Recent Posts

Hi Hayliee-Louise, welcome to the site..........

You haven't been diagnosed very long so although your control has been bad for a while, you can turn it around and reverse some of the symptoms you may be having. The fact that you have acknowledged you should start to make an effort is really good, and a lot quicker than I realized, took me 10 years really.

The quicker you get on DAFNE the better, the things your told about just make it seem so simple, its amazing, dont get me wrong, Diabetes is still a pain the ass and you can get blood glucose readings that just dont make sense, but for the majority of the time it does really work.

An HbA1c of 10.2 is not too bad, I was 11.8 pre DAFNE, any higher and they were going to say NO..... Shocked

......and I was actually following the basic principal unofficially for over a year.......

What insulin regime are you on now....?DAFNE will teach you to spot patterns with your blood sugars, establish how much background insulin you need over a 24 hour period and successfully change your own doses of both your background and meal time insulin.

In the meantime you could visit the Bournemouth Online Carb Counting course, basically DAFNE but online........you can find it HERE.......might give you a head start and let you see some good blood sugars.

If there are any general questions or information you would like, dont hesitate to ask, no question is silly.....

Hope to hear from you soon.....

James.... Wink

Apr 18, 2011

vic demain 87 posts

Hi Hayliee-Louise, welcome. First thing you are obviously very bright, that comes over in your post. Second, you have now accepted the fact that you have a problem and cannot continue to ignore it. So you are half way there. It is not easy and no one should tell you that it is. I have had Type 1 for 30 years and still my control is poor even though I have done DAFNE and worked bloody hard at it. But we both have choice, try and improve to hopefully enjoy a happy long life or ignore it and suffer the consequences. Badger your GP to get on a DAFNE education course, point them to this site, they will fight you but don't give in, show them that improved control will save the NHS money in the long term.
You shouldn't have to live through the worries that you have, they are not necessary, with help and your commitment you can cope with diabetes.
Good luck to you, you have a life to enjoy.

Apr 18, 2011

Hayliee-Louise 5 posts

Haha well now I feel a tool, bloody touch screen, anyway I'm 21 and I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on Xmas day 2010. If I'm honest the severity of the disease is only just starting to sink in recently. At first I stuck my head in the sand hoping it would all dissapear, sadly as you all know, that's not the case. It's 3:30am and i am currently led in bed scared to sleep due to palpitations and constant heart flutters that I have been experiencing recently. I found this forum just as I was mooching on the net about DAFNE as I'm hoping to be placed on a course in my area soon (Lancashire). My sugar control is terrible, I know little about the disease and how to control it and as a result I'm not, my blood sugar levels have been in the region of 18 - 30 for around 18 months now. Shocking I know, but I was stupid and really just couldn't get my head around this. I also suffer from Neuphrotic Syndrome I was diagnosed when I was 12 months old. When I was diagnosed with Diabetes I was having many personal & family problems which led to me having poor control, like I said I didn't understand the severity and to be Frank at that time I didn't care. 18 months on and a little wiser and after some research and interest on my wellbeing (I know that sentence sounds bizarre) I have come to realise the damage I am doing and have already done. I'm already suffering from numbness, tingled in my arms and legs, palpitations, blurred vision. I haven't slept at all really for the past week as my palpitations are getting out of hand, truth is in scared to sleep, scared I might not wake up. I've had 1 "hypo" since diagnosis and it was a scary thing. I'm hyperglycaemic so when my blood sugar does drop (lowest I've ever seen is 10) I feel like in having a hypo. I often have ketones and I was smoking also, thing of the past now though. Truth be told I'm so angry at myself for not realising how serious control is earlier on, and Im disgusted with myself. I'm finding it very hard to adapt. My last Hba1c was 10.6. I have taken it upon myself to research calorie counting as Im waiting to be placed on a define course and awaiting my bolas plan. The nurses at my hospital often find it hard to help me as they say I'm specialist. I really do hope things get better if I'm placed on a course, because at the moment I can't cope it's really effecting me day to day. I know what I need to do just dont really know how to get there. Please tell me with education it gets better! Hope I haven't bored you all death lol! Look forward to any replies guys Smile

x

Apr 18, 2011

Hayliee-Louise 5 posts

Just thought I'd introduce myself, I'm Hayliee and I'm 21 years old and I was diagn

Apr 17, 2011

Simon 574 posts

Topic: Site Development / Online Diary.........

And its now on the done list.

Apr 17, 2011

HelenP 218 posts

Mike, it really just took more time and it really was only the one official in Hong Kong that was difficult.

Trust you get the pump up and running with appropriate settings before you go. I asked last November if I could get the pump then so it would really be an integral part of me before I went but was told by the CDE that two weeks would be fine. She set the date for pump as 9th March. I left on the 27th and no settings had been established/adjusted so I was correcting all the time (bit confusing as you can not let the pump do its job!) I am now home and working at collecting the data to make the adjustments to basal rates...from first principles! Today is a carb free day...oh @#$%^&.
Helen

Apr 17, 2011

Mike Ward 1 post

oh my im going to choose my insulin pump tomoro afternoon and im planning a holiday in june and im dredding all the hassle at the airport i understand they will be suspishus when someone is boarding a plane with a device thats wired to the passinger.... but im goingto ask for advise on this lol

glad to hear u got home all ok

Apr 17, 2011

nomis 6 posts

Think of it as this scenario pretend it is 2 armies going to battle CP's against QA&BI commecing at 22:00. The QA & BI are going to come on strong before levelling off during the early hours the CP's have seen it all before they will send in the fast acting soldiers i.e sugars and starches then the older guys slow acting CP's will kick in hours later because they seen it all before and they know "daviebear" does not send in enough troops and like to get you outside dafne target for your morning test.

That is one of a multitude of scenarios that may question you to look at different strategys if it's one that continues to persit and do not forget it's a manual system we operate so it's never without minor problems.

The other point is if your not waking up hypo the question you may have to ask are you bothered about the 3am test dipping, just a touch more QA might do the trick to bring you in target for breakfast and if you are not hypo in the early hours why worry.

Keep at it.

Apr 17, 2011

daviebear 19 posts

I amdit to being a bit greedy at 10 at night,but always match my carb to QA correctly.I may very well just inject 1 unit of QA at 3am if it stops me feeling so shitty on wakening.Am sure i'm not hypoing during night so will take the extra to see if it helps.Am now up to 40 units of BI at 10pm with no improvement.Cheers for your advice.

Apr 16, 2011

nomis 6 posts

The figures do not look that bad but you may be seeking perfection, your biggest intake of carbs are before bed at 22:00 plus you throw in the BI & QA at the same time and I have to presume you have caluclated the carbs spot on. The answers would lie in the profiles of you QA & BI plus the release of the CP's while in the horizontal mode, a touch more QA is not going to do any harm and I would try based on your own assessment of things of the day in hand I say this because you have not gone hypo mid morning and are not waking up with a headache.

On a less serious note if you intend to make a habit of getting up at 3am simply inject 1 UNIT of QA and the problem has gone, simple. Twisted Evil

Good Luck

Apr 16, 2011

novorapidboi26 1,816 posts

I agree getting the lows away comes first, so drop your insulin/carb ratio till your on target next meal, test in between to see how high you go, if its too high for your liking the you can think about dose times.........they say it works immediately, but i dont think thats accurate, after about 30 minutes its ready to go, but mainly its meeting up with the digestion....

Apr 16, 2011

daviebear 19 posts

Thanks for that novorapidboi.Was unsure as I have now increased my evening BI from 20 to 36 since starting dafne.Although this is still roughly half the evening dose I used to take,was still kind of wary about the increase.As you will see from todays results I seem to have no grip on it yet,plan to go carb free at supper tonight to see what kind of results I get from that.Thanks for the input. Very Happy

Apr 16, 2011

Simon 574 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Android app

We would like to broaden out into the Android app store - though I myself am an Apple fanboy through and through realise that not everybody is like me Smile

At the moment it's a question of time - Mark is currently working on updating the online Handbook, and mine is split between adding new features to the site and iPhone app. We will eventually get round to the Android/Blackberry/Windows Mobile apps, with Android being top priority, however our biggest problem is a lack of time. Any help with this is most appreciated - though we'd have to ensure that the features/functions of the iPhone and Android apps were consistent.

Simon

Apr 16, 2011

HelenP 218 posts

i don't think it was the language rather the officiousness of the individual. The guy spoke to the girl in English!

Apr 16, 2011

JayBee 582 posts

What a load of hassle for you. I had a close call on my first trip home back from Japan but no hassle at all for my second trip.

Would it be possible to get your Doctor's note translated into chinese for future use? I have a copy of mine translated into Japanese just in case (after what happened on the first trip) - and I keep them together, back to back in a plastic wallet within a folder when I go abroad.

Best wishes for the next trip!

Apr 16, 2011

vic demain 87 posts

That hasn't been mentioned and my concern would be taking QA which works immediately, a period before eating, when already going low at that point, would potentially be dangerous. First though is to get rid of the hypos, then try and sort things out. Not so much a pain in the bum, just feel cr*p a lot of the time.

Apr 16, 2011

HelenP 218 posts

I had no trouble leaving Australia (took a bit of time but happy to let me walk through with the pump...although they did swab it for drugs!) bound for Hong Kong. Hong Kong was just a transfer but they still took a close look and were more interested in the cartridges of insulin I had with me than the pump. Into Incheon Airport (Seoul) and no bother getting out of the airport.

Coming home was a different matter... Thorough check at Incheon but were happy to let me through with the Drs letter and the card from the pump manufacturers essentially say I am not to be separated from the pump...life sustaining etc. Arrived at Hong Kong 40 mins late (technically had no time to buggarize around as I was due in the departure lounge) and they wanted me to take the pump off and put it through the xray machine. (My pump manufacturer says that is an absolute No No!) I refused...they (the girl) refused...finally a younger more fluent English speaker arrived and asked what the problem was. I explained and he said the pump was fine and to just walk through. Determined the young girl then wanted to check all my prescription medications and when she came to the vials of insulin (for the pump) declared they were liquids! (Any research on blowing up aircraft with three 3mL vials of insulin!) Back came the young man (people who were also connecting with the Brisbane flight were getting a bit anxious at this stage as none of us wanted to miss the connection) and English speaking guy simply stated the obvious...the insulin is for the pump. Left the transfer area as they were calling final call for the flight home. No probs at Brisbane. Declared everything: the lollies, the medications, the pump and the insulin and was waved through. Thank goodness...home, a shower and a sleep. Helen

Apr 15, 2011

novorapidboi26 1,816 posts

vic demain said:
I've been having problems with my HbA1c. did the course about 18 months ago and ever since have suffered a huge amount of hypos. Was told the HbA1c should steadily drop, but that has not been the case, still around 8.2. I have dropped my BI dramatically. Trouble is, I will test between meals and am often around 13 but by next meal test I am low. Have tried really hard but getting fed up with all the hypos and the high HbA1c

Sounds like a pain in the bum....going low for the next meal means either too much QA or BI, so if we assume the BI is correct its your QA. Avoiding the spikes between meals can be achieved by injecting well before you eat, you can start of with 10 mins, then go up to 20 if needed, even 30 like me, even more possible, and it can vary depending on the timw of day...........

have your team mentioned that option.......

Apr 15, 2011

vic demain 87 posts