Recent Posts

Hiya M,

I'm not sure how badly they affect, but I would personally put even baby wipes as problem causers along with any other wipes. I believe it mainly depends on what chemicals are on them and most of the time I really don't know what ones are good or bad (if any) so I'd rule them out as a blood testing cleaning option - but that is me.

It's okay - we've been in the same boat at least a few times in our lives! I've lost count on how many times I've said to myself "I don't understand what's going on any more!" Smile

Even with your decision now to return to Lantus, remember that you'll still need to work hard to work out the Lantus doses, especially if there is the potential of your body's change in demand (which may have been the cause of the problems you were having towards the end of your last use of Lantus).

If it helps you feel better, I did go through this sort thought pattern too but not long after it started I decided that "I'm on Levemir now, let's do this" and became very stubborn with it. I'm probably quite good at being stubborn when it comes to my control LOL.

I look forward to when you've sussed it all M! You'll spend a lot less time feeling rubbish and find it a lot more easier to spend more time enjoying your family! ^_^

I don't know about being better than you, m'dear! I've only been on DAFNE for a year or so which might be assisting me with my understanding of the DAFNE regime. I know it's very easy to slip into a routine with controlling your levels generally (you'll see what I mean when I post my two day results here after 7pm today - I'm waiting for something to happen first! Very Happy

) and this can aid in losing track of what you knew before. Daft I know, but we all do it! So easy to get angry with yourself too! ARGH! Razz

I find it helps me greatly to carry my DAFNE guidebook with me - it may be worth you adopting this habit as well if you feel you are not 100% confident with your DAFNE understanding. You may need it for those times when you can't think straight because of a high or a low - helps you re-focus!

Here's a good thing to remember when you're famished and you're hypo as well - you eat 2 fast and 2 slow - fair enough - and then IF it takes more than 5 minutes for you to feel better... wash your hands and do another blood test to see where you are. IF you're still hypo (below 3.5) then proceed to repeat the 2+2!

It's what I tell myself when I'm absolutely gagging for food when low... and it does help (well, me anyway lol). Helps you stop attempting to over eat for your hypo. ;)
Though I gotta admit, when pigging out while hypo in the past, it can be so lovely sometimes! XD Must be strong though, gah! LOL

Looking at what you've said about your blood tests - firstly, well done for blood testing before each meal and before driving!

When it comes to the rise up to 13.9 afterwards, this can be related to your BI running out. *has a quick look at your results posted on Page 1* Ah yes - assume that Levemir works up to 12 hours for you - Your Evening BI would have run out by then and so your Morning BI will be the only one working. Considering we're not 100% on how long your BI doses work for, this is a potential reason for this rise.

The only way we could pin point indefinitely is to only eat exact 1:1 ratio meals (so no half units unless you have a half until pen for your QA) and see what your body does in response over the day (like my day where I was consistantly 10 for each meal).

Obviously, this doesn't matter too much now considering you'll be changing over to Lantus again, however, if you get similar patterns with Lantus, keep this in mind. Smile

On that note, if you want to post your results once you're back on Lantus, you're more than welcome!
Shall need to know a few things though - like working times of Lantus for you and what QA you're using - it'll help with the pattern finding, as well as your general understanding of your body's insulin demands! ^_^

I forget if I mentioned before, but I, as you know, use Levemir and my QA insulin is Humalog (which, according to the DAFNE guidebook *runs off and gets her guidebook out of her bag!*... works for around 2 - 5 hours. I'm pretty sure it works for 5 hours for me considering my most logical results are after 5 hours (as you can hopefully see from the results I've posted on this thread).

The fact I had 10 at every meal is a pattern! It was telling me that I needed to put my BI up but I decided to target my Evening BI first and leave it two days to see how it goes. Not long now until my two days are up and I post my new results - has been interesting and I feel I have learnt something valuable if the pattern I got from yesterday (the day after the 10s and putting my Evening BI up by one unit) is the same today. I did get ketones again but I'm sure I'm going to get it all nipped in the bud now...

Shall post them after 7pm! > Very Happy

Nov 19, 2010

Alan 49 284 posts

The bread content in sausages depends on how much you pay for them: the cheaper sausages will have a higher percentage of bread - that's why they are cheap. The more you pay the more meat you get and therefore the less bread. It's always worth checking the package to get the carb content.

Alan

Nov 19, 2010

Garry 328 posts

I love cooking.
Worst errors arose when preparing something, putting it on the table and then thinking...Doh...havn't done blood...getting a wacky result and then washing hands - repeating blood test and getting the expected BG. So that's what set me investigating.
Even found that unless my hands were perfectly dry that errors crept in.
Reading your replies above reminded me that one of the best things that I have done since DAFNE is not overCPing after hypo.
I was a villain for too much carbohydrate... go downstairs at 03:00... test to confirm hypo and then have two glasses of milk and three biscuits... result... well you know the result... BG 13 - 15 with a worst case 21.5.
Regards
Garry

Nov 19, 2010

karaway 7 posts

The filling in sausage is a higher percentage fat then anything else and should not be counted as carbs

Nov 19, 2010

HelenP 218 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / wound healing

GP not prepared to go out on a limb. Wants me to do what the Plastic Surgeon says! GP would be happy to wait for 6 weeks just to see if it closes over without intervention but basically is encouraging me to have it dealt with as it is nearly 6 months! There are differing opinions as to whether or not it has actually closed over. (The "yellow" cannula is very fine (26 gauge(?)). Not sure what I have to gain by having the surgery! What ever happens the hole I will get is bigger than the one I currently have! I am really tempted to leave well enough alone! Helen

Nov 18, 2010

MelissaF 56 posts

Hi guys,

Thanks Garry, you're right, I'm not always good at washing my hands before tests (probably because I test far too much as well as I've explained to J). I'll try to from now on and I'm going to test my meter with the control fluid as well just to make sure that that's all working OK.

Can I just check, are all wipes not recommended? Can you use something like baby wipes or are they as bad for potentially throwing out your readings?

J - everything that you say is totally correct and you're right. I am confusing my results by snacking/testing at the wrong times/over-correcting etc. I would like to say that it's because I've had diabetes for so long that I'm not as careful as I used to be but that's really no excuse as you've had it for just as long as me and you're so much better. I think that your point is valid though - if I'm ultra careful for a few weeks just to see how things pan out then there's no reason why I can't go back to eating snacks etc if I want to, once I can gauge better how to deal with them. That's what DAFNE's all about I guess isn't it really? The hypo and subsequent eating that you referred to was me giving into the ravenous hunger that usually accompanies a hypo for me. I know that I should really eat 4 jelly babies but sometimes I'm not thinking straight and I shovel in some biscuits as well!

However, I'm afraid that I think I'd going back on the Lantus. I make an appointment today to see another DAFNE educator for another opinion and, when I got there, she was on a course and I was seen by a lady with no DAFNE training. Not her fault and she was very nice but I haven't heard back from the other two people I've left messages for either and I think I'm just going to stick my neck out and go with my gut feeling. The lady I saw today said that she didn't think that it was a major problem for me to revert to the Lantus for a bit. I said that if it didn't make things any better then I would go back on the Levemir and give it another go. I want to see if it makes me more stable and I'm going to keep a close eye on my evening readings to check whether I think it's not lasting the 24 hours. If it seems to be lasting then I guess there's no reason why the Levemir is a better option as the two insulins apparently work in very similar ways.

I know that you're probably going to think that I'm wimping out but I've got a very very short period of time to get this right if I want to have another baby and I'm really not heading in the right direction at the moment.

My motivating factor today was the fact that, for once, my blood sugars were relatively normal (7.9) when I woke up this morning. I had my usual 3 units of Levemir and a breakfast of 3 CP (weighed) with 3 units of insulin. I had to drive to pick up my son from nursery at 12.30 so I tested before getting in the car and my sugars were 7.6 so I thought fantastic, that's all worked today. When I tested for lunch an hour later it had jumped to 13.9 for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Weirdly enough I hadn't read Garry's post at that point so I washed my hands just to make sure and it came out the same. I can't find any reason why it should have done that and it freaks me out! At the moment, the only reason that I've got for using Levemir is that it might help and it isn't so I think I'm giving up. I will let you know what I find out with the Lantus though and see what happens.

Having said that though, any support you need for your regime, please let me know if I can help. You obviously know far more that I do about the technicalities of it but if you just want a second opinion or just a moan every now and then please tell me. You've managed to get your BG levels stabilised (albeit at a slightly higher level than you want) so I guess you're closer to finding a pattern. Keep me posted and I'll let you know what happens with mine.

M xx

Nov 18, 2010

grandma carol 61 posts

Yes when I started the caurse I was on 20 and they told me to drop it to 14. But I was ill and realy on well very dizzy and BGs up in the 18 19 17 even 22 so when I went to the Doctors she told me to put it back up. I was changing my ratio and puting that back up and with not being well I just dident know ware I was at and what I was doing. So I had put it back up to 18 but now I am droping it as I am having hypos at night even when I have some CPs before bed. The only other factor with last night was that I was low all day untill I went to bed and Iwas 8.5 and I had 1CP but still went down to 3.9 at 2.30. THANK YOU ill let you know how I get on tonight. Wish me look haha.

Nov 18, 2010

JayBee 587 posts

Wow, that's quite a contrast of results for not washing your hands, but it does make sense! :/ I'm quite religious with my hand washing before meals so this potential problem shouldn't be an issue for me (hopefully).

On a similar note - do you avoid the 99.9% hand cleaning stuff? I hate it, personally, so I usually do. I'm often worried it'll make my results in correct - along very similar lines to being as bad as not washing your hands.

There is also those cleaning wipes as well - I used to grab the clean wipes that you get at places like KFC but my nurse told me that they had chemicals that would throw my blood results off so I avoid those too now.

Would be great to have a simple wipe that doesn't require water... would be a great addition to our medical kits! ^_^

Nov 18, 2010

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

I agree you should drop it, if there were no other factors influencing the reading.....

Are you not approaching the dose they had you on when attending the course?

Nov 18, 2010

grandma carol 61 posts

yes thank you but she the DAFNE nurse told me to drop it if I had hypo at night and I have agen last night so thats why I thought that I should drop it agen tonight Asked her on the phone about doing a split of BI and she said just to leave it I have to go back on 3rd Dec for the blood moniter but it will be a different nurse the one I spoke to is on holiday. It just to get this moniter fitted.

Nov 18, 2010

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

As your on Lantus changing your dose on a daily basis is madness.........you need to look for patterns.......

If you hold steady for 2-3 nights in a row and thats without food or quick acting working then the dose is right.....

You can then start work on the ratios etc........

Another problem with one a day is that you may hold steady overnight but then become more resistant to insulin during the day, which means you may need more during the day.....but you cant as you are only on one dose...

It will be a pain, but try and get 2-3 days holding overnight with no food or quick acting....

Nov 18, 2010

grandma carol 61 posts

well I dident get an appointment she just phoned back and said to drop BI to 14. Well did and still had another hypo at 2.30 going to drop it agen to night I have been low all day yesterday and so far today as well .Thank you

Nov 18, 2010

Garry 328 posts

Mellissa
May I ask - Do you always wash your hands before blood testing?
Most BG kits now use such a small blood sample that any contamination error has a really dramatic effect.
BG 16 to 5.6 in 45 minutes is very unusual.

I say this from experience with an Medisense Abbott Optium Xceed meter which on 5 second Optium Plus test strips uses a tiny blood sample - 0.6 Î¼L.
They did a 3 second strip for a time which used an even smaller blood sample. But not sure whether they are available now.
Anyway I proved contamination error to myself by repeated trials of unwashed hands v washed hands - washed immediately after - and saw errors of up to 8 BG.

My conclusion was that I had to always accept the need for lack of contamination and to stick with washed hands at testing time.

Regards Garry

Nov 18, 2010

JayBee 587 posts

Ooooo sounds lovely! I hope you get the results you're hoping for! ^0^

Nov 18, 2010

Sam 64 posts

Well Guys

I had sausage, bacon and eggs from the delightful NHS canteen! As much as I enjoy a cooked breakfast I enjoy it more at the weekend, I felt as though I forced myself to eat it and washed it down with diet irn bru lol! Just hope it fills me up until lunchtime. Thanks for all the replies I guess when you're so used to eating a carb breakfast you forget what you can eat carb free!

Sam

Nov 18, 2010

JayBee 587 posts

Sausages will have carbs? I've never had any problems with sausages!

Are we talking about meat sausages right? Or a special kind? :/ Usually it's the meat proteins that stop the carbs in the meat from affecting your sugar levels - this applies to all meats - and fish I suppose...

Nov 18, 2010

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

Appointments are had to get I know, but if your online you can keep in touch be email too, thats what I do.........

However if you need help quick if things are not working then they shoull make time sharpish.....

Nov 18, 2010

meltow 78 posts

Karaway, don't get carried away!
The sausage, no matter how premium, will have carbs. The filler in sausages is usually iderived from bread or breadcrumbs.
I can smell the bacon cooking, from here! ; )

Nov 18, 2010

vic demain 87 posts

Topic: General Discussion / oz

Lucky you linsey, just in time for the Ashes.

Nov 18, 2010

karaway 7 posts