones. E.g. weights make your numbers go up so I want to start on 4-7mmol, a normal good BG and also inject either 0.5 if it's above 6 or more if I haven't had any insulin for 4+ hrs. After it's likely to go up and you may want to then inject to bring it down again. So your set up - ideal BG where the app will give you a correction - will differ to cardio, where I would like to start on 8mmol, and after 40-60 mins, it'll come down to about 4.2-6 depending on a range of things (some QA needed if no insulin for 4 hrs too).

Can we therefore add these to the options:
exercise - resistance
exercise - cardio

And also something that tells you you've not had QA for 4 hrs, as a reminder, regardless of your numbers and where they should be depending on the option you have selected.

EG. outside of exercise, I've had days where I've been 5.2 when I leave work at 5pm having had lunch at 12pm, but when I get home at 7pm, it's gone up, possibly due to stress, rushing but likely from hours of not eating and no QA.

That would also help.

Sorry this is a long winded point, couldn't work out how to put it more succintly without providing examples.

Hope this makes sense - thanks all

May 7, 2014

Warwick 423 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Help...AWOL bm's

Cool. DAFNE tends to help, but it doesn't work for everyone, and sometimes a pump is the best way of managing type 1. I recommend trying to get your BG management under the best control possible, because it will help when and if you go on a pump.

Take care,
Warwick.

May 12, 2014 michaelj 45 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Time zone change Anette, I spent 3 weeks in New Zealand Jan 2014 and had no problems with this. If your flight goes late evening as mine did you can take your basal at your usual time in the evening. The first leg depending on where you stop ( mine was Malaysia) takes about 12 hrs so your am units could be done on the aircraft.There will be a stop for some time before the next flight. You can work this out from your air tickets. Second leg is usually 10 hours so you may have to be a little flexible about timing you next dose. I find if you keep to UK time for the first 24 hrs this will help with your timings, as New Zealand is 24 hrs in front of us and when you get there you can do a simple swop. I take my basal in one go and just break it down to half dose for the first 12 hours and then started on NZ time. Would agree with Warwick about stocking up with insulin and and other bits. Make sure you have plenty of test strips as you will probably be testing a lot more than usual.. Frio wallets are fine for insulin but NZ can get quite hot, and some test strips can be affected by temperature, so check the box and if needed, get a small cool bag for them. I personally always take twice as much medication as I would normally need to make sure I don't run out. New Zealand is pretty much up to speed on diabetic issues, they use the same insulin's as we do. run Daphne courses and do have a diabetic association, so life out there is not normally a problem. I even found a diabetic drop in shop in the town of Blenheim and chatted for a while to a very nice lady about diabetes in New Zealand. They are having pretty much the same problems with this disease as the UK Have a great time and enjoy yourself. It's a fantastic country.

May 12, 2014 Rachel454 2 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / CP free lunch Thanks for that Warwick I will bear that in mind, I did think that might be the case! Rachel Warwick said: Some people (including me) find that in a carb-free meal, protein can raise blood glucose levels. Your lunch contained several sources of protein - ham, egg and cheese, and it may be that this has raised your BGs as a result. I usually need to take a small amount of QA if I just have scrambled eggs without toast. If you had the salad without the omelet, then the rise would probably be negligible. You'd get hungrier though :-)

May 12, 2014 Warwick 423 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Time zone change Hi Annette, There are a couple of good websites with detail about this here which may be helpful: http://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/21/2/82.full http://www.diabetesexplained.com/diabetes-and-time-zone-crossing.html Realistically, it will be a bit hit and miss. Although I live in Australia, I travel to New Zealand a couple of times per year (my home land). Although the two hour time difference doesn't affect me too much, the flights always do. Part of that is travelling with small children - hypos galore followed by highs from guessing badly the carb content of the airline meals. Some things I recommend: The Frio travel wallet: http://www.diabetesfrio.com/frio-wallets/cat_3.html?ccUser= It keeps insulin cold, even on hot airline flights. I use these for about 9 months of the year. All it needs is to be dipped in water about once per week. Make sure you have enough insulin in your hand luggage to last an extra week in case your hold luggage gets lost. You would be able to get replacement insulin in New Zealand, but you'll need to see a doctor for a prescription first. Ditto for carrying extra insulin in the hold luggage in case you lose your hand luggage. Get a letter from your GP to show a local GP in NZ if you run out of insulin for any reason. Prescriptions are fairly cheap in NZ (for locals, not sure about tourist visitors). Needles are about $25 per box of 100, so if you can get them cheaper in the UK (They are free here in Australia), then bring them with you. Have fun. NZ is a great country (although I am naturally biased), and you shouldn't have any issue with being diabetic there. Cheers, Warwick.

May 12, 2014 Warwick 423 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Need advise Hi Avanella, Are you able to record your BGs in the DAFNE online diary and share it with this forum? It will make it easier to help you. Thanks, Warwick.

May 12, 2014 Warwick 423 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / CP free lunch Some people (including me) find that in a carb-free meal, protein can raise blood glucose levels. Your lunch contained several sources of protein - ham, egg and cheese, and it may be that this has raised your BGs as a result. I usually need to take a small amount of QA if I just have scrambled eggs without toast. If you had the salad without the omelet, then the rise would probably be negligible. You'd get hungrier though :-)

May 11, 2014 Rachel454 2 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / CP free lunch Hi, I'm currently doing my DAFNE course today and yesterday I had the same carb free lunch Ham and Cheese 2 egg Omlette with salad that consisted of lettuce, toms, cucumber, spring onion and beetroot. I've been testing my BG every hour since my lunch and its gradually increasing from 6.5 before my lunch at 2pm it has just reached 13.5! I've not even had any milk in tea or coffee so I'm unsure as to why this could be. I usually take 20 of BI at 12am I did this on Friday however the reason for doing the CP free lunch as I had a suspicion my BI was running out towards 6pm so yesterday evening I did 14u of BI at 12am and a further 6u at 12pm today in the hope it may fix the problem. I realise I can't make a judgment on one day's results but I'm concerned I miss calculated the CP content of my lunch. Any thoughts welcome! Thanks Rachel

May 11, 2014 natalie fitch 5 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Need advise What is your meal ratio at lunchtime?you could try increasing your lunchtime ratio

May 11, 2014 natalie fitch 5 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Need advise What is your meal ratio at lunchtime?you could try increasing your lunchtime ratio

May 10, 2014 avanella 9 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Basal Correction Hi.. Using glargine/lantus for basal. The BG has been high for the past two days. I take 12 hourly, jab at 10am and 10pm. Morning:7 QA and evening 6 QA.. Jus increased the basal in the morning to 8 QA today. Earlier, at abt 1pm had hypo bg was 3.1, evening bg increased to 14.1.

May 9, 2014 Annette Bell 72 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Time zone change I don't think that'd work as both doses are different & I'd be doing daytime things in the day so my night dose wouldn't be sufficient etc. Unfortunately I no longer live in a DAFNE area, so my diabetes nurse knows nothing about DAFNE. I'm pretty much on my own. Am hoping a DAFNE HCP might see this & help! Thanks anyway!

May 9, 2014 Sharon doodle 15 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Time zone change Could you keep your BI doses on your uk time, or thereabouts? I'm not sure what the health professionals would say....discuss it with your specialist nurse, I'm sure they will be asked this a lot?

May 9, 2014 Sharon doodle 15 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Time off for Hospital Appmts No, they have to allow the time off, but it is not paid time. This is because hospital appointments are usually on set days or set times, so cannot be arranged out of work hours.

May 9, 2014 Annette Bell 72 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Time zone change I am travelling to New Zealand next February, a 29 hour total flightime, and across several time zones. I am wondering what to do about timings of my BI doses. I am using Levemir, 8 units a.m. and 6 units p.m. Can anyone advise me on this please?

May 9, 2014 Jono20201 5 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Time off for Hospital Appmts Hi, Asking this for my Dad, as I am self-employed so doesn't really apply to me. His employer says that he is able to take time off work for hospital appointments, however it is unpaid. I know the DAA says they must give time off for you to be able to attend appointments, but does it also state that they must pay you for this time? Thanks!

May 9, 2014 marke 681 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Basal Correction Hi, I think you will need to provide us with more information. When do you inject your background insulin and what dose do you take. Do you inject your background insulin one or twice a day. Also one high reading is not necessarily a problem does it happen every day ? This is why the key to DAFNE is recording your BG before every meal and looking for patterns. Welcome to the site by the way, its good to have graduates posting from Singapore

May 9, 2014 avanella 9 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Need advise I just graduates DAFNE from Singapore. My BG is very high in the evening. Please advise and share your opinion. Breakfast (9am) : 11 mmol/l CP : 32.9g \| QA : 4 +1 Lunch (1pm) : 4.4 mmol/l CP : 47.6g \| QA : 5 +1 Dinner (8pm) : 25 mmol/l CP: \| QA :

May 9, 2014 avanella 9 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Basal Correction I just graduates DAFNE from Singapore. My BG is very high in the evening. Please advise and share your opinion. Breakfast (9am) : 11 mmol/l CP : 32.9g \| QA : 4 +1 Lunch (1pm) : 4.4 mmol/l CP : 47.6g \| QA : 5 +1 Dinner (8pm) : 25 mmol/l CP: \| QA :

May 9, 2014 Sharon doodle 15 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetic jokes D-Dose adjustment for normal eating A-Always there from dawn 'till dusk. F-Figure out your ratios, hypos- we must stop meeting, N-Nearly there, carb counting's a must. E-Eventually we can curb the cheating, and QA we can adjust.

May 8, 2014 Sharon doodle 15 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Buddies Hi, I don't know if this has been mentioned before.... I have used other online websites (for weight loss) that use a buddy system. I found this really useful to have a buddy for support...those times when you need a listening ear. I know there are probably some people here who read lots of posts, but never comment. Anyway, I would Iove a buddy.... I've been diabetic 30 years, who would like to be my buddy? Post below if you would like one too

May 8, 2014 Sharon doodle 15 posts	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / iPhone app redesign Hi, I've just read through these posts...I'm wondering if the iPad users out there know that you can download an iPhone app onto the iPad....you just have to search in the App Store for iPhone apps. The iPad will make the app fit the screen- so may also be useful for the partially sighted people? Just a thought....

May 8, 2014 africanparsley 1 post	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / iPhone app redesign I love this app and Dafne in general, I'm still trying to get it all to help with improved HbA1C and I hope that soon this will happen. However, I'd like exercise to be split in 2 please - we know that resistance exercise (lifting weights) and cardio (running) affects BG differently, which results in needing different starting BGs and usually different ending ones. E.g. weights make your numbers go up so I want to start on 4-7mmol, a normal good BG and also inject either 0.5 if it's above 6 or more if I haven't had any insulin for 4+ hrs. After it's likely to go up and you may want to then inject to bring it down again. So your set up - ideal BG where the app will give you a correction - will differ to cardio, where I would like to start on 8mmol, and after 40-60 mins, it'll come down to about 4.2-6 depending on a range of things (some QA needed if no insulin for 4 hrs too). Can we therefore add these to the options: exercise - resistance exercise - cardio And also something that tells you you've not had QA for 4 hrs, as a reminder, regardless of your numbers and where they should be depending on the option you have selected. EG. outside of exercise, I've had days where I've been 5.2 when I leave work at 5pm having had lunch at 12pm, but when I get home at 7pm, it's gone up, possibly due to stress, rushing but likely from hours of not eating and no QA. That would also help. Sorry this is a long winded point, couldn't work out how to put it more succintly without providing examples. Hope this makes sense - thanks all

May 7, 2014 Warwick 423 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Help...AWOL bm's Cool. DAFNE tends to help, but it doesn't work for everyone, and sometimes a pump is the best way of managing type 1. I recommend trying to get your BG management under the best control possible, because it will help when and if you go on a pump. Take care, Warwick.