Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

Nov 17, 2011

PNThompson 57 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help

It took me several weeks of messing around with ratios before my levels settled down. Recently I found that I need to adjust my ratios depending on what i'm eating. Foods like Soup, Chocolate I have found I need to reduce the Ratio as the foods are absorbed quicker and the Insulin is still working long after.

Before I went on the DAFNE Course I had my BI (LANTUS) split, but I found that once things started to improve with the control I went back to one injection for BI.

Unfortunately what works for one person may not work for another. I also adjust every injection unless it is exactly in the centre of the BG Ranges.

This has helped me and I still have instances where my BG reading go off track so, as several others have said, don't worry about it too much.
As Marke advised, just change one bit at a time rather than trying to fix all the readings in one go.
The time that you take the BI can have an impact as well. I started with the BI just before bed, but after completing DAFNE I gradually changed the BI to be the same time as dinner and have needed to adjust it a little but cannot advise if it has gone up or down.

Hopefully you can sort something out from the various comments.

Nov 17, 2011

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Spikes

Timing..............

You need to try and match the absorption of the carbs with the action of the insulin.

You should try injecting 15 minutes before you eat, this time can increase if you find the spike it still a bit to high, I have seen myself inject 45 minutes before lunch and then not go above 7 till dinner.

Each day is different as well as each time of day............and obviously if your lowish before breakfast, you may need to think about that too.............

And welcome to the forum...............

Nov 17, 2011

marke 681 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help

Hi it looks like your BI is not right, however you shouldn't be changing 2 doses at the same time really. If you up your evening BI by 2 you should first see what effect it has before upping the morning one as well. The problem is if one of the BI doses is not right it will mean you start off higher than you should be and it will mislead you about the other BI dose. You really need to provide a bit more data for us to go on, I'm afraid. Any change you make will take a couple of days to really show in your results so just 2 days of data is not really enough to spot a pattern.
Another thing to point out is you will most likely find that correction doses if you are 20+ BG will not have the same effect as a correction at 10 and below. Thus if the corrections don't seem to be working don't be to worried. The key is to get your BI right as everything else hinges on that. Try a carb-free lunch if you can and compare your BG in the morning and evening. If it is going up ( by at least 2) your BI is not right. The idea is the BI should keep your blood sugar roughly the same if you don't eat. If you can get this right then your QA will just be needed for what you eat and hopefully not dramatic corrections.
If you can record a few more days and post I'm sure you will get a lot of responses with advice and information. It is a bit daunting to start with especially if things don't seem to be going right. Try not to worry about it, stress increases your BG, and just keep plugging away. You can always ask your DAFNE Educators for advice if things are still not improving in a week.

P.S Please only post the question to one subject, I replied to your other post that is the same but under a different name. It just easier to get responses by having one post.

Nov 17, 2011

Bezza61 1 post

Topic: General Discussion / Spikes

2 hours after breakfast my blood sugars rise to between 12 and 15 then drop down to normal before lunch.
Any ideas

Nov 17, 2011

grandma carol 61 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help

As Garry said stick with it and things will pan out do things slowley.
I have been Diabetic for 37 years and like you never had good controll I was always high in the mornings never did carbcounting or ratios just had the same insulin every day if was very hard for me to change still have my bad days but getting there.
Take care Very Happy

Nov 17, 2011

wrijoanne 5 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help

Garry said:
Welcome to the forum
Please do not be overly concerned that things are awry at the moment....they will sort themselves out once you are able to steady things up. Two off-target days are no big deal and it may simply be due to having an infection.
However in your situation you can not have enough information to help make informed choices. So can I suggest that you need to do more testing, especially when starting out with this new way of looking at things.
DAFNE rules for me are.....s l o w and steady changes improve results.
Cause and effect. Change something by a small amount and watch for the effect over a few days of results. Making changes one at a time helps us better understand the impact of change. If we do too many things at once we never get to the bottom of the effect.
Please remember that our bodies respond to the different insulin types in different ways. The effects of your Background Insulin change will not normally be seen for around 3 days. So the change in BI that you made is not likely to show any improvement in results until Saturday.

Don't fret, take your time and logically understand changes.

If you are unclear about what is happening please have the confidence and make time, to talk to and get advice from your Health Care Professionals.

Stick with it
Best Wishes Garry

Thank you Garry its all very scary trying to change things and coming to grips with new information thats so different to what i have known for 20years just feel very scared ha ha im 40years old now and i really want to take charge and do this right thankyou for your advice Smile

Nov 17, 2011

Garry 328 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help

Welcome to the forum Smile

Please do not be overly concerned that things are awry at the moment....they will sort themselves out once you are able to steady things up. Two off-target days are no big deal and it may simply be due to having an infection.
However in your situation you can not have enough information to help make informed choices. So can I suggest that you need to do more testing, especially when starting out with this new way of looking at things.
DAFNE rules for me are.....s l o w and steady changes improve results.
Cause and effect. Change something by a small amount and watch for the effect over a few days of results. Making changes one at a time helps us better understand the impact of change. If we do too many things at once we never get to the bottom of the effect.
Please remember that our bodies respond to the different insulin types in different ways. The effects of your Background Insulin change will not normally be seen for around 3 days. So the change in BI that you made is not likely to show any improvement in results until Saturday.

Don't fret, take your time and logically understand changes.

If you are unclear about what is happening please have the confidence and make time, to talk to and get advice from your Health Care Professionals.

Stick with it Very Happy

Best Wishes Garry

Nov 17, 2011

wrijoanne 5 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help

wrijoanne said:
Hi been on Dafne for 1 week but having problems
With bi and ratios could some one please give
Me any advice thanks

Hi thankyou for your response iv been diabetis for 20years uncontrolled for last 5 years but my morning bg was always between 4 and 6 ,
i am on nova rapid during the day and levemir for the last week before that humlin i for 6 months before that lanctus for as long as i can remember, i was told to eat carb free today and just look at bg insulin levels which is what i am doing and i test at 3am everynight sometimes its hig last night 3am it was 9.4
im really looking for advice regarding which way to start off bg insulin or qa insulin (which should i change and look at first)

Nov 17, 2011

grandma carol 61 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help

what were you like before you went on Dafne were they the same as this. I was like you and had high BG when I did Dafne took me a long time to get things okay a bit what insulin are you on and do you test through night to see if your BI is right and what is your insulin sencitivety to bring down your BG when you do the corrections hope things improve for you soon

Nov 17, 2011

wrijoanne 5 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help

Hi been on Dafne for 1 week but having problems
With bi and ratios could some one please give
Me any advice thanks

Nov 17, 2011

susanh 20 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Kidney Problems?

Hi Simon,

One of our DAFNE Educators in Australia has put together a brief answer for you (see below), along with a link for some further information. I hope it helps!!

Cheers,
Susan

eGFR or Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate is the recommended measurement of kidney function along with other pathology tests. Normal eGFR is considered >90L/min. If a person has an eGFR between 60-90L/min indicates mild loss of kidney function.

Kidney Health Australia has an excellent summary, check out this link: http://www.kidney.org.au/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=zuqknF0StcY=&tabid=609&mid=850

Possibility of referral to a kidney specialist is something that your endocrinologist may have discussed with you but if not you may wish to make further enquiry.
A review with your doctor would be recommended to discuss further management strategies.

Nov 16, 2011

Ahmentep 99 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Unwanted Insulin

Thank you Heather,

I have quite a lot of redundant insulin here and it has been concerning me that simply returning it to the pharmacy would result in its being thrown away. This is great news!

Nov 15, 2011

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Deleting or editing entries

Our lips are sealed..............

Nice to see you posting...... Wink

Nov 15, 2011

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Unwanted Insulin

great cause, if I am ever in the position I will be sure to help them out............ Laughing

Nov 15, 2011

Heather B 20 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Unwanted Insulin

Hello,

You've probably heard about this already, but I just found out about The Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust (IDDT) the other day when I had my background insulin type changed at the clinic (I've been changed from Insulatard to Levemir- fingers crossed it works out better for me) and I mentioned that I had a full packet of my old insulin in the fridge that would now just need to be thrown out. I was told to put the insulin in a jiffy bag and sent it to the IDDT at the address below as they put the unwanted insulin to really good use instead of it just adding to landfill. There's more information on their website (http://www.iddt.org/here-to-help/helping-developing-countries/)and below. I thought I'd let you know about it in case you've just had an insulin change and your unwanted insulin could be used to save lives instead of being thrown out.

Have you any unwanted, in-date insulin in your fridge?
IDDT is the UK arm of an Australian organisation, â€˜Insulin for Lifeâ€™ [IFL]. IFL is a not-for-profit organisation which collects unwanted, unopened, in-date insulin and test strips to send to developing countries as part of a humanitarian aid programme.

Please help if you can by sending supplies in a â€˜jiffy bagâ€™ or box to:

Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust
PO Box 294
Northampton
NN1 4XS

tel: 01604 622837
fax: 01604 622838
e-mail: [email protected]

Nov 14, 2011

moflaherty 5 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Deleting or editing entries

Hi again. Just solved that very simple problem. Let us never speak of it again...

Nov 14, 2011

moflaherty 5 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Deleting or editing entries

Hi. Silly question but how do you delete an entry in the android app? I put in the wrong time so now I have the same entry twice on the same date. Otherwise I love the app. If this is a completely stupid question have a good laugh at me and then please post the completely obvious answer. My fingers are sore from poking at my phone (on top of blood testing wounds!). Moflaherty

Nov 14, 2011

leonard.8 7 posts

Topic: General Discussion / My BG Averages

Pretty happy with things but morning reading still bit high so thinking of increasing Levamir a bit.

Nov 14, 2011

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Carb Calculating Scales

I would say they would be useful, at least as an additional aid in determining carb values amongst others...............

Nov 14, 2011

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

Topic: General Discussion / New to DAFNE

Congratulations on your DAFNE graduation.....

As long as you get into the habit or writing things downs you cant go wrong............the carb counting element of it all will improve in time and you will be able to fine tune the counting to suit your own personal needs as you observe how different food affect you...........

With regards to eating out, I always see this as a treat and so getting the count perfect is not a high priority. Taking time out of your normal strict diabetic regime from time to time is necessary in my opinion. But to help you out you could see about getting the Carbs and Cals book. I recently got this on a whim, but it is really useful for the times when you are eating out, as you can confidently estimate the amount of carbs in your food. Check it out HERE.............

Welcome to the forum............ Wink

Nov 14, 2011

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

Topic: General Discussion / My BG Averages

Also really good, well done..............

I would expect a really good HbA1c with those results........... Razz

Nov 17, 2011 PNThompson 57 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help It took me several weeks of messing around with ratios before my levels settled down. Recently I found that I need to adjust my ratios depending on what i'm eating. Foods like Soup, Chocolate I have found I need to reduce the Ratio as the foods are absorbed quicker and the Insulin is still working long after. Before I went on the DAFNE Course I had my BI (LANTUS) split, but I found that once things started to improve with the control I went back to one injection for BI. Unfortunately what works for one person may not work for another. I also adjust every injection unless it is exactly in the centre of the BG Ranges. This has helped me and I still have instances where my BG reading go off track so, as several others have said, don't worry about it too much. As Marke advised, just change one bit at a time rather than trying to fix all the readings in one go. The time that you take the BI can have an impact as well. I started with the BI just before bed, but after completing DAFNE I gradually changed the BI to be the same time as dinner and have needed to adjust it a little but cannot advise if it has gone up or down. Hopefully you can sort something out from the various comments.

Nov 17, 2011 novorapidboi26 1,819 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Spikes Timing.............. You need to try and match the absorption of the carbs with the action of the insulin. You should try injecting 15 minutes before you eat, this time can increase if you find the spike it still a bit to high, I have seen myself inject 45 minutes before lunch and then not go above 7 till dinner. Each day is different as well as each time of day............and obviously if your lowish before breakfast, you may need to think about that too............. And welcome to the forum...............

Nov 17, 2011 marke 681 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help Hi it looks like your BI is not right, however you shouldn't be changing 2 doses at the same time really. If you up your evening BI by 2 you should first see what effect it has before upping the morning one as well. The problem is if one of the BI doses is not right it will mean you start off higher than you should be and it will mislead you about the other BI dose. You really need to provide a bit more data for us to go on, I'm afraid. Any change you make will take a couple of days to really show in your results so just 2 days of data is not really enough to spot a pattern. Another thing to point out is you will most likely find that correction doses if you are 20+ BG will not have the same effect as a correction at 10 and below. Thus if the corrections don't seem to be working don't be to worried. The key is to get your BI right as everything else hinges on that. Try a carb-free lunch if you can and compare your BG in the morning and evening. If it is going up ( by at least 2) your BI is not right. The idea is the BI should keep your blood sugar roughly the same if you don't eat. If you can get this right then your QA will just be needed for what you eat and hopefully not dramatic corrections. If you can record a few more days and post I'm sure you will get a lot of responses with advice and information. It is a bit daunting to start with especially if things don't seem to be going right. Try not to worry about it, stress increases your BG, and just keep plugging away. You can always ask your DAFNE Educators for advice if things are still not improving in a week. P.S Please only post the question to one subject, I replied to your other post that is the same but under a different name. It just easier to get responses by having one post.

Nov 17, 2011 Bezza61 1 post	Topic: General Discussion / Spikes 2 hours after breakfast my blood sugars rise to between 12 and 15 then drop down to normal before lunch. Any ideas

Nov 17, 2011 grandma carol 61 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help As Garry said stick with it and things will pan out do things slowley. I have been Diabetic for 37 years and like you never had good controll I was always high in the mornings never did carbcounting or ratios just had the same insulin every day if was very hard for me to change still have my bad days but getting there. Take care

Nov 17, 2011 wrijoanne 5 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help Garry said: Welcome to the forum Please do not be overly concerned that things are awry at the moment....they will sort themselves out once you are able to steady things up. Two off-target days are no big deal and it may simply be due to having an infection. However in your situation you can not have enough information to help make informed choices. So can I suggest that you need to do more testing, especially when starting out with this new way of looking at things. DAFNE rules for me are.....s l o w and steady changes improve results. Cause and effect. Change something by a small amount and watch for the effect over a few days of results. Making changes one at a time helps us better understand the impact of change. If we do too many things at once we never get to the bottom of the effect. Please remember that our bodies respond to the different insulin types in different ways. The effects of your Background Insulin change will not normally be seen for around 3 days. So the change in BI that you made is not likely to show any improvement in results until Saturday. Don't fret, take your time and logically understand changes. If you are unclear about what is happening please have the confidence and make time, to talk to and get advice from your Health Care Professionals. Stick with it Best Wishes Garry Thank you Garry its all very scary trying to change things and coming to grips with new information thats so different to what i have known for 20years just feel very scared ha ha im 40years old now and i really want to take charge and do this right thankyou for your advice

Nov 17, 2011 Garry 328 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help Welcome to the forum Please do not be overly concerned that things are awry at the moment....they will sort themselves out once you are able to steady things up. Two off-target days are no big deal and it may simply be due to having an infection. However in your situation you can not have enough information to help make informed choices. So can I suggest that you need to do more testing, especially when starting out with this new way of looking at things. DAFNE rules for me are.....s l o w and steady changes improve results. Cause and effect. Change something by a small amount and watch for the effect over a few days of results. Making changes one at a time helps us better understand the impact of change. If we do too many things at once we never get to the bottom of the effect. Please remember that our bodies respond to the different insulin types in different ways. The effects of your Background Insulin change will not normally be seen for around 3 days. So the change in BI that you made is not likely to show any improvement in results until Saturday. Don't fret, take your time and logically understand changes. If you are unclear about what is happening please have the confidence and make time, to talk to and get advice from your Health Care Professionals. Stick with it Best Wishes Garry

Nov 17, 2011 wrijoanne 5 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help wrijoanne said: Hi been on Dafne for 1 week but having problems With bi and ratios could some one please give Me any advice thanks Hi thankyou for your response iv been diabetis for 20years uncontrolled for last 5 years but my morning bg was always between 4 and 6 , i am on nova rapid during the day and levemir for the last week before that humlin i for 6 months before that lanctus for as long as i can remember, i was told to eat carb free today and just look at bg insulin levels which is what i am doing and i test at 3am everynight sometimes its hig last night 3am it was 9.4 im really looking for advice regarding which way to start off bg insulin or qa insulin (which should i change and look at first)

Nov 17, 2011 grandma carol 61 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help what were you like before you went on Dafne were they the same as this. I was like you and had high BG when I did Dafne took me a long time to get things okay a bit what insulin are you on and do you test through night to see if your BI is right and what is your insulin sencitivety to bring down your BG when you do the corrections hope things improve for you soon

Nov 17, 2011 wrijoanne 5 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Adjusting my doses help Hi been on Dafne for 1 week but having problems With bi and ratios could some one please give Me any advice thanks

Nov 17, 2011 susanh 20 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Kidney Problems? Hi Simon, One of our DAFNE Educators in Australia has put together a brief answer for you (see below), along with a link for some further information. I hope it helps!! Cheers, Susan eGFR or Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate is the recommended measurement of kidney function along with other pathology tests. Normal eGFR is considered >90L/min. If a person has an eGFR between 60-90L/min indicates mild loss of kidney function. Kidney Health Australia has an excellent summary, check out this link: http://www.kidney.org.au/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=zuqknF0StcY=&tabid=609&mid=850 Possibility of referral to a kidney specialist is something that your endocrinologist may have discussed with you but if not you may wish to make further enquiry. A review with your doctor would be recommended to discuss further management strategies.

Nov 16, 2011 Ahmentep 99 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Unwanted Insulin Thank you Heather, I have quite a lot of redundant insulin here and it has been concerning me that simply returning it to the pharmacy would result in its being thrown away. This is great news!

Nov 15, 2011 novorapidboi26 1,819 posts	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Deleting or editing entries Our lips are sealed.............. Nice to see you posting......

Nov 15, 2011 novorapidboi26 1,819 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Unwanted Insulin great cause, if I am ever in the position I will be sure to help them out............

Nov 15, 2011 Heather B 20 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Unwanted Insulin Hello, You've probably heard about this already, but I just found out about The Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust (IDDT) the other day when I had my background insulin type changed at the clinic (I've been changed from Insulatard to Levemir- fingers crossed it works out better for me) and I mentioned that I had a full packet of my old insulin in the fridge that would now just need to be thrown out. I was told to put the insulin in a jiffy bag and sent it to the IDDT at the address below as they put the unwanted insulin to really good use instead of it just adding to landfill. There's more information on their website (http://www.iddt.org/here-to-help/helping-developing-countries/)and below. I thought I'd let you know about it in case you've just had an insulin change and your unwanted insulin could be used to save lives instead of being thrown out. Have you any unwanted, in-date insulin in your fridge? IDDT is the UK arm of an Australian organisation, â€˜Insulin for Lifeâ€™ [IFL]. IFL is a not-for-profit organisation which collects unwanted, unopened, in-date insulin and test strips to send to developing countries as part of a humanitarian aid programme. Please help if you can by sending supplies in a â€˜jiffy bagâ€™ or box to: Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust PO Box 294 Northampton NN1 4XS tel: 01604 622837 fax: 01604 622838 e-mail: [email protected]

Nov 14, 2011 moflaherty 5 posts	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Deleting or editing entries Hi again. Just solved that very simple problem. Let us never speak of it again...

Nov 14, 2011 moflaherty 5 posts	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Deleting or editing entries Hi. Silly question but how do you delete an entry in the android app? I put in the wrong time so now I have the same entry twice on the same date. Otherwise I love the app. If this is a completely stupid question have a good laugh at me and then please post the completely obvious answer. My fingers are sore from poking at my phone (on top of blood testing wounds!). Moflaherty

Nov 14, 2011 leonard.8 7 posts	Topic: General Discussion / My BG Averages Pretty happy with things but morning reading still bit high so thinking of increasing Levamir a bit.

Nov 14, 2011 novorapidboi26 1,819 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Carb Calculating Scales I would say they would be useful, at least as an additional aid in determining carb values amongst others...............

Nov 14, 2011 novorapidboi26 1,819 posts	Topic: General Discussion / New to DAFNE Congratulations on your DAFNE graduation..... As long as you get into the habit or writing things downs you cant go wrong............the carb counting element of it all will improve in time and you will be able to fine tune the counting to suit your own personal needs as you observe how different food affect you........... With regards to eating out, I always see this as a treat and so getting the count perfect is not a high priority. Taking time out of your normal strict diabetic regime from time to time is necessary in my opinion. But to help you out you could see about getting the Carbs and Cals book. I recently got this on a whim, but it is really useful for the times when you are eating out, as you can confidently estimate the amount of carbs in your food. Check it out HERE............. Welcome to the forum............

Nov 14, 2011 novorapidboi26 1,819 posts	Topic: General Discussion / My BG Averages Also really good, well done.............. I would expect a really good HbA1c with those results...........