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Apr 25, 2011
vickyrees
6 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Feet Problems Thanks HelenPYes I does appear to be what you suggested it could be. I have looked on a few websites and looked at some images and it is a pretty good match. The website suggest a few things to do to help the problem which I will give a go with some of them, otherwise if all else fails I am at my clinic in 2 weeks so I will be having my foot checked then. Thanks for you advice and I think you might have hit the nail on the head Regards Vicky |
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Apr 24, 2011
HelenP
218 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Feet Problems Vicki,Have you thought of a heel spur? I'd be off to have it checked. Helen |
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Apr 24, 2011
Robby N.
7 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / Fitting when hypo Hi Jules, when you skip lunch eyc do you take insulin, if you have no carbs at meal time you do not need to take insulin, hope you get on a course soon and get sorted out, I like you lost my hypo awareness but since I did Dafne 2 month ago, I have got my awareness back, I felt Dafne was quite intensive, but it was well worth it, even if just to get the awareness back. Oh and I have never fitted during a hypo, but it is not uncommon. Hope this helps. Rob. |
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Apr 24, 2011
jules1
3 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / Fitting when hypo Thank you for your replies, since I saw the nurse who told me about DAFNE I am learning alot. The last time I had my Hba1c was 2007 it was 6.1, before on average it was 6.4 to 6.5. I'm not injecting the amounts I used to but my sugars are getting higher & higher, wake up 14 - 16. Just need help with ratios, plus I'm not a big eater, skip lunch, sometimes dinner, if im not hungry I struggle. |
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Apr 24, 2011
derekh1965
95 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / Help with insulin and ratio HiMy name is Derek from Edinburgh, 46 yr old Type 1 for 17 years. Graduated from DAFNE over a week ago and I think it is great as previously I had never been told about carb counting or basal/bolus. I am very overweight and finding it really difficult to lose weight over the past few years. It was discovered I am very resistant to insulin and am on a 4:1 ratio and correction on a 1:1 upto a max of 8 units. As I can't contact the ospital until prob Tuesday I am hoping someone can give me some help with my insulin ratios etc because I have been running high despite taking a lot of corrections. I have been on Porcine neutral and Isophane for the past 3 weeks, prevfiously on Humalog and Humilin Isophane for about 15 yrs. The reasonh for change to animal insulin was because I was always high at breakfast, and they put me on Lantus to see if that would help but it made me feel crap. I had read on Diabetes uk how others felt the same on lantus and improved on animal insulin. Sorry if I seem to have gone on a bit lol. Derek |
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Apr 24, 2011
vickyrees
6 posts
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Topic: General Discussion / Feet Problems Has anyone experience a similar issue with their feet. I have (touch wood) pretty good feet and never had any issues until now, but I wanted to check if diabetes feet complications can be a pain thing as well as the obvious open wound sores.I have a pain in the skin of my foot around the heel area, the skin is not broken and there is no mark but it just aches. It feels like I am wearing shoes all the time with a big rock pushing into the flat of my foot near the heel. My husband thinks I might just have pulled a little muscle as he cant see anything wrong it but I have to say I do go on red alert when it comes to anything to do with feet having had diabetes for 19 years without little complications. Any similar stories please share Vicky Rees |
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Apr 24, 2011
JayBee
587 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / Fitting when hypo I've never fitted, hypoing or otherwise, and hopefully never will.You all take extra care! 
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Apr 23, 2011
novorapidboi26
1,819 posts
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Topic: Questions for HCPs / Fitting when hypo
I havent personally fitted, as I alway too high in the first 10 years of diabetes, my younger brother, who has had it 20 odd years has fitted though and been in a coma, he was very young though..... I would suspect a loss of hypo awareness due to the frequency you are having them, and this means you are on far too much insulin, DAFNE will teach you how to identify where you need less and how to adjust it on a few days basis...... I hope you get on one soon..... |
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Apr 23, 2011
Neil Brown
28 posts
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Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Iphone Apps I use the DAFNE app on I phone it's is basic but gives enough info to get by |
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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
587 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
686 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
686 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
95 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
587 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
1,819 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 |