Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

Aug 29, 2017

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Research into diabetes education and health anxiety

I've completed this, but it seems more for people with type 2 diabetes which you won't find here. At least one of your questions has no right answers for a person with type 1 diabetes. :S

Aug 29, 2017

HannahC123 1 post

Topic: General Discussion / Research into diabetes education and health anxiety

Hi everyone,

I am a MSc Psychology student at Liverpool Hope University and I am currently carrying out research regarding health anxiety amongst individuals with diabetes.

The research involves an online questionnaire which is completely anonymous and shouldn't take long. You don't have to have anxiety regarding your diabetes to participate.

If you have been diagnosed with diabetes and would like to take part please click on this link https://lhubos.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/levels-of-health-anxiety-amongst-individuals-with-diabetes

Thank you!!

Aug 27, 2017

wigworld 19 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Libre

I use Libre (and BG testing when I'm driving), and it's incredibly helpful in helping me adjust my BI. I can't help wondering how many people are using it who've never done a DAFNE (or similar) course, and have no idea what to do with all the data Libre generates?

Aug 27, 2017

wigworld 19 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Anxiety / Stress and Dose Adjustment

Stress can cause BG to rise - I experience this myself. However I personally find it requires less insulin to get BG down again than if the rise was caused by carbs. e.g. to get down from 12 to 5-6mmol/l, I would need just 1 or 2 extra units of QA.

Aug 18, 2017

pmason 11 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Exercise

In my early days when playing basketball at age 30 - 40 I had usual insulin and more carbos. It was the following day that I found I needed less insulin (Basketball was played at night) Now I'm 70 I find I need less insulin on the day of exercise (riding a bike, mowing lawns, gardening, washing car) plus extra carbos. I found the fitter I was the less insulin I needed but now days exercise seems to drop my sugars more immediately. But remember, we are all different and you need to work out your own requirements.

Aug 17, 2017

pjc21 8 posts

Topic: General Discussion / any Cambridge DAFNE graduates?

This is Peter from the June 2016 Cambridge DAFNE course. Some of us would like to make contact. See Addenbrookes forum on this site.

Aug 16, 2017

Brumfoodie 10 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / How much should BG rise or fall after a carbohydrate free meal?

I've found the suggested variation (< 1.5) over a series of carb-free maeals so don't think I need a reply- unless a health professional thinks I've got it wrong Very Happy

Aug 14, 2017

Brumfoodie 10 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Should Beetroot be counted?

Hi
Very late comment. I eat a lot of beetroot as I grow it and I don't count the carbs in it. It's a vegetable so"free" IMHO. Seems to work for me especially as it's often paired with cheese that would slow down the absorption of carbs into my blood stream.

Aug 14, 2017

DianeN 1 post

Topic: General Discussion / Exercise

I've just completed the dafne course last week and am just trying to put everything I have learnt into practice. Can anyone give me advice regarding how exercise affects your levels. I understand the principle of giving less insulin but would like to know more about how it affects you the following day etc

Aug 14, 2017

michaelj 45 posts

Topic: General Discussion / BG diary food entries

Sorry for the delay in response to your enquiry. I have to be honest and say that I do not use the dafne diary but have made one of my own. I would just work out the total carbs for the meal whatever the food and enter this as a number of portions so whether it's bread, potatoes, biscuits, sausage, rice or any other carb, you should still end up with a total figure, which you can then relate to the amount of insulin you need depending on the ratio you use. An evening meal for me for example could be 2 portions potatoe, 1 portion yorkshire pud, 1 banana = 2 portions and an apple = 1 portion. total for the meal is 6 portions and on a ratio of 1.5 -1 that would be 9 units Novorapid. Hope this helps.

Aug 11, 2017

Brumfoodie 10 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / How much should BG rise or fall after a carbohydrate free meal?

Hi
I've forgotten how much blood glucose should rise or fall after a carb free meal when checking BI dosage. I tend to be more active during the spring and early summer (injecting 6 units of Levemir night and morning) and think it's time to up the BI dose to 7 as my blood sugars are getting higher but can't remember the maximum variations - and can't find the information in my DAFNE course booklet

Peta

Aug 11, 2017

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

Topic: General Discussion / BG diary food entries

I don't actually keep a diary now believe it or not.....

This is down to having my pump set up with the right basal rates and bolus ratios......

I do enter my carbs/food items into myfitness pal app/website in order to get the total but don't need any diary anymore, unless of course I notice a need to adjust my dose somewhere, then a quick 3 days of result would be noted down somewhere....

Aug 11, 2017

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Snacks Between Meals

Hi Gill,

Hope you're feeling better....

I don't feel guilty of snacking in between meals no, I only really get that opportunity at the weekend though....

Most of the time I do inject or in my case bolus with the pump.....the pump makes it easier to snack as you can see.....lol..

I would always try and have something light in carbs if I feel the need to snack but I certainly do have times where I don't bother and I suffer later...

Aug 8, 2017

mum2westiesGill 502 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Snacks Between Meals

Hi,
Do you feel guilty of snacking between meals & do you inject if you eat a snack over 10g in between meals?

Aug 7, 2017

mum2westiesGill 502 posts

Topic: General Discussion / BG diary food entries

Hi,
Thank you very much for your reply.
please can you tell me how you set this out in your BG diary

'I don't break down the food value as to what I've eaten, just the total carb amount for the meal'

Aug 6, 2017

Bananaman 34 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Dosage auto-calculation in apps

What if there was an official Dafne page on Facebook, could someone anonymously be able to create a hack for people to download/install on their phones to allow auto calculation?

Aug 6, 2017

Bananaman 34 posts

Topic: Site Development / results graphs

Try looking at the Freestyle optium neo software or even better the Freestyle Libre which is expensive but free for a reader and two sensors from some hospital clinics, it uses the same test strips as the neo for blood glucose/ketone tests, you only pay for the sensors

Aug 6, 2017

michaelj 45 posts

Topic: General Discussion / BG diary food entries

I usually do four entries each day with time, carbohydrate portion, blood glucose and then insulin amount. This is usually enough information to see how things are going for me. I don't break down the food value as to what I've eaten, just the total carb amount for the meal.

Aug 6, 2017

mum2westiesGill 502 posts

Topic: General Discussion / BG diary food entries

Hi,
What do other people do re writing down food entries in your BG diary. Do you write a food entry in every comment of your diary?

Aug 5, 2017

Alan 49 284 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Anxiety / Stress and Dose Adjustment

From my limited knowledge I have heard tha when adrenaline is released, your system assumes that additional energy is about to be needed and triggers the release of glucagon from the liver - so your BG rises.

Aug 4, 2017

CoreyLewisA 1 post

Topic: Questions for HCPs / High Sugars in the morning / Pins and Needles in foot.

Hi, I am looking for any advice to be honest as I am starting to get really down and depressed about this whole situation.

I have been type 1 diabetic for 4 and a half years and I completed the DAFNE course 4 weeks ago. Previous to the course I was on 24 Lantus before bed and was recommended by my nurse to be put on Levimer. Since being put on Levimer I started on 12 at night, 12 in morning, however this dosage has increased significantly from 12 at night to 24 at night and 18 in the morning, this being because every morning I wake up with minimum of 16-20mmol blood sugars EVERY SINGLE MORNING.

Which is frustrating as I consider to almost master carb counting as after spending almost half of my day trying to correct these high sugars I am keeping on top and keeping them in the DAFNE range.

However, For the past 9-10 days everyday I have had pins and needles in my foot and leg and sharp pain in my foot and top of my leg when I walk. My Diabetic nurse who is now on holiday told me to ring the diabetes centre to sort out a pump if needed, I have been ringing and trying for the past 4 days and asking to speak to a pump nurse and nobody is calling me back, after hounding and pestering them 3-4 times a day.

It has also got to point where I rang 111 3 days ago and when I visited somebody in A&E they told me to carry on taking paracetomol, which does nothing, I felt like she was just trying to get rid of me.

I visited my doctors yesterday who also told me to carry on taking paracetomol.

I am really struggling and getting really depressed from this.

Please does anybody have any suggestions or advice.

Thanks

Aug 3, 2017

Deadly 8 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Anxiety / Stress and Dose Adjustment

Hi All, my job changed just a couple of weeks ago so that I regularly find myself in positions where I am suffering from anxiety, and I notice that at the times of high anxiety my BG rises. What is the best way to deal with this? Does adrenaline cause your BG to fall sharply a bit later as much as it causes it to rise? Should I increase my quick acting insulin to cover it or my background nasal?

If you have nay ideas please let me know.

Thanks, David

Jul 31, 2017

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Campaigning Against Hospitals Dropping DAFNE

To update on the situation in East Norfolk - the Diabetes Intermediate Service that the CCG has put in place to replace DAFNE is in fact a service designed for patients with Type 2 Diabetes, not Type 1 Diabetes. My GP has referred me at least three times now to this service and I'm being rejected because I'm not the right type.

I guess patients with Type 1 Diabetes just do not matter in East Norfolk? The DAFNE service has been replaced with NOTHING.

Aug 29, 2017 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Research into diabetes education and health anxiety I've completed this, but it seems more for people with type 2 diabetes which you won't find here. At least one of your questions has no right answers for a person with type 1 diabetes. :S

Aug 29, 2017 HannahC123 1 post	Topic: General Discussion / Research into diabetes education and health anxiety Hi everyone, I am a MSc Psychology student at Liverpool Hope University and I am currently carrying out research regarding health anxiety amongst individuals with diabetes. The research involves an online questionnaire which is completely anonymous and shouldn't take long. You don't have to have anxiety regarding your diabetes to participate. If you have been diagnosed with diabetes and would like to take part please click on this link https://lhubos.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/levels-of-health-anxiety-amongst-individuals-with-diabetes Thank you!!

Aug 27, 2017 wigworld 19 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Libre I use Libre (and BG testing when I'm driving), and it's incredibly helpful in helping me adjust my BI. I can't help wondering how many people are using it who've never done a DAFNE (or similar) course, and have no idea what to do with all the data Libre generates?

Aug 27, 2017 wigworld 19 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Anxiety / Stress and Dose Adjustment Stress can cause BG to rise - I experience this myself. However I personally find it requires less insulin to get BG down again than if the rise was caused by carbs. e.g. to get down from 12 to 5-6mmol/l, I would need just 1 or 2 extra units of QA.

Aug 18, 2017 pmason 11 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Exercise In my early days when playing basketball at age 30 - 40 I had usual insulin and more carbos. It was the following day that I found I needed less insulin (Basketball was played at night) Now I'm 70 I find I need less insulin on the day of exercise (riding a bike, mowing lawns, gardening, washing car) plus extra carbos. I found the fitter I was the less insulin I needed but now days exercise seems to drop my sugars more immediately. But remember, we are all different and you need to work out your own requirements.

Aug 17, 2017 pjc21 8 posts	Topic: General Discussion / any Cambridge DAFNE graduates? This is Peter from the June 2016 Cambridge DAFNE course. Some of us would like to make contact. See Addenbrookes forum on this site.

Aug 16, 2017 Brumfoodie 10 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / How much should BG rise or fall after a carbohydrate free meal? I've found the suggested variation (< 1.5) over a series of carb-free maeals so don't think I need a reply- unless a health professional thinks I've got it wrong

Aug 14, 2017 Brumfoodie 10 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Should Beetroot be counted? Hi Very late comment. I eat a lot of beetroot as I grow it and I don't count the carbs in it. It's a vegetable so"free" IMHO. Seems to work for me especially as it's often paired with cheese that would slow down the absorption of carbs into my blood stream.

Aug 14, 2017 DianeN 1 post	Topic: General Discussion / Exercise I've just completed the dafne course last week and am just trying to put everything I have learnt into practice. Can anyone give me advice regarding how exercise affects your levels. I understand the principle of giving less insulin but would like to know more about how it affects you the following day etc

Aug 14, 2017 michaelj 45 posts	Topic: General Discussion / BG diary food entries Sorry for the delay in response to your enquiry. I have to be honest and say that I do not use the dafne diary but have made one of my own. I would just work out the total carbs for the meal whatever the food and enter this as a number of portions so whether it's bread, potatoes, biscuits, sausage, rice or any other carb, you should still end up with a total figure, which you can then relate to the amount of insulin you need depending on the ratio you use. An evening meal for me for example could be 2 portions potatoe, 1 portion yorkshire pud, 1 banana = 2 portions and an apple = 1 portion. total for the meal is 6 portions and on a ratio of 1.5 -1 that would be 9 units Novorapid. Hope this helps.

Aug 11, 2017 Brumfoodie 10 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / How much should BG rise or fall after a carbohydrate free meal? Hi I've forgotten how much blood glucose should rise or fall after a carb free meal when checking BI dosage. I tend to be more active during the spring and early summer (injecting 6 units of Levemir night and morning) and think it's time to up the BI dose to 7 as my blood sugars are getting higher but can't remember the maximum variations - and can't find the information in my DAFNE course booklet Peta

Aug 11, 2017 novorapidboi26 1,819 posts	Topic: General Discussion / BG diary food entries I don't actually keep a diary now believe it or not..... This is down to having my pump set up with the right basal rates and bolus ratios...... I do enter my carbs/food items into myfitness pal app/website in order to get the total but don't need any diary anymore, unless of course I notice a need to adjust my dose somewhere, then a quick 3 days of result would be noted down somewhere....

Aug 11, 2017 novorapidboi26 1,819 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Snacks Between Meals Hi Gill, Hope you're feeling better.... I don't feel guilty of snacking in between meals no, I only really get that opportunity at the weekend though.... Most of the time I do inject or in my case bolus with the pump.....the pump makes it easier to snack as you can see.....lol.. I would always try and have something light in carbs if I feel the need to snack but I certainly do have times where I don't bother and I suffer later...

Aug 8, 2017 mum2westiesGill 502 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Snacks Between Meals Hi, Do you feel guilty of snacking between meals & do you inject if you eat a snack over 10g in between meals?

Aug 7, 2017 mum2westiesGill 502 posts	Topic: General Discussion / BG diary food entries Hi, Thank you very much for your reply. please can you tell me how you set this out in your BG diary 'I don't break down the food value as to what I've eaten, just the total carb amount for the meal'

Aug 6, 2017 Bananaman 34 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Dosage auto-calculation in apps What if there was an official Dafne page on Facebook, could someone anonymously be able to create a hack for people to download/install on their phones to allow auto calculation?

Aug 6, 2017 Bananaman 34 posts	Topic: Site Development / results graphs Try looking at the Freestyle optium neo software or even better the Freestyle Libre which is expensive but free for a reader and two sensors from some hospital clinics, it uses the same test strips as the neo for blood glucose/ketone tests, you only pay for the sensors

Aug 6, 2017 michaelj 45 posts	Topic: General Discussion / BG diary food entries I usually do four entries each day with time, carbohydrate portion, blood glucose and then insulin amount. This is usually enough information to see how things are going for me. I don't break down the food value as to what I've eaten, just the total carb amount for the meal.

Aug 6, 2017 mum2westiesGill 502 posts	Topic: General Discussion / BG diary food entries Hi, What do other people do re writing down food entries in your BG diary. Do you write a food entry in every comment of your diary?

Aug 5, 2017 Alan 49 284 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Anxiety / Stress and Dose Adjustment From my limited knowledge I have heard tha when adrenaline is released, your system assumes that additional energy is about to be needed and triggers the release of glucagon from the liver - so your BG rises.

Aug 4, 2017 CoreyLewisA 1 post	Topic: Questions for HCPs / High Sugars in the morning / Pins and Needles in foot. Hi, I am looking for any advice to be honest as I am starting to get really down and depressed about this whole situation. I have been type 1 diabetic for 4 and a half years and I completed the DAFNE course 4 weeks ago. Previous to the course I was on 24 Lantus before bed and was recommended by my nurse to be put on Levimer. Since being put on Levimer I started on 12 at night, 12 in morning, however this dosage has increased significantly from 12 at night to 24 at night and 18 in the morning, this being because every morning I wake up with minimum of 16-20mmol blood sugars EVERY SINGLE MORNING. Which is frustrating as I consider to almost master carb counting as after spending almost half of my day trying to correct these high sugars I am keeping on top and keeping them in the DAFNE range. However, For the past 9-10 days everyday I have had pins and needles in my foot and leg and sharp pain in my foot and top of my leg when I walk. My Diabetic nurse who is now on holiday told me to ring the diabetes centre to sort out a pump if needed, I have been ringing and trying for the past 4 days and asking to speak to a pump nurse and nobody is calling me back, after hounding and pestering them 3-4 times a day. It has also got to point where I rang 111 3 days ago and when I visited somebody in A&E they told me to carry on taking paracetomol, which does nothing, I felt like she was just trying to get rid of me. I visited my doctors yesterday who also told me to carry on taking paracetomol. I am really struggling and getting really depressed from this. Please does anybody have any suggestions or advice. Thanks

Aug 3, 2017 Deadly 8 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Anxiety / Stress and Dose Adjustment Hi All, my job changed just a couple of weeks ago so that I regularly find myself in positions where I am suffering from anxiety, and I notice that at the times of high anxiety my BG rises. What is the best way to deal with this? Does adrenaline cause your BG to fall sharply a bit later as much as it causes it to rise? Should I increase my quick acting insulin to cover it or my background nasal? If you have nay ideas please let me know. Thanks, David

Jul 31, 2017 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Campaigning Against Hospitals Dropping DAFNE To update on the situation in East Norfolk - the Diabetes Intermediate Service that the CCG has put in place to replace DAFNE is in fact a service designed for patients with Type 2 Diabetes, not Type 1 Diabetes. My GP has referred me at least three times now to this service and I'm being rejected because I'm not the right type. I guess patients with Type 1 Diabetes just do not matter in East Norfolk? The DAFNE service has been replaced with NOTHING.