Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

Jan 6, 2014

DianeW 115 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Hospital advice before endoscopy

Just wanted to see what others thought of this and whether I'm worrying unnecessarily. Having the old camera down the throat thing to check out stomach etc. The day before this, I cannot eat anything so have been advised to take Lantus as normal but obviously no Novorapid....check blood sugar every 2 hours....and they have said only correct if my blood sugar is over 15. Does this seem troo high or will it not matter so much for only one day? Also told me to take Metformin as usual, but that has to be taken with food! I suppose a day without that would be ok?

Jan 6, 2014

Vickyp 137 posts

Topic: General Discussion / METER FOR TESTING FOR KETONES

I use the freestyle optium for ketone testing. I test my BGS with the PDM of my pump. but before pumping used the freestyle optium meter for BG testing too.

Jan 5, 2014

Warwick 425 posts

Topic: General Discussion / CAN'T GET AWAY FROM THESE DOULBE FIGURE BGS

An increase in your BI certainly seems to be indicated. Increase by 10% (1 unit to 13), wait a few days, see if your levels drop to a desired range. It may be that you will need to repeat after a few days, but you need a to wait a few days before you can tell.

Call Abbott Diabetes Care - 0500 467 466 -and ask for one of these:

https://www.abbottdiabetescare.co.uk/your-products/other-meters/freestyle-optium

Then you can test for ketones.

Cheers,
Warwick.

Jan 5, 2014

Warwick 425 posts

Topic: General Discussion / METER FOR TESTING FOR KETONES

Looks like Accu-Chek only do urine testing for ketones:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/testing-for-ketones.html

I use that Xceed for ketone testing and it is a great little workhorse. Like you, I also use the Expert for my everyday testing, but the Exceed works well as a backup, and for ketone testing where necessary.

Jan 5, 2014

Warwick 425 posts

Topic: General Discussion / increasing body muscle mass

Hello,

Is the program that you are using in the gym designed to increase muscle? Depending on your program, you may just be increasing strength with minimal increase in muscle size.

A hypertrophy program (one that is designed to increase muscle mass, typically has a low number of sets, and a low number of reps per set, but has a high load, so you are doing 6-8 reps with a very heavy weight that you would find near impossible to do 10-12 reps of.

It is also very important to have your program udated by a gym instructor/personal trainer every 6-8 weeks as the body is extremely good at adapting to change, and after 6-8 weeks, doing the same exercises will only produce minimal gains.

Increasing the eccentric phase of an exercise also helps with hypertrophy. The concentric phase is when you contract your muscles to lift the weight. The eccentric phase is when you gradually release the weight and it returns to rest. If you make that eccentric phase very slow release (5-6 seconds instead of 1-2), then your muscle mass should increase.

In terms of protein shakes, I have a whole bunch to use up at the moment, but I'm not sure that it helps me much. I use it more for quick recovery from exercise rather than building muscle mass beyond what I get from my cardiovascular exercise.

I find that with protein, I do need to dose for it if I don't take carbs with it, but at a rate of about half of what I would dose for for carbs. So if I have 30 g of protein in a shake, then I treat it as if I was having 15 g of carb. That works for me, but I know that for some diabetics, they don't need to dose at all, so it is a matter of testing before and after and seeing what your body needs.

Hope that helps.

Warwick.

Jan 5, 2014

davidstyles82 4 posts

Topic: General Discussion / increasing body muscle mass

Hi

i have been going to the gym for a while now, and i am trying to increse my body mass, i have been a 58kg for as long as i remember. in the past 6 months i have incresed the weights i do, which has helped defined muscle, but not really increased it. and i am still 58kgs,

I started snacking on just proteins - meats (chicken and tuna) throughout the day - as i wouldnt have to inject for that, but was then told to increase body mass you need the carbs to fuel the muscke growth.

I have over come the problem of blood sugars (delayed hyppos) and i am quite static, if not running a little high.

I was thinking about taking some suppliments such as protein shakes and/or creatine. (or anything else someone can suggest??) Does anyone know how these effect blood sugars, or if they even work for diabetics?!

OR is they anything else anyone can suggest about my eating patterns/diet

i get a lot of conflicting advice from friends all of whom are NON diabetics so i dont really think it helps anyway!!

HELP!

Jan 5, 2014

davidstyles82 4 posts

Topic: General Discussion / hypo on sundays

i used to go low as on a sunday i had a more fatty dinner (roast dinner and roast potatos) so this slowed the carbs down and meant i went low. i just made sure i had a sweet and counted the CPs in that

Jan 5, 2014

alturn 78 posts

Topic: General Discussion / METER FOR TESTING FOR KETONES

I use an Optium Xceed for ketone testing, and as a spare so always have a few test strips. (Accu-chek batteries don't last long after the low-level message and don't want to be stuck, even though it requires a bit of estimation for adjustments)

Not checked for Accu-chek meters, but you could try checking the web-site or contacting them.

Jan 5, 2014

mum2westiesGill 502 posts

Topic: General Discussion / METER FOR TESTING FOR KETONES

HI,

I use the Accu-Chek Aviva Expert meter for my everyday testing. I was given this meter after completing the Xpert Insulin course. The meter does not have the feature for testing for blood ketones. Does anyone know of a meter preferably Accu-Chek for testing for blood ketones?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Jan 5, 2014

mum2westiesGill 502 posts

Topic: General Discussion / CAN'T GET AWAY FROM THESE DOULBE FIGURE BGS

I'll hold my hands up and admit to not testing for ketones. Would this be blood ketones? I don't have a meter which I can test for ketones on.

Jan 5, 2014

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: General Discussion / CAN'T GET AWAY FROM THESE DOULBE FIGURE BGS

Ketone testing is vital during illness... what are your ketone levels like? Are they being kept down by the corrections/extra insulin?

Get well soon. Sad

Jan 5, 2014

mum2westiesGill 502 posts

Topic: General Discussion / CAN'T GET AWAY FROM THESE DOULBE FIGURE BGS

I use the Accu-Chek Aviva Expert meter & currently have it on +12% for illness

Jan 5, 2014

mum2westiesGill 502 posts

Topic: General Discussion / CAN'T GET AWAY FROM THESE DOULBE FIGURE BGS

12/12
- started with a headcold etc

13/12 14/12 15/12 16/12
- were the worst days

27/12
- started on antibiotics for an ear infection

have still got muffled ears

for several weeks before all this bedtime & fasting BGs were out of range ie fasting levels were considerably lower than bedtime levels so I decreased lantus then ALL levels suddenly went into double figures & I can count on one hand the number of single figures I've had for a while Sad

. Any help on this would be very much appreciated.

Jan 4, 2014

malky39 2 posts

Topic: General Discussion / afternoon hypos

As suggested have you thought about splitting you BI. As this would cover your dp but also allow you to fine tune the day time bi to prevent hypos. I to have this problem and on a working day I take 2 unit of bi in the morning and on a non working day 7 units. And I think the working one will still have to come down more

Jan 4, 2014

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / reliable metre readings

Agreed marke. Even an insulin dose can vary it's behaviour if where it was delivered has lipohypertrophy present (not that I know if youone does or not). It's not that black and white.

Might be worth sharing some diary entries too if you find this is a regular issue for you, youone. Best wishes.

Jan 3, 2014

marke 686 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / reliable metre readings

Sorry but I don't know where you get your information. Firstly why do you think more and more products are being manufactured in China and why is this a bad thing ? Secondly why do you think your meters will be highly accurate ? A blood test using a home meter is a best guess its NOT a foolproof accurate reading. Firstly it is carried out in a completely uncontrolled environment with a number of varying inputs. For a start test strips only have to be within 15-20% of the 'real' Blood Glucose value, then you are potentially extracting blood onto a contaminated surface ( your skin), lastly the test strips may have been kept in an environment were the temperature varies wildly. All of these factors can create an inaccurate reading.
I agree it should NOT vary from 6.8 to 17 or 13 that is concerning, however did you use the same sample of blood for each test ? If not other factors could be affecting the result.
I'm not being deliberately difficult here, just trying to point out that you are expecting too much from a technology that will never be able to deliver it. Perhaps once/if we have embedded BG sensors that measure your blood sugar continuously, internally but I suspect this technology is a few years away yet.

Jan 3, 2014

Simon 578 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everybody, thanks for continuing to take part in DAFNE Online, it's the DAFNE Graduates which make it what it is!

All the best for 2014 Very Happy

Jan 3, 2014

Rafa 99 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Travelling Tips

Plumcious said:
Sorry this is a bit late - but it could be helpful in the future. I saw on the Sheffield site that David Cragg had posted the following information for travel and insulin advice:

http://www.voyagemd.com/ The website is owned by Professor Kerr, a Consultant Physician at Bournemouth Diabetes and Endocrine Centre.
You enter your insulin and flight information and it suggests how you can manage any change in timezones.

Thanks a lot, much appreciated.

Jan 2, 2014

Plumcious 11 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Travelling Tips

Sorry this is a bit late - but it could be helpful in the future. I saw on the Sheffield site that David Cragg had posted the following information for travel and insulin advice:

http://www.voyagemd.com/ The website is owned by Professor Kerr, a Consultant Physician at Bournemouth Diabetes and Endocrine Centre.
You enter your insulin and flight information and it suggests how you can manage any change in timezones.

Jan 2, 2014

youone 102 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / reliable metre readings

I've been closely watching my metre readings on my omnipod, since the pod is very accurate in what it does a unreliable reading can cause issues,
Over my life with type 1 I got into the routine of using more than 1 metre,1 for the car and the other for general readings.
Since taking the omnipod ( which is fantastic) its technology is up to what I need, but it begs the question is the metre,
I'm having doubts before Christmas I had a reading of 17.1 after four hours ,yet from experience I knew it was not right. I could have corrected there and then, but didn't
I waited until I could re test with the car metre which was about 5 mins later, it read 6 .8
I re tested with the omnipod ( the metre is built in) again it read 13.8,
Of course it was the strips that where at fault,
A phone call and there where changed by the company.
My question is this if pump technology is at a stage where it can control your BG to a good level the metres must always do the same.
Even today by 2nd metre read 5.5 before I drove, yet the omnipod read 4.2.
On MDI I would have eaten a cp to increase before driving
I did on this occasion 2 hours later I was 9.9 on pod and 9.2 on the 2nd metre,
Its OK setting targets but if metres and strips give readings like this it only causes us type 1 more stress and hard work.

I'll add here both omnipod and the metre company where fantastic I couldn't have had better assistance with this matter.
with MDI the difference of 1.5 is acceptable ,but with pumps its not close enough, with more and more products being manufacture in China for cost reasons I hope drug companies keep a close watch an quality control on strips etc.

Jan 2, 2014

Rafa 99 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a good christmas. I am glad to be getting back into a routine.

Jan 1, 2014

Plumcious 11 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Dosing for fruit

Hi
I hope this helps...
I always have about 2 units for a banana depending on how large or small it is (1:1 ratio) and almost always have insulin for a pear unless it's pretty hard and not sweet, but with raw apples I don't always have any insulin. This works for me. I think I would have less insulin with a banana that was bordering on being green, pretty hard and not sweet; mind you spelling it out like that makes me wonder why I would eat one!! Laughing

I haven't experimented with very sweet softish bananas as I think (imagine) the difference between a fairly ripe and a very ripe one would be too little to accurately judge how much to have.
Grapes appear to send my blood sugar sky high and my New Year's resolution is to be more disciplined around them.
Best wishes; it'd be good to know if you do make changes and how you get on.

Dec 31, 2013

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Happy New Year

Thanks!

Happy New Year to y'all too! Smile

Jan 6, 2014 DianeW 115 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Hospital advice before endoscopy Just wanted to see what others thought of this and whether I'm worrying unnecessarily. Having the old camera down the throat thing to check out stomach etc. The day before this, I cannot eat anything so have been advised to take Lantus as normal but obviously no Novorapid....check blood sugar every 2 hours....and they have said only correct if my blood sugar is over 15. Does this seem troo high or will it not matter so much for only one day? Also told me to take Metformin as usual, but that has to be taken with food! I suppose a day without that would be ok?

Jan 6, 2014 Vickyp 137 posts	Topic: General Discussion / METER FOR TESTING FOR KETONES I use the freestyle optium for ketone testing. I test my BGS with the PDM of my pump. but before pumping used the freestyle optium meter for BG testing too.

Jan 5, 2014 Warwick 425 posts	Topic: General Discussion / CAN'T GET AWAY FROM THESE DOULBE FIGURE BGS An increase in your BI certainly seems to be indicated. Increase by 10% (1 unit to 13), wait a few days, see if your levels drop to a desired range. It may be that you will need to repeat after a few days, but you need a to wait a few days before you can tell. Call Abbott Diabetes Care - 0500 467 466 -and ask for one of these: https://www.abbottdiabetescare.co.uk/your-products/other-meters/freestyle-optium Then you can test for ketones. Cheers, Warwick.

Jan 5, 2014 Warwick 425 posts	Topic: General Discussion / METER FOR TESTING FOR KETONES Looks like Accu-Chek only do urine testing for ketones: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/testing-for-ketones.html I use that Xceed for ketone testing and it is a great little workhorse. Like you, I also use the Expert for my everyday testing, but the Exceed works well as a backup, and for ketone testing where necessary.

Jan 5, 2014 Warwick 425 posts	Topic: General Discussion / increasing body muscle mass Hello, Is the program that you are using in the gym designed to increase muscle? Depending on your program, you may just be increasing strength with minimal increase in muscle size. A hypertrophy program (one that is designed to increase muscle mass, typically has a low number of sets, and a low number of reps per set, but has a high load, so you are doing 6-8 reps with a very heavy weight that you would find near impossible to do 10-12 reps of. It is also very important to have your program udated by a gym instructor/personal trainer every 6-8 weeks as the body is extremely good at adapting to change, and after 6-8 weeks, doing the same exercises will only produce minimal gains. Increasing the eccentric phase of an exercise also helps with hypertrophy. The concentric phase is when you contract your muscles to lift the weight. The eccentric phase is when you gradually release the weight and it returns to rest. If you make that eccentric phase very slow release (5-6 seconds instead of 1-2), then your muscle mass should increase. In terms of protein shakes, I have a whole bunch to use up at the moment, but I'm not sure that it helps me much. I use it more for quick recovery from exercise rather than building muscle mass beyond what I get from my cardiovascular exercise. I find that with protein, I do need to dose for it if I don't take carbs with it, but at a rate of about half of what I would dose for for carbs. So if I have 30 g of protein in a shake, then I treat it as if I was having 15 g of carb. That works for me, but I know that for some diabetics, they don't need to dose at all, so it is a matter of testing before and after and seeing what your body needs. Hope that helps. Warwick.

Jan 5, 2014 davidstyles82 4 posts	Topic: General Discussion / increasing body muscle mass Hi i have been going to the gym for a while now, and i am trying to increse my body mass, i have been a 58kg for as long as i remember. in the past 6 months i have incresed the weights i do, which has helped defined muscle, but not really increased it. and i am still 58kgs, I started snacking on just proteins - meats (chicken and tuna) throughout the day - as i wouldnt have to inject for that, but was then told to increase body mass you need the carbs to fuel the muscke growth. I have over come the problem of blood sugars (delayed hyppos) and i am quite static, if not running a little high. I was thinking about taking some suppliments such as protein shakes and/or creatine. (or anything else someone can suggest??) Does anyone know how these effect blood sugars, or if they even work for diabetics?! OR is they anything else anyone can suggest about my eating patterns/diet i get a lot of conflicting advice from friends all of whom are NON diabetics so i dont really think it helps anyway!! HELP!

Jan 5, 2014 davidstyles82 4 posts	Topic: General Discussion / hypo on sundays i used to go low as on a sunday i had a more fatty dinner (roast dinner and roast potatos) so this slowed the carbs down and meant i went low. i just made sure i had a sweet and counted the CPs in that

Jan 5, 2014 alturn 78 posts	Topic: General Discussion / METER FOR TESTING FOR KETONES I use an Optium Xceed for ketone testing, and as a spare so always have a few test strips. (Accu-chek batteries don't last long after the low-level message and don't want to be stuck, even though it requires a bit of estimation for adjustments) Not checked for Accu-chek meters, but you could try checking the web-site or contacting them.

Jan 5, 2014 mum2westiesGill 502 posts	Topic: General Discussion / METER FOR TESTING FOR KETONES HI, I use the Accu-Chek Aviva Expert meter for my everyday testing. I was given this meter after completing the Xpert Insulin course. The meter does not have the feature for testing for blood ketones. Does anyone know of a meter preferably Accu-Chek for testing for blood ketones? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Jan 5, 2014 mum2westiesGill 502 posts	Topic: General Discussion / CAN'T GET AWAY FROM THESE DOULBE FIGURE BGS I'll hold my hands up and admit to not testing for ketones. Would this be blood ketones? I don't have a meter which I can test for ketones on.

Jan 5, 2014 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: General Discussion / CAN'T GET AWAY FROM THESE DOULBE FIGURE BGS Ketone testing is vital during illness... what are your ketone levels like? Are they being kept down by the corrections/extra insulin? Get well soon.

Jan 5, 2014 mum2westiesGill 502 posts	Topic: General Discussion / CAN'T GET AWAY FROM THESE DOULBE FIGURE BGS I use the Accu-Chek Aviva Expert meter & currently have it on +12% for illness

Jan 5, 2014 mum2westiesGill 502 posts	Topic: General Discussion / CAN'T GET AWAY FROM THESE DOULBE FIGURE BGS 12/12 - started with a headcold etc 13/12 14/12 15/12 16/12 - were the worst days 27/12 - started on antibiotics for an ear infection have still got muffled ears for several weeks before all this bedtime & fasting BGs were out of range ie fasting levels were considerably lower than bedtime levels so I decreased lantus then ALL levels suddenly went into double figures & I can count on one hand the number of single figures I've had for a while . Any help on this would be very much appreciated.

Jan 4, 2014 malky39 2 posts	Topic: General Discussion / afternoon hypos As suggested have you thought about splitting you BI. As this would cover your dp but also allow you to fine tune the day time bi to prevent hypos. I to have this problem and on a working day I take 2 unit of bi in the morning and on a non working day 7 units. And I think the working one will still have to come down more

Jan 4, 2014 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / reliable metre readings Agreed marke. Even an insulin dose can vary it's behaviour if where it was delivered has lipohypertrophy present (not that I know if youone does or not). It's not that black and white. Might be worth sharing some diary entries too if you find this is a regular issue for you, youone. Best wishes.

Jan 3, 2014 marke 686 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / reliable metre readings Sorry but I don't know where you get your information. Firstly why do you think more and more products are being manufactured in China and why is this a bad thing ? Secondly why do you think your meters will be highly accurate ? A blood test using a home meter is a best guess its NOT a foolproof accurate reading. Firstly it is carried out in a completely uncontrolled environment with a number of varying inputs. For a start test strips only have to be within 15-20% of the 'real' Blood Glucose value, then you are potentially extracting blood onto a contaminated surface ( your skin), lastly the test strips may have been kept in an environment were the temperature varies wildly. All of these factors can create an inaccurate reading. I agree it should NOT vary from 6.8 to 17 or 13 that is concerning, however did you use the same sample of blood for each test ? If not other factors could be affecting the result. I'm not being deliberately difficult here, just trying to point out that you are expecting too much from a technology that will never be able to deliver it. Perhaps once/if we have embedded BG sensors that measure your blood sugar continuously, internally but I suspect this technology is a few years away yet.

Jan 3, 2014 Simon 578 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Happy New Year Happy New Year Everybody, thanks for continuing to take part in DAFNE Online, it's the DAFNE Graduates which make it what it is! All the best for 2014

Jan 3, 2014 Rafa 99 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Travelling Tips Plumcious said: Sorry this is a bit late - but it could be helpful in the future. I saw on the Sheffield site that David Cragg had posted the following information for travel and insulin advice: http://www.voyagemd.com/ The website is owned by Professor Kerr, a Consultant Physician at Bournemouth Diabetes and Endocrine Centre. You enter your insulin and flight information and it suggests how you can manage any change in timezones. Thanks a lot, much appreciated.

Jan 2, 2014 Plumcious 11 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Travelling Tips Sorry this is a bit late - but it could be helpful in the future. I saw on the Sheffield site that David Cragg had posted the following information for travel and insulin advice: http://www.voyagemd.com/ The website is owned by Professor Kerr, a Consultant Physician at Bournemouth Diabetes and Endocrine Centre. You enter your insulin and flight information and it suggests how you can manage any change in timezones.

Jan 2, 2014 youone 102 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / reliable metre readings I've been closely watching my metre readings on my omnipod, since the pod is very accurate in what it does a unreliable reading can cause issues, Over my life with type 1 I got into the routine of using more than 1 metre,1 for the car and the other for general readings. Since taking the omnipod ( which is fantastic) its technology is up to what I need, but it begs the question is the metre, I'm having doubts before Christmas I had a reading of 17.1 after four hours ,yet from experience I knew it was not right. I could have corrected there and then, but didn't I waited until I could re test with the car metre which was about 5 mins later, it read 6 .8 I re tested with the omnipod ( the metre is built in) again it read 13.8, Of course it was the strips that where at fault, A phone call and there where changed by the company. My question is this if pump technology is at a stage where it can control your BG to a good level the metres must always do the same. Even today by 2nd metre read 5.5 before I drove, yet the omnipod read 4.2. On MDI I would have eaten a cp to increase before driving I did on this occasion 2 hours later I was 9.9 on pod and 9.2 on the 2nd metre, Its OK setting targets but if metres and strips give readings like this it only causes us type 1 more stress and hard work. I'll add here both omnipod and the metre company where fantastic I couldn't have had better assistance with this matter. with MDI the difference of 1.5 is acceptable ,but with pumps its not close enough, with more and more products being manufacture in China for cost reasons I hope drug companies keep a close watch an quality control on strips etc.

Jan 2, 2014 Rafa 99 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Happy New Year Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a good christmas. I am glad to be getting back into a routine.

Jan 1, 2014 Plumcious 11 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Dosing for fruit Hi I hope this helps... I always have about 2 units for a banana depending on how large or small it is (1:1 ratio) and almost always have insulin for a pear unless it's pretty hard and not sweet, but with raw apples I don't always have any insulin. This works for me. I think I would have less insulin with a banana that was bordering on being green, pretty hard and not sweet; mind you spelling it out like that makes me wonder why I would eat one!! I haven't experimented with very sweet softish bananas as I think (imagine) the difference between a fairly ripe and a very ripe one would be too little to accurately judge how much to have. Grapes appear to send my blood sugar sky high and my New Year's resolution is to be more disciplined around them. Best wishes; it'd be good to know if you do make changes and how you get on.

Dec 31, 2013 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Happy New Year Thanks! Happy New Year to y'all too!