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Apr 23, 2011
danilouise0104
1 post
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / Fitting when hypo Hi Jules,I have fitted 2 times and gone in to a coma with my diabetes, i have been type one for ten years now, i was asleep when my dad found me having a fit and foaming from the mouth, i then went in to diabetec coma i had this twice in a space of 3 weeks. It is common. I have just recently completed a DAFNE course and have found it so useful, it was a real eye opener to what you can do and the freedom you can have and to meet people who can also help you and advise you. I met a girl who was the same with her diabetes as me and she gave me some great advice and so did others in my group. I do think you will benefit from this course 
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Apr 21, 2011
JayBee
582 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Travelling on a pump! In the 2011 issue one of Diabetes UK's Balance magazine it says that even pump insurance is hard to find because, to quote:
If this is a similar case with the flight stuff, it's not surprising that pump users are going to have to compensate for the lack of knowledge because they're currently part of a minority. Times will change I'm sure, but until then, best those with pumps now just simply get their doctor letter's updated (as Carolin points out)! |
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Apr 21, 2011
marke
643 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / Fitting when hypo Hi, It has never happened to me, I will let others comment if it has happened to them. I would recommend the DAFNE course though and if your nurse is aware of it I would guess its available in your area. I did the course with someone who was hypoing regularly, as she said she knew all the ambalance crew by their first name At our 6 month re-union she hadn't had an ambalance since the course. It didn't totally stop every hypo but it did make a huge difference to her control and understanding of why it was happening. This is what DAFNE gives you NOT just carb counting.
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Apr 21, 2011
jules1
3 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / Fitting when hypo Hi I have been type 1 since 1991 and I am 43yrs old, I have 2-3 hypos per day and 2 weeks ago fitted with a hypo, seconds before this happened I didnt even feel hypo. I saw my nurse at GP's who advised me to go on a DAFNE course. I am just woundering if any Type 1 diabetics have ever fitteed? |
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Apr 20, 2011
marke
643 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Travelling on a pump! I would be interested to know if this is true. I have a number of issues with it. Firstly is this not discrimination ? Does it fall under the UK legislation for discrimination. Secondly what is special about a pump ? Because its electronic, like a phone or a handheld games console etc all of which are allowed on aircraft. Is it the insulin ? Ihave never had a problem with insulin and have never even been asked to produce the letter I carry. Agreed the time to challenge this is not at the airport, but in advance. If its true I would get Diabetes UK involved to challenge this attitude by Virgin and anyone else. I see no justification whatsoever to have to provide any details of the pump, if you have a letter to say you need one that should be it. 
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Apr 20, 2011
derekh1965
99 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Dawn Phenomenon HiMy name is Derek, from Edinburgh. Diabetic for 17 years. Should probably have introduced myself in the new users topic. Just completed my DAFNE last week. I was never told about CPs or ratios, just had to guess. Was on umalog and Humilkin I at teatime. I too for years had a high blood sugar in the morning. Doctor just told me to keep increasing my Humiilin I. I always eat a supper so would inject what I normally would for what I was eating and always woke up high. Sometimes I would wake up at 4:30- 5:00 hypo, take my sugar and couple of biscuits and then wake up high!! It wasn't until a few months ago a nurse told me about the "Peak" Isophane has between 4 - 6 hrs. So if I'm injecting at 6pm and having supper at say 11pm there's the Isophane peak plus my fast acting kicking in. I reduced my fast acting dramatically, never believed I could get away with taking so little, 14-16 down to 2 units and I was amazed to see I was normal in the morning. My supper was mostly no carb so don't follow my injections, but you could maybe try rreduciing your ratio to a 1:1? Then again I am no expert and don't know what insulin you take, it was what worked for me. Derek |
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Apr 20, 2011
JayBee
582 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / Information on menstrual cycle
I've not had a chance to look into it but if any thermometer is good, great. I have a thermometer at home. I plan to start my tracking next wednesday, so I start at my "normal" point.... Hopefully. |
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Apr 19, 2011
Carolin
83 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Travelling on a pump! Hi DAFNE Pumpers!I have heard recently that Virgin Atlantic (possibly others too?) are now asking for you to have the information about your pump manufacturer, model and serial number either provided to them at the time of booking, or on your doctor's letter. Forewarned is forearmed! Happy travels
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Apr 19, 2011
MelissaF
56 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Hi All :) Hi Hayliee-Louise,I've just read your post and just wanted to say hi. You sound like you're in a bit of a scary place at the moment but, from what you've written, you seem to be moving everything in the right direction so just keep going with that. Diabetes is a bit of a pain in the a*se but there are many worse things out there and, if you spend a bit of time on it and learn about your own body then you can make life a lot easier for yourself. The more time and effort you put into your diabetes, the better it responds to you. Definitely get yourself onto a DAFNE course asap. They're completely invaluable in my opinion. Yes diabetes means that you have to think a bit more about what you're doing but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Your job sounds pretty frantic and stressful but DAFNE is designed for things like that. When I was first diagnosed (23 years ago) we were all given set doses of insulin that we weren't allowed to change ourselves and we were expected to eat the same amounts of carbs at the same times every day. Obviously no-one can really live like that. These days, with much better insulins and more research into regimes, we can be totally flexible. DAFNE is designed to fit around your own particular life and to maximise your control, whatever. It even gives you the flexibility to eat the sort of food that you like although, as with everyone, fats and sugars still aren't great things to live on! I work silly hours and have a young child. I'm not perfect by any means and it's something that I have to work on all the time but DAFNE has made life so much easier for me. Congratulations on your amazing weight loss - that's fantastic. You should be so proud of yourself. You must be feeling so much better already. Now you just need to get an idea of what's going on with your diabetes and you're well on your way. Are the other health problems linked to the diabetes or might they be something else? Obviously get those looked into asap as well for your own peace of mind. Stress is a great factor for me in bad sugar control so, once you can get answers for that, that should all help too. I don't actually think that your HbA1c is as bad as it could be either. You really haven't got that far to go... All the best with everything. Melissa |
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Apr 19, 2011
novorapidboi26
1,816 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / No change to HbA1c Melissa,I agree with purely testing before meal and not snacking, that is the DAFNE way and why were all here after all. Only when your doses are correct can/should you then investigate your in between meal spikes, that were the dose times come in, all foods digest at different rates and I suppose at differently at certain times of day. So trying to match that digestion with your QA 10, 20, 20 minutes before the meal can help in my experience.......
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Apr 19, 2011
MelissaF
56 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / No change to HbA1c Hi Vic,Interesting to hear that you're having similar problems with your HbA1c. I would suggest to maybe cut down on your testing between meals for a few days and to just test as DAFNE dictates before each meal and see where you are then. My HCP said that it's really hard to apply the DAFNE rules when you're testing throughout the day as the DAFNE rules tell you not to. This may have changed since I had the conversation with her though so please feel free to correct me. Maybe see how your results look from there and then look at BI levels and meal ratios to see what needs correcting by the rulebook. The other thing that I'm bad at doing is testing too often and then giving myself too many corrective doses. This means that my sugars constantly yo-yo from too high to too low and never really stabilise. Might this be happening to you? This is also something I associate with feeling rubbish pretty much all of the time as you describe. When you test between meals and you get a high reading, do you then correct with a QA dose? If so, this might be causing the low before your next meal. It might be worth just observing and seeing whether it would have dropped normally without your intervention. I'm not sure if this means that we should expect highs betwen meals or not as I guess we wouldn't normally be aware of them with DAFNE testing. Can any HCPs advise? If we shouldn't be seeing that and it's a problem then maybe a pump would be an option as that constantly monitors and corrects doesn't it? The other thing that JWo suggested to me is trying to be really good about not snacking between meals for a while. This isn't to say that you can never snack between meals obviously, it's just that this obviously makes your readings a bit less clear and it's easier to see what's going on if you restrict carbs to mealtimes for a few days just for the sake of clarity. With me, if my levels are constantly dropping throughout the day, this usually means too much BI so maybe keep looking at that as well. I also agree with what Novorapidboi says about when you take your QA. Although we are told that it doesn't make a difference when we take it, I'm convinced that it does. I quite often take it after a meal when I can be sure of the number of CPs I've eaten. However, I know that my control is much better when I take it before a meal. I guess you just need to experiment to see how it affects you. I also agree that you don't want to be doing that if your levels are low to begin with though so definitely try and solve that one first. Let me know what you think. Melissa xx |
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Apr 19, 2011
MelissaF
56 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / Information on menstrual cycle Hi guys,Sorry it's been a few days. Have had a 2 year old with chickenpox and don't really log on when I'm at home. Back at work now... I think that all women are really different when it comes to stuff like this so it's probably totally impossible to generalise with things like breast tenderness. Personally it's something that happens to me 2-3 days before my period is due but I don't really get PMT too badly so I'm guessing it's a lot worse for some. Also, I'm sure that some women do experience it during ovulation as well. Also, I know that my own syptoms vary massively from month to month. I guess if you chart your own cycle for a few months you may start picking up on stuff that's typical to you which you may not have noticed before. J - I think that a thermometer is just a thermometer so I guess it doesn't really matter where you get one from. I got a kit from Boots for about £20 but I think that you're probably just paying for the little book that you get with it rather than anything special about the thermometer itself. From what Caroline was saying, it would certainly seem that her cycle follows what I understand the pattern to be... in that it's the Follicular phase that it variable with diffferent cycles and the Luteal phase that seems to be a more set 14 days from Ovulation. As it's the Luteal phase that seems to determine your increased insulin requirements then this should be a bit easier to work out if you're aware of ovulation. Is Glucophage the same as Metformin? If so then yes it apparently can work well in regulating your cycle. If your increased insulin requirements are due to hormone levels then I guess that it may well even help with this as it can be used to lower insulin resistance (it can be used to treat Polycystic Ovary Syndrome where insulin resistance can be caused which, in turn I think can bring about Type 2 diabetes). We need feedback from an HCP on this though as I'm only guessing. Apparently it's pretty safe to use though and most docs will prescribe so definitely worth a go if you think it might help. My only tip would be that the standard Metformin can cause stomach upsets so best ask for the Metformin SR which is a bit gentler. M xx |
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Apr 18, 2011
novorapidboi26
1,816 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / menstrual cycle DAFNE Extra AHH......thanks, I understand now................that's a great idea to be honest, especially if they could figure out some kind of rules when it comes to the woman's menstrual behaviors..I personally think lifestyle plays a large part on whether people stick at it............during the 5 days there the testing actually shows the principals working, so for those five days everything is exciting and new, and making sense...........but as we all know, things change every now and again, ratios, BI requirements..........it can be hard to get motivated when you just dont know whats happening.................online support like this and other diabetic forums should be mentioned much more I think.... |
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Apr 18, 2011
novorapidboi26
1,816 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Hi All :)
Before DAFNE my weight went up and down, I was on M3 too, but the 2 years run up to me pulling the finger out, I had lost a lot, didn't really notice it to be honest, but I was in a bad way. Ever since getting on top of things my weight has gradually went up, I am overweight but its a small price to pay for good, well, getting better, HbA1c results. My theory is/was that my body was starved of fuel for so long that it got used to using its own stores of fat and muscle for energy, and then pretty much overnight it was given real carbs and then insulin to process it, so in a panic it started to store energy (fat) in case it was forced to use its own stores again. It may be a wee fantasy I have came up with but I have convinced myself there may be some truth in it, however that was a few years back now, so whats my excuse now.................getting my thyroid checked this month, so maybe that may reveal some answers. You dont seem to be on a lot of insulin, do you eat much carbs.......? Most people lose weight after DAFNE as they fine tune there doses and actually end up on less than when they started....... |
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Apr 18, 2011
Hayliee-Louise
5 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Hi All :) Ps. Thanks for the link James, I'll deffo be having a go at that, just what I need whilst i wait for my new regime! Thanks a lot.
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Apr 18, 2011
Hayliee-Louise
5 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Hi All :) I lost 5 stone in 6months once I was started on insulin. I was dress size 24, I am now a 10. Although I feel great as i never really understood why I was so big and jut couldn't shift the weight, I know it wasnt healthy. How have you guys found diabetes & weight gain/weight loss? |
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Apr 18, 2011
Hayliee-Louise
5 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Hi All :) Thanks for the replys guys, hearing other people's story's really does help you understand your own. Im going to hospital this week for a 24 hour heart tracker, doctors suspect Ectopic Beats, good or bad news it will put my mind at rest if I know once and for all. Im pushing for the course and awaiting my bolas regime, I'm currently on humalin M3 quickpen, taking 20mmol AM & 20mmol PM. I've explained to doctors I'm 21 with no real routine or structure to my life and can never really plan meal times, I have a busy job working for the NHS and it's a case of "grab lunch when you can". I love my job and the people I work with, doctors at my surgery are often giving me advice and keeping there watchful eye on me lol! At first checking my blood was a real pain so to be honest I didn't bother. I've just recently been given the Accu-check mobile tester which is making life a lot easier and now check my blood between 5/6 times a day. With stoping smoking, cutting out carbs and introducing exersize slowly until Im placed on DAFNE & Bolas, I'm hopping I can improve my sugar and maintain my weight as o l |
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Apr 18, 2011
Athena
52 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / menstrual cycle DAFNE Extra Hi Novorapid boi,Barriers to success are being investigated. These might be motivational , like patients feeling that DAFFNE is too much work so they give up, or they feel much iller on DAFNE sot hey give up, or, they might be physiological like there is some reasons to do with particular people's bodies that make it impossible for them to get control. By doing research with hundreds of graduates into all sorts of issues they hope to identify what the main problems are. Then they will design a course that will be part of a refresher and part new stuff with answers about how to overcome these problems. Us girls are hopig that our hormones and how they affect bg control will be covered in the course as so many of us are changing our BI all the time as our insulin requirements change over a month which is a nightmare. Hope this covers it but the course will not be delivered a s a pilot for a year or two and it will take longer for it to be rolled out nationwide. |
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Apr 18, 2011
novorapidboi26
1,816 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / menstrual cycle DAFNE Extra So what aspect is it that is being investigated exactly, sorry, I didn't quite follow............
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