Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

Dec 27, 2010

adamrit 4 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Brittle Diabetes

Has anyone found a way of coping with brittle diabetes. I've had it for 54 years. I used to have lots of bad hypos, so I did the DAFNE course and then, a nearly five years ago, I got a Medtronic 512 pump and last week the new Medtronic Veo replacement through Dr Darko at Central Middlesex. The pump reduced my hypos very considerably, but even though I calculate my food and relate my bolus (quick acting) and basal (background) rates to food and exercise, I have no way of anticipating what my blood glucose is. Eating exactly the same every morning, the same bolus and exercise and given the same pre-breakfast BG, the BG at 11.00 can be 2.5 or 16mm/l. I have to test my blood 8 times a day to avoid extreme hypos and hypers. The results defy the rules of DAFNE, so, though I follow them carefully, I still have no way to anticipate my BG readings.
Last night, after a very light meal (two toasts and salad) at 8.00pm, I was 9.0mmol/l at 11.30pm which is usually OK for me through the night, but at 4.00am I was over 16mmol/l. I took 4.5U of bolus which only brought my BG down to 11.5mmol/l at 8.00am. I had no breakfast but had another bolus of 2.4 which brought the BG down to 7.0mmol/l by lunchtime. I changed the insulin two days ago and was fine on the first day. I'm not ill, I have no sign of infection. Other days can be the opposite. Nothing is ever regular.
I am in pretty good health, at just over 6ft and 176lbs, about 10lb heavier than 20 years ago. My eyes and feet are OK. I'm fairly active. There is no regular pattern to my BG readings. My HbA1c are always between 7 and 8.4 which isn't good but not too bad.
What distresses me is that I try really hard to control my diabetes, but I can't find any way to regulate the metabolism of my diabetes. I never cheat and have a secret biscuit on the side and forget to put in in, there's no point. Anyone else with the same sort of problem?

Dec 27, 2010

Broady 13 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / prawn crackers?

I have a nutrition book with values for many foods, in the book it says for every 70g of prawn crackers it is 37g of carbohydrates. I hope this helps

Dec 26, 2010

keyolekate 1 post

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / prawn crackers?

I always get stuck with calculating the CP's for prawn crakers. Has anybody worked this out?
Thanks

Dec 24, 2010

Stew B 125 posts

Topic: General Discussion / A very Merry Christmas to you all

Here here! Thanks to Simon and Marke for everything they've done to provide such an excellent resource!

I'll be echoing Simon in overindulging - I've just ticked my Xmas family-brunch order, it says "everything except the black pudding", pre-DAFNE I couldn't imagine being able to put in an order like that.

Compliments of the season to everyone!

Stew

Dec 24, 2010

Alan 49 284 posts

Topic: General Discussion / A very Merry Christmas to you all

Thanks Simon, Mark and everybody at DAFNE Online for all the hard work you do to give us a really helpful resource that I'm sure we all find very useful. Best wishes to all of you.

Dec 24, 2010

Simon 578 posts

Topic: General Discussion / A very Merry Christmas to you all

Further to Mark's news post, I'd just like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you all enjoy the festive season to the fullest - not wanting to encourage bad behaviour but I for one shall be eating and drinking too much, and hope you all do too Smile

To echo Mark's comments, we have doubled in size from 2126 to over 4700 users in the past year which is testament to the hard work by the DAFNE Educators and Central Management team so a big thank you to those guys for supporting us.

But, first and foremost - thanks to you, the users - without your participation in the forums, requests for new features and problem finding, DAFNE Online wouldn't be a success - so thank you to you all so much!

All the best for Christmas and the New Year

Simon

Dec 23, 2010

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Needlessly Repeated BG Results...

My bad, my post was in Carb Counting, not General Discussion.

Dec 23, 2010

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Needlessly Repeated BG Results...

Unfortunately both error messages are still happening. Ive posted a result for 14Dec10 today and I think it has done the repeating. Will post results later because I dont have the option to at the moment. A forum post I did in General Discussion brought up the non existing thread message. Shall get it with this post as well Im sure. Thanks.

Dec 23, 2010

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Carb Free Breakfast

It doesnt really work too well to say "check the carbohydrates" for sausages, because its the proteins that counteract the carbs, so carbs will always be present on the labelling. Similiar goes for heinz tinned baked beans - you dont count the beans but there is sugar in the sauce. The best way around this is to only count the sugar content - Im doubtful the same method applies to sausages, so is there any other way of identifying? Im so glad Ive clearly only eaten meaty sausages, even when eating out!

Dec 23, 2010

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Information on menstrual cycle

My DAFNE nurse said that what happens varies from person to person so what you need to do for each time of the month is something you need to work out - this is why there are no guidance notes in the DAFNE book.

I do hope that notes may appear in the future after more research is done but for the record, even now, after 20 years of being diabetic, I still don't really know. With me being on a pill though, I've managed to identify that my levels raise about a week before my period starts. I wouldn't be surprised if what you need to do shifts considering I get different patterns each time I try to work out what it's doing.

If highs are consistant during that time across the day/night, I would put your BI up first instead of adjusting your ratios. Good luck with working it all out.

Dec 22, 2010

Simon 578 posts

Topic: Site Development / DAFNE Online iPhone application - help with content/design needed

Hi John,

Thanks for your positive feedback. We've had lots of requests for adding your own carb info / creating plates so we'll focus on adding this to the app in the new year.

If you find out what causes the app to crash then let us know, unfortunately it's hard to pin it down unless we know what's causing it.

Simon

Dec 22, 2010

marke 681 posts

Topic: DUAG Committee / Christmas Greetings to all Committee Members

same to you as well Brian, see you all on the 21st Jan hopefully. By then I will be off the steriods and back imbibing red wine my favourite tipple :-)

Dec 22, 2010

marke 681 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Allergy and Diabetes

Hi, the 'doctor' on the childrens ward was he a Diabetes Consultant ? If not on what basis is he deciding it is NOT related to her allergy problems. I would get an appointment to see a Diabetes consultant and go through the issues Amy is having. Everyone is different and anything is possible. I have not heard of allergies causing high BG's but thats not to say it doesn't happen OR the allegry is causing some secondary issue that is causing the high BG's. A lot of non-diabetes HCP's make assumptions about you when you are a diabetic.
Two years ago, I was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome which is basically an auto-immune issue like allegries and Diabetes. Of course my GP said 'oh you're a diabetic and this must be the cause of your kidney problem'. Fortunately my Diabetes Consultant dismissed this out of hand and said it was definately NOT diabetes. It has since been confirmed its just my immune system in general. During my problems I have had both low and high BG's that are not clearly connected to my diabetes.
So find someone who can give you good advice about this, I appreciate you might be constrained to pediatrics, I'm not sure at what age Amy moves to 'general' medicine. It sounds like you are being given generic stock answers rather than necessarily getting to the root of the issue.

Dec 22, 2010

Simon Heller 46 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Pleurisy

Hi Mel
Apologies for the delay in replying and this is probably too late. I guess the important thing was to do what you were doing and just see if your blood glucose was going up. Whether intercurrent illnesses produce enough stress hormones to impact your glucose and require the implementing of sick day rules is always difficult to predict. I guess the pain alone is a lot to deal with but it sounds as if, when you posted it hadn't affected your sugar and hopefully you are now improved.
ATB
Simon

Dec 22, 2010

Simon Heller 46 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Pleurisy

Hi Mel
Apologies for the delay in replying and this is probably too late. I guess the important thing was to do what you were doing and just see if your blood glucose was going up. Whether intercurrent illnesses produce enough stress hormones to impact your glucose and require the implementing of sick day rules is always difficult to predict. I guess the pain alone is a lot to deal with but it sounds as if, when you posted it hadn't affected your sugar and hopefully you are now improved.
ATB
Simon

Dec 22, 2010

Brian Trench 17 posts

Topic: DUAG Committee / Christmas Greetings to all Committee Members

At this festive and seasonal time of the year and noting Mark's guidance on bulky greetings systems I thought I would use this medium to wish you all and your families my very best for Christmas and the New Year. I would not even dream of suggesting you do not indulge too much with both booze and christmas fayre but do have a great time and just adjust once in a while!

Very Best Greetings,

Brian

Dec 22, 2010

linsey ramage 6 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Information on menstrual cycle

hi nicipici....i am also feeling the effect of menstrual cycle the week before my period and during my period my blood sugars run high still havent quite figured out what to do yet????? for 2 weeks out of the months my sugars great.i have been type 1 diabetic for 27 years......hopefully get them sorted soon i am going to try changin my ratios for the 2 weeks .

Dec 22, 2010

John Stevens 9 posts

Topic: Site Development / DAFNE Online iPhone application - help with content/design needed

Hi Simon,
Excellent work on the latest app. Glad my piggy finger no longer takes me away from the data entry, and I am sure the other changes will also be of use. I have noticed the app crash on several occasions (previous version as well) and have not yet been able to tie it down to anything. If there is anything I can do to assist in figuring this out, let me know.

Also, would it be possible for the carb counter to allow us to add items, much the same as the on line one? Here in .au, some things are a little different and it would be a handy feature, and also mean that the carb counter can grow organically.
Just a thought.
Cheers and keep up the good work.

Dec 21, 2010

saxman 28 posts

Topic: General Discussion / accu-check

hi vic, luckily i hve found a pharmacy (boots) who can get my scripts the next day so i will continue with it but thanks for your reply

Dec 21, 2010

vic demain 87 posts

Topic: General Discussion / accu-check

Like John, we were given the mobile on our course and only had to phone for supplies. When they became available for purchase, we had to get GP's to change over prescription. Was such a hassle, I gave it up and have gone back to my Freestyle Lite. The mobile is now stored in the cupboard and not in use.

Dec 21, 2010

saxman 28 posts

Topic: General Discussion / accu-check

hi john, yeah it helps and so far i have found a pharmacy that supplies my needs, thanks and merry xmas

Dec 21, 2010

john day 54 posts

Topic: General Discussion / accu-check

I was part of the Mobile pre-supply trial for which cassettes were supplied. After the end of the trial, in January 2010, my local surgery could indeed not find these in the computerised NHS list and the GP initially said could not supply.

My local pharmacist could not understand this as they were in his list but he could not supply without the gp's ok.

I called Roche and explained problem and they:
- said item could be found urgery by entering 'mobile' into the NHS search.
- supplied cassettes to keep me going ( on more than one occasion)
- called the surgery to advise how to find the item
- sent a rep sometime later to he surgery to advise further

Prescription processing was a bit hit and miss for about 5 months but now seems to have sorted out ok now

If you do have problems I would definitely call Roche 0800-701000 to help sort out. If not already registered, you will need your Mobile serial no. etc

Hope this helps.

Dec 20, 2010

saxman 28 posts

Topic: General Discussion / accu-check

i returned to the loyds pharmacy and still no joy,they gave me back my perscription and i took it to boots and they had part of my script,and the rest was delivered the next day,i recomend boots to anyone struggling with the accu chek mobile as they have no problem with repeats.

Dec 27, 2010 adamrit 4 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Brittle Diabetes Has anyone found a way of coping with brittle diabetes. I've had it for 54 years. I used to have lots of bad hypos, so I did the DAFNE course and then, a nearly five years ago, I got a Medtronic 512 pump and last week the new Medtronic Veo replacement through Dr Darko at Central Middlesex. The pump reduced my hypos very considerably, but even though I calculate my food and relate my bolus (quick acting) and basal (background) rates to food and exercise, I have no way of anticipating what my blood glucose is. Eating exactly the same every morning, the same bolus and exercise and given the same pre-breakfast BG, the BG at 11.00 can be 2.5 or 16mm/l. I have to test my blood 8 times a day to avoid extreme hypos and hypers. The results defy the rules of DAFNE, so, though I follow them carefully, I still have no way to anticipate my BG readings. Last night, after a very light meal (two toasts and salad) at 8.00pm, I was 9.0mmol/l at 11.30pm which is usually OK for me through the night, but at 4.00am I was over 16mmol/l. I took 4.5U of bolus which only brought my BG down to 11.5mmol/l at 8.00am. I had no breakfast but had another bolus of 2.4 which brought the BG down to 7.0mmol/l by lunchtime. I changed the insulin two days ago and was fine on the first day. I'm not ill, I have no sign of infection. Other days can be the opposite. Nothing is ever regular. I am in pretty good health, at just over 6ft and 176lbs, about 10lb heavier than 20 years ago. My eyes and feet are OK. I'm fairly active. There is no regular pattern to my BG readings. My HbA1c are always between 7 and 8.4 which isn't good but not too bad. What distresses me is that I try really hard to control my diabetes, but I can't find any way to regulate the metabolism of my diabetes. I never cheat and have a secret biscuit on the side and forget to put in in, there's no point. Anyone else with the same sort of problem?

Dec 27, 2010 Broady 13 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / prawn crackers? I have a nutrition book with values for many foods, in the book it says for every 70g of prawn crackers it is 37g of carbohydrates. I hope this helps

Dec 26, 2010 keyolekate 1 post	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / prawn crackers? I always get stuck with calculating the CP's for prawn crakers. Has anybody worked this out? Thanks

Dec 24, 2010 Stew B 125 posts	Topic: General Discussion / A very Merry Christmas to you all Here here! Thanks to Simon and Marke for everything they've done to provide such an excellent resource! I'll be echoing Simon in overindulging - I've just ticked my Xmas family-brunch order, it says "everything except the black pudding", pre-DAFNE I couldn't imagine being able to put in an order like that. Compliments of the season to everyone! Stew

Dec 24, 2010 Alan 49 284 posts	Topic: General Discussion / A very Merry Christmas to you all Thanks Simon, Mark and everybody at DAFNE Online for all the hard work you do to give us a really helpful resource that I'm sure we all find very useful. Best wishes to all of you.

Dec 24, 2010 Simon 578 posts	Topic: General Discussion / A very Merry Christmas to you all Further to Mark's news post, I'd just like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you all enjoy the festive season to the fullest - not wanting to encourage bad behaviour but I for one shall be eating and drinking too much, and hope you all do too To echo Mark's comments, we have doubled in size from 2126 to over 4700 users in the past year which is testament to the hard work by the DAFNE Educators and Central Management team so a big thank you to those guys for supporting us. But, first and foremost - thanks to you, the users - without your participation in the forums, requests for new features and problem finding, DAFNE Online wouldn't be a success - so thank you to you all so much! All the best for Christmas and the New Year Simon

Dec 23, 2010 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Needlessly Repeated BG Results... My bad, my post was in Carb Counting, not General Discussion.

Dec 23, 2010 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Needlessly Repeated BG Results... Unfortunately both error messages are still happening. Ive posted a result for 14Dec10 today and I think it has done the repeating. Will post results later because I dont have the option to at the moment. A forum post I did in General Discussion brought up the non existing thread message. Shall get it with this post as well Im sure. Thanks.

Dec 23, 2010 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Carb Free Breakfast It doesnt really work too well to say "check the carbohydrates" for sausages, because its the proteins that counteract the carbs, so carbs will always be present on the labelling. Similiar goes for heinz tinned baked beans - you dont count the beans but there is sugar in the sauce. The best way around this is to only count the sugar content - Im doubtful the same method applies to sausages, so is there any other way of identifying? Im so glad Ive clearly only eaten meaty sausages, even when eating out!

Dec 23, 2010 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Information on menstrual cycle My DAFNE nurse said that what happens varies from person to person so what you need to do for each time of the month is something you need to work out - this is why there are no guidance notes in the DAFNE book. I do hope that notes may appear in the future after more research is done but for the record, even now, after 20 years of being diabetic, I still don't really know. With me being on a pill though, I've managed to identify that my levels raise about a week before my period starts. I wouldn't be surprised if what you need to do shifts considering I get different patterns each time I try to work out what it's doing. If highs are consistant during that time across the day/night, I would put your BI up first instead of adjusting your ratios. Good luck with working it all out.

Dec 22, 2010 Simon 578 posts	Topic: Site Development / DAFNE Online iPhone application - help with content/design needed Hi John, Thanks for your positive feedback. We've had lots of requests for adding your own carb info / creating plates so we'll focus on adding this to the app in the new year. If you find out what causes the app to crash then let us know, unfortunately it's hard to pin it down unless we know what's causing it. Simon

Dec 22, 2010 marke 681 posts	Topic: DUAG Committee / Christmas Greetings to all Committee Members same to you as well Brian, see you all on the 21st Jan hopefully. By then I will be off the steriods and back imbibing red wine my favourite tipple :-)

Dec 22, 2010 marke 681 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Allergy and Diabetes Hi, the 'doctor' on the childrens ward was he a Diabetes Consultant ? If not on what basis is he deciding it is NOT related to her allergy problems. I would get an appointment to see a Diabetes consultant and go through the issues Amy is having. Everyone is different and anything is possible. I have not heard of allergies causing high BG's but thats not to say it doesn't happen OR the allegry is causing some secondary issue that is causing the high BG's. A lot of non-diabetes HCP's make assumptions about you when you are a diabetic. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome which is basically an auto-immune issue like allegries and Diabetes. Of course my GP said 'oh you're a diabetic and this must be the cause of your kidney problem'. Fortunately my Diabetes Consultant dismissed this out of hand and said it was definately NOT diabetes. It has since been confirmed its just my immune system in general. During my problems I have had both low and high BG's that are not clearly connected to my diabetes. So find someone who can give you good advice about this, I appreciate you might be constrained to pediatrics, I'm not sure at what age Amy moves to 'general' medicine. It sounds like you are being given generic stock answers rather than necessarily getting to the root of the issue.

Dec 22, 2010 Simon Heller 46 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Pleurisy Hi Mel Apologies for the delay in replying and this is probably too late. I guess the important thing was to do what you were doing and just see if your blood glucose was going up. Whether intercurrent illnesses produce enough stress hormones to impact your glucose and require the implementing of sick day rules is always difficult to predict. I guess the pain alone is a lot to deal with but it sounds as if, when you posted it hadn't affected your sugar and hopefully you are now improved. ATB Simon

Dec 22, 2010 Simon Heller 46 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Pleurisy Hi Mel Apologies for the delay in replying and this is probably too late. I guess the important thing was to do what you were doing and just see if your blood glucose was going up. Whether intercurrent illnesses produce enough stress hormones to impact your glucose and require the implementing of sick day rules is always difficult to predict. I guess the pain alone is a lot to deal with but it sounds as if, when you posted it hadn't affected your sugar and hopefully you are now improved. ATB Simon

Dec 22, 2010 Brian Trench 17 posts	Topic: DUAG Committee / Christmas Greetings to all Committee Members At this festive and seasonal time of the year and noting Mark's guidance on bulky greetings systems I thought I would use this medium to wish you all and your families my very best for Christmas and the New Year. I would not even dream of suggesting you do not indulge too much with both booze and christmas fayre but do have a great time and just adjust once in a while! Very Best Greetings, Brian

Dec 22, 2010 linsey ramage 6 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Information on menstrual cycle hi nicipici....i am also feeling the effect of menstrual cycle the week before my period and during my period my blood sugars run high still havent quite figured out what to do yet????? for 2 weeks out of the months my sugars great.i have been type 1 diabetic for 27 years......hopefully get them sorted soon i am going to try changin my ratios for the 2 weeks .

Dec 22, 2010 John Stevens 9 posts	Topic: Site Development / DAFNE Online iPhone application - help with content/design needed Hi Simon, Excellent work on the latest app. Glad my piggy finger no longer takes me away from the data entry, and I am sure the other changes will also be of use. I have noticed the app crash on several occasions (previous version as well) and have not yet been able to tie it down to anything. If there is anything I can do to assist in figuring this out, let me know. Also, would it be possible for the carb counter to allow us to add items, much the same as the on line one? Here in .au, some things are a little different and it would be a handy feature, and also mean that the carb counter can grow organically. Just a thought. Cheers and keep up the good work.

Dec 21, 2010 saxman 28 posts	Topic: General Discussion / accu-check hi vic, luckily i hve found a pharmacy (boots) who can get my scripts the next day so i will continue with it but thanks for your reply

Dec 21, 2010 vic demain 87 posts	Topic: General Discussion / accu-check Like John, we were given the mobile on our course and only had to phone for supplies. When they became available for purchase, we had to get GP's to change over prescription. Was such a hassle, I gave it up and have gone back to my Freestyle Lite. The mobile is now stored in the cupboard and not in use.

Dec 21, 2010 saxman 28 posts	Topic: General Discussion / accu-check hi john, yeah it helps and so far i have found a pharmacy that supplies my needs, thanks and merry xmas

Dec 21, 2010 john day 54 posts	Topic: General Discussion / accu-check I was part of the Mobile pre-supply trial for which cassettes were supplied. After the end of the trial, in January 2010, my local surgery could indeed not find these in the computerised NHS list and the GP initially said could not supply. My local pharmacist could not understand this as they were in his list but he could not supply without the gp's ok. I called Roche and explained problem and they: - said item could be found urgery by entering 'mobile' into the NHS search. - supplied cassettes to keep me going ( on more than one occasion) - called the surgery to advise how to find the item - sent a rep sometime later to he surgery to advise further Prescription processing was a bit hit and miss for about 5 months but now seems to have sorted out ok now If you do have problems I would definitely call Roche 0800-701000 to help sort out. If not already registered, you will need your Mobile serial no. etc Hope this helps.

Dec 20, 2010 saxman 28 posts	Topic: General Discussion / accu-check i returned to the loyds pharmacy and still no joy,they gave me back my perscription and i took it to boots and they had part of my script,and the rest was delivered the next day,i recomend boots to anyone struggling with the accu chek mobile as they have no problem with repeats.