Recent Posts

well i have discussed my results with my health care professionals, who think it is due to me being overly sensitive to activity (your point of how can sugars drop so low with no QA present).... i have only done mild exercise- walking for example. i do however also have insulin resistance, so could well be a combo of insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity during mild exercise. Who would have thought it could be that complicated?
I am continuing to monitor for another week- reducing my insulin ratios to avoid the hypos, and if this is still the case next week it is being suggested that i look into the insulin pump!

May 7, 2014

Warwick 423 posts

OK. Thanks for that. On Saturday at 12.07, you are 16.8. 1 hour later, you have a hypo, but according to the diary you should have almost no QA in your body as the 9 am dose will have been used up.

I note that the 1207 entry is before exercise though. Can I ask what the exercise was? I'm curious to know what would drop your BGs so quickly and so far without any QA being present.

In general, with the DAFNE approach, we aim to get your BI correct, before looking at the QA. The easiest way to do that is to check your before-bed readings with your before breakfast readings. If they differ by more than 1.5, then that tends to indicate that the BI needs changing.

Unfortunately, based on your readings so far, we can't do that as your before bed readings are high, and you then need to correct them with QA which negates the BI overnight test.

There are a couple of possibilities as to why your before bed readings are high. First, it may be that your dinner QA ratio is too low and you need to increase it. The second possibility is that your Lantus runs out before the full 24-hour period.

I found this myself when I was on Lantus. My readings would peak before bed, but increasing dinner QA would cause a hypo shortly after dinner. Switching to injecting Lantus twice a day solved the issue for me.

I suggest looking at slightly increasing your dinner ratio from 1.5:1 to 2:1. Then run a check of your BGs about 90 minutes after dinner to check that you are not dropping too low.

Doing this will either cause you to hypo after dinner, or reach bed time with good BGs (hopefully the latter). If you start getting good BGs at bed time, then we can start looking at whether your BI is at an appropriate level.

If you start having hypos after dinner, then we can look at dropping the QA dinner ratio back to what it is now and increase the BI instead, and how to split the dose so that it lasts the full 24 hours.

Cheers,
Warwick.

May 7, 2014

Sharon doodle 15 posts

Sorry, think that is my error with the app....I'm on 27u lantus at night and humalog QA.

May 7, 2014

Garry 328 posts

One fevertree is nearly 1 CP. Libby mentioned 200 ml/bottles and 3.9g/100 ml or 0.78 CP per bottle.
I'm not a Health Care Professional but personally speaking I don't worry about 1 CP between meals as the beauty of DAFNE is...eat normally...live normally...and OK so I may need make an insulin adjustment at the next meal time, that's easy to do once familar with your individual response to QA.
Regards
Garry

May 7, 2014

Faulty Headl... 18 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / How to upload diary from app to website

These are old posts so I'm sure you have figured it all out now. I can download results from laptop to phone but it doesn't always work the other way around.
to delete a result, when on the diary page on iphone click on edit at top left. then when on result you want to delete flick your finger up or down until it says delete. I'm using screen reader so might be slightly different.

just checked and I don't even think u have to click on edit. just find the result and flick

May 7, 2014

Warwick 423 posts

Hello Sharon,

Are you sure that this is correct? The reason I ask is that basal insulin usually doesn't change from day to day unless there is a special reason for it to do so, but from your diary, you took no BI on Thursday, 27+27=54 units on Friday, none on Saturday, 27 units on Sunday, 22-8=14 units on Monday.

If you can have your BI intake much the same from day to day, then it will certainly help with identifying patterns.

Also, if you can post what types of QA and BI insulin you are on, then that helps in working out how long each are likely to be active for in your body.

Thanks,
Warwick.

May 6, 2014

Sharon doodle 15 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Struggling with emotions

Hi, it seems like the DAFNE course has opened a can of worms for me. I have lots of undealt with gremlins. Gas anyone else found this? I'm going to follow it up with my gp, but I'm just wondering if there is support out there for us?

May 6, 2014

Sue Marshall 1 post

Hi Libby. I think this is part of the whole very serious and sinister 'creep' of sugar into all our foods. It puts diabetics into a difficult position -- make a fuss with bar staff who won't really 'get it', and try to get bar managers to stock proper slimline drinks, or end up drinking in sugars that will not help us with our control. They'll also make us fat as they will probably be excess to our needs and the sugar will end up being stored as fat. It's not just fats that make us fat, but sugars too. I would suggest you try other drinks if you end up in a bar that only serves fevertree and the like. Two G&Ts with that stuff and you're up to nearly 10 carbs (or one CP if you use those exchanges). You control may not be dented too much by that, but it's another thing to have to take into consideration. If ended up pretty much stuck with white wine, as most mixers are sugary, as are many beers. It's dreadful that alcoholic drinks do not have to have carb and fat breakdowns on their labels. If they did, you could at least choose what to drink based on that info (as could everyone). It shows how much clout the drinks industry has. I rant on a bit about the 'sugar free' rubbish that gets stuck on labels as it's an actual health threat to me. I was in a pharmacy just weeks ago and they had 'sugar free' sweets on the counter. Read the label, and it was 35g of carb per 100g. OK, so that's a lot of sweets to get through, but they were NOT sugar free. When was a boiled sweet a carbohydrate. It's not called a sweet for nothing, it's full of sugar! It's not just likely to make unsuspecting diabetics have problems with their control, but it's making the population at large unwell too. So, rant rant. Read the labels. Make the choices that keep you well. And 'out' the baddies. I did not know about Fevertree. I do now. Sue

May 6, 2014

Simon 578 posts

Hi both,

Thanks for the feedback - glad to hear it's working well for both sighted and non-sighted users. I'll look to move Snack nearer to the top (but not at the top) of the list and have a think about the decimal point idea.

The connection failed problem sounds like a real one so I'll take a look at that too.

Simon

May 6, 2014

Libby 5 posts

Thanks Garry. I think this boils down to a more basic question of when is a sugary drink too sugary. I wouldn't drink a normal coke as I couldn't correct for it in time, bit what is the deal with this not really slimline tonic water?

Libby

May 6, 2014

Garry 328 posts

I wouldn't worry about it. Might be good policy to stop at 10 drinks though!
Less than 1 CP between meals...just think of it as a snack. If any correction is needed - make it when you have checked your pre-meal BG and take suitable matching insulin dose. Take care not to overcompensate however. If you have a lot to drink, remember your liver is already occupied processing the drinks and is less able to release it's safety store of glucose into your blood stream to protect against hypoglycemia.
Regards
Garry

May 6, 2014

Sharon doodle 15 posts

Here they are....

May 6, 2014

Warwick 423 posts

Hello Sharon,

Are you able to share some of your diary with this thread? It will make it easier to assist.

Thank,s
Warwick.

May 5, 2014

Sharon doodle 15 posts

My bm's were at a pretty stable high last week whilst on DAFNE. For the last 3 days of eating and exercising normally my bm' are on a sea saw. Hypo one minute, high sugars the next. It's making me feel unwell.
Is this just my bm's settling? I'm doing everything as directed and am using the DAFNE app to work out my insulin doses.

Any ideas? Cheers

May 4, 2014

Libby 5 posts

I don't drink that much, but when I go out I like to have the occasional gin and slimline tonic. Recently, I have noted that a lot of bars (in London at least) are serving Fevertree "naturally light" tonic water as slimline tonic. However, whereas every other slimline tonic is completely carb free, the Fevertree version has 3.9g carbs per 100ml. Even when I asked for a sugar free tonic I was presented with Fevertree.

This annoys me as I feel that I am not getting what I ask for. Most of the other normal tonic waters I have looked at (i.e. not slimline) contain 5.1g per 100ml and as such I am not sure there is a major difference between the Fevertree slimline and the normal tonics (the normal version of Fevertree has 9g so it is really sweet).

But what I really want to know is if that amount of carbs per 100ml (i.e. 3.9) is too much? Should I not drink this stuff? Or could I drink it and inject for it? I am not sure of the size of the mixer bottle they serve it with but it is probably a 200ml one as that is all they advertise on their site, so it would be 8g per serving give or take, plus the gin.

Many thanks

Libby

May 4, 2014

Neville COL 23 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Workplace Injections

Luckily as a recent graduate, my stomach is in good condition! I have in the past used arms/legs, but the leg I save for when I m home! Luckily my work clothes consist, generally, of a polo or short sleeved shirt which does give a little flexibility.... ! Cool

May 4, 2014

Politikaal 6 posts

Hi Faulty headlight,
Yeah I like it fine the way it is too. I was merely making suggestions about what would enhance it for me personally and make it even better. I'm sure the developers won't act on every suggestion that I, or anyone else, makes. They asked for feedback though, so I'm giving feedback, to be read along with everyone elses. I don't think that Snack should be at the top of the list, just a bit further up so that it is onscreen would be nice though.

No it's not hard to press a button, but minor improvements like that can make for a better experience by the user when all added up. LogFrog DB did it really well for their UI and I was surprised at the difference it made.

All the best

May 3, 2014

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Workplace Injections

I've mainly used my stomach as well. When I started doing another background dose, I did try doing a buttock injection as well at my desk by putting my coat over my lap and making sure I was not in full view of anyone coming near my desk (thankfully I was in a corner bit)... but I eventually started injecting it into my stomach along side my meal dose.

I'm lucky that the toilets are huge rooms in my workplace so I'm not so worried to pop in and stab my leg quick but that is more time consuming than staying at my desk. I don't even touch the toilet or even the floor; aim to use only my pockets or bag to put items like my one-use needle cap down only.

I'll never inject through my clothing. It may be convenient in practice but you run the risk of injecting threads into your skin that won't be easily removable from what my HCPs told me. It's even worse/more likely if you're someone who fails to change their needle every time as well. Changing every time will help minimise damage caused by injecting generally too as you won't be injecting a blunt, curled needle, as shown here:

May 3, 2014

JayBee 587 posts

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

I got that email too.

First page of the PDF:

Dear DAFNE User Group Member,

Formation of DAFNE Graduate Group (DGG)

We are writing to you, via Central DAFNE, to inform you that the members of the DAFNE User Group (DUG) and eligible DAFNE Online users are joining together to form the DAFNE Graduate Group. Membership is open to all existing DUG members and all DAFNE Online users who: Are DAFNE Graduates who attended a DAFNE course in the UK or Republic of Ireland Agree to accept occasional communication by e-mail from the DAFNE User Action Group (DUAG).

Benefits of the combined membership for all members will be:

Access to DAFNE Online Apps for iPhone & Android devices

Access to DAFNE Online Forums to discuss questions, issues or topics of interest to other users

Ability to ask questions direct to Health Care Professionals both in your own DAFNE centre and through a specific forum

Information updates from DUAG through a regular newsletter and specific updates e.g. on announcements made at the annual DAFNE Collaborative

Opportunity to get more involved in running the DAFNE programme in the UK & Republic of Ireland

On-line access to the DAFNE workbook and information on changes made during updates

Briefings on the latest DAFNE research and its impact on the DAFNE programme

Interaction with a social network of nearly 9,000 DAFNE Graduates and a total of nearly 14,000 users with an interest in DAFNE plus the ability to directly interact with other users from your own DAFNE centre

The e-mail communication from DUAG will include a newsletter produced every 3-6 months and occasional other requests (e.g. for feedback on initiatives being run by DUAG or for patient input on focus points for DUAG or questions being considered by the DAFNE Executive). We will not swamp your e-mail inbox and DUAG commit not to share your e-mail address with any other party, including Central DAFNE.

Good grief, I hope this means they'll be updating the Android app along side the Apple app finally. :/

The "talking to HCP directly through your centre's forum" will be new considering none of my HCP DAFNE team have ever posted on here (except for PMs with one of them that is now no longer part of my HCP team).

I wonder if this is the start of an effort to get patients and HCPs talking more online? Hope so.

May 3, 2014

Faulty Headl... 18 posts

Not sure how old this post is but could you please please not mess around with the set up of the app too much. I am a blind user and find it great the way it is. make sure all the tags, headings and buttons are labeled properly and I'm happy. the floating decimal point idea? not sure how it works but how difficult is it to press that button, and putting snacks to top of list? they aren't just going to change that to suit one person. as there will be people who hypo a lot who use that reading type more or people who exercise a lot and so on. Big thumbs up for how the app is working at the moment. just learnt yesterday that to update results from diary tab you just go to top page and swipe fingers to make it renew page and sync results from computer.

May 1, 2014

davidcragg 17 posts

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

I received an email today telling me that "As of 1 May 2014 DUG will cease to exist. Attached is a letter sent on behalf of DUAG which explains their decision and recommendations moving forward."

I didn't see any explanation or recommendations in the attachment
It listed a bunch of benefits of the combined membership but I couldn't see anything that wasn't already available.

Could someone explain to me what is actually happening here?
All I see is I'm being "bribed" with the possibility of a bottle of champagne if I allow the new group to email me occassionally.

thanks,
David

Apr 30, 2014

Politikaal 6 posts

oh.....one more thing:

I am a snacker. I think most people would have snacks on a fairly regular basis. If you have to change the "type" to enter a record when you have a snack, you currently have to scroll through all the regular types, hypos and exercise to find "snack" I would personally like to see this closer to the top so you don't have to scroll. Call me anal but as above.....its the little things that make a good app brilliant. I have an iPhone 4S, on the iPhone 5 with its longer screen this may no longer be an issue and "snack" may be visible without scrolling.
Cheers
Karl

Apr 30, 2014

Politikaal 6 posts