Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

Aug 9, 2010

GR156 3 posts

Just a quick post to let people know that DB 4mm needles are avliable on prescription... Having just got mine updated...
Trialed them a few months back just after finishing my DAFNE course, so I'm not sure if they help improve my control, but they did it no harm, as for comfort, I used 5mm any way so it was negotiable. Just a case that smaller might be better...........

Aug 9, 2010

Labsteward 6 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Insulin resistace and Alergy?

I believe it has albumin in it and some people are alergic to that

Aug 9, 2010

Nat 30 posts

Topic: General Discussion / I want an insulin pump

Jennypenny
I too was always told that I had brittle diabetes but now they don't seem to use that term anymore. I have been diabetic for nearly 20 years now and am the same as you eat, inject, exercise identical days and with totally different BGs. I too am hoping to go down the pump route (and as you say they are half the size and hopefully less noisy than the original ones). Keep us posted!

Aug 9, 2010

toni 9 posts

Topic: General Discussion / I want an insulin pump

jennypenny,
please keep in touch and let us know how you get on.
and the best of luck

Aug 9, 2010

Jennypenny 34 posts

Topic: General Discussion / I want an insulin pump

Hi , i have had diabetes for 30 years , i too suffer with hypo unawareness and have done for quiite a few years . My diabetes has often been discribed as brittle diabetes because i could inject the same , eat the same and exercise the same over a matter of time and it will never give the same blood results !!! Years ago i was offered a pump and choose not to have one as i felt being a diabetic was enough without carrying something about me telling everyone i was diabetic !!! ( pumps are now half the size they were originally ) Since doing DAFNE my views have changed .......... I have accepted that i have never had perfect control of my diabetes , i have diabetic related complications , i have had diabetes 30 years , i suffer with hypo unawareness and DP and i now feel Something needs to be done , so when i go for my DAFNE follow up appointment tomorrow i will be signing papers for a pump . I do work and have spoke to my employer who says she will support me with hospital appointments for getting sorted with the pump too .

Aug 9, 2010

Jennypenny 34 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

Thanks for that Alan , i am on humalog i have a dafne follow up session tomorrow so will certialy ask about it .

Aug 8, 2010

Alan 49 284 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

If you have problems remembering if you've injected or not and you're on Humalog insulin, there is a pen with a display and a memory, so you can see the date & time of your last injection - see: http://www.dafneonline.co.uk/forums/1/topics/328

Alan

Aug 8, 2010

Stew B 125 posts

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

Hi Simon, I'm with Claire on this - option 1 would be my preference (can't wait, in fact). Stew

Aug 8, 2010

Jennypenny 34 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

I know what you mean Nat , i was 10 when i got diabetes and am now 40 , so really cant remember what llife pre diabetes was like .

Aug 8, 2010

PNThompson 57 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Loss of Hypo warning signs

Since doing DAFNE (April '09), I have managed to improve my hypo awareness, though still not 100%.
I too live on my own, and it can be a bit of a concern for my parents especially, and they will ring to check i'm still ok.
I nearly passed out a week or so ago, but just managed to catch it, though remember really struggling to focus my vision on trying to sort some food out. Couldn't focus on getting the coca cola or lucozade to recover.

When I do sense a hypo, and I feel it's quite bad it isn't that low (3.0-3.4), and often I feel fine even when the BG is below 3.0 or 2.0

Overall my hypo awareness isn't good enough, but not sure if anybody could guarantee that they are aware of all their hypos.

Aug 7, 2010

meltow 78 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Loss of Hypo warning signs

I had a BG of 1.8 this week, and nothing felt or showing. Yikes! Never fitted yet, and fingers crossed it isn't about to start.

I live alone which is a little disconcerting, but if I tend to go low, most of these are in the night and, it never fails to wake me up. Very heavy sweats, and it may take me a while to be compus mentus and focus on what is happening. But I have always managed to take +ve action, and these BGs are usually around 2.5 to 2.9.

I do have a good friend and she is brilliant at picking up the signs - usually 'cos I start talking gibberish, my mind is definitely wandering and I can't formulate a good response to a question! Then she notices the sweats starting........

Aug 7, 2010

Nat 30 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

.... I also took my BI dose (before Dafne and when I was on fixed amounts) so 22 units of Novorapid. I had only been diabetic for a year and had to eat weetabix every 2 hours throughout the night - that was a lesson I will never forget.

Aug 7, 2010

Nat 30 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

Yes, I often sit at dinner and say to the children can you remember if I have done my injection and my little boy usually says "yes mummy look your arm is bleeding" and we all laugh. I too get people asking if it hurts or how can you do that every day, but I have had diabetes for 19 years and have now had it longer than I didn't so really have forgotten the before!

Aug 7, 2010

Simon 578 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

Jenny - yes I've only had it for 4 years but I often forget if I've taken my insulin, as it has become second nature to me now. One time I made a mistake and injected twice - then a couple of hours later had to eat nearly a whole packet of jelly babies to correct! Not making that mistake again...

Aug 7, 2010

Jennypenny 34 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Loss of Hypo warning signs

Sorry Judith like Toni , i have not had return of hypo signs if anything i have also lost the signs that my family would pick up on eg , paleness , talking gobbydigook, staring etc The other day my blood sugar was 2.1 on a random blood test and my husband said ' You didnt even appear hypo to us 'Which causes some concern as i too fit if blood goes under 2

Aug 7, 2010

Jennypenny 34 posts

Topic: General Discussion / DAFNE and Employers

Hi , i did a DAFNE course in June , i was told i would have to take it as paid sick but it would not be added to my sickness total for the year . When i first started at my place of employment i was told that due to the DDA ( as in post above ) Employers have to be seen to be making Reasonable adjustments . And there is a current advert on the telly at mo that states this too .

Aug 7, 2010

Jennypenny 34 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Dawn Phenomenon

Hi i too suffer with DP , 3am checks are showing big dips during the night ( not good as i suffer with hypo unawareness !!) and then massively high blood sugars in the moring 18+ , i am now waiting for a pump as hypo unawareness and DP are two factors as to why a pump will help .

Aug 7, 2010

Jennypenny 34 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

Hmm i guess i agree with Iain , i have had diabetes for 30 years since i was 10 and when people see me injecting a common response is ' Doesnt that get on your nerves ?' my response is 'No its more of an inconvenience really ' but after having diabetes for so long it also becomes a habit quite a few times i will do my injection and have to ask my husband or sons if theyve seen me take it ! Does anyone else do this ?

Aug 7, 2010

Nat 30 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

Claire,
I only got to 35 weeks and 37 weeks with my first and last but with the middle one there was a discrepancy of 3 weeks in the dates mine was 1 week late and theirs well you can guess the rest. I was told that all diabetics have big babies due to the amount of insulin in their systems and that is why they scan you so much because their shoulder and tummy areas increase rapidly hence the reason they induce you early before you get to that stage.

Aug 7, 2010

Iain H 3 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

I have only ever referred to my diabetes as an inconvenience during 27 years of it.

Aug 7, 2010

toni 9 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

My kids are all healthy apart from the two youngest being diabetic, which is hereditary in my family!
Good lluck with conceiving claire, if you go with the flow of things and keep working at your bgs, im sure will all come good.
All three of my children were born early at 11lb+ ( BUT that had nothing to do with my diabetes)
Good luck

Aug 6, 2010

claireadams 12 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

p.s how comes they let you go a week late with one of your babies? i was told they wouldnt let me go further than 38 weeks? As it happens my son was born at 36 weeks. My son is nearly 4 now and i have wanted another baby for a year

Aug 6, 2010

claireadams 12 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

Thanks Nat!
That makes me feel so much better! Im definately a stress head and really think that must help to make my bg's high. When i was pregnant i found it easy to control because i was doing it for a better reason... but now i find it so hard to have good bg's because it seems so long before the consultant will agree to me trying for a baby. Last year i was in intensive care with ketoacidosis and my hba1c was 16 then... but now ive worked hard to get it to 10% and i just dont know how much harder i can do... feel like giving up! i know that once im pregnant i will control my bg's much better and be able to resist all the 'bad' stuff but am so scared to conceive until ive got a good hba1c as the first baby i conceived (before i was diagnosed with type 1) i lost... and i know a type 1 who went through the whole 9 months and then had a still birth.. it terrifies me! To be honest the hospital scare me more because they're constantly talking about the risks of me getting pregnant without having perfect hba1c to conceive (they say 6%!!!) ... i say '6%!!!! they must be bloody joking, its going to be hard enough for me to get to 8%) ... so they agreed i can start taking folic when im 8%.
i breastfed my son for 8 months.. but when he was first born the nurse gave my baby a bottle because she said if i didnt bottle feed my baby would go in intensive care (which i later found out was a lie!! ...but thats another story- they just couldnt be bothered to show me how to breastfeed)
Thankyou so much Nat, because i rarely meet any type 1's who have been pregnant let alone had 3 healthy babies and still lived a 'normal' life

Aug 6, 2010

Nat 30 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes.............

Claire
You will be fine to be honest I don't know what my hba1c was on the last count. My first daughter is was well in the 13s as like I said I was so desperate I just went ahead and conceived. I do find though that once I am pregnant things settle down quite well although I am totally white flour intolerant so all the nice stuff was off the list. My babies all varied in weight due to the diabetes 6lb 15oz at 5 weeks early, 9lb 10oz but one week late and 8lb 15oz at 3 weeks early but both my husband and I were 8lb babies so was it all diabetes or something in our genes!! I think as long as you aren't eating chocolate and really bad stuff day in and day out you have to be happy and you can't think that you can't have a family because of it. I was certainly more concerned the second time round and it took me 4 years to conceive and stress certainly plays a big part in your blood sugars. When my middle child was born she was so quick 1 hour 20 mins from start to finish I didn't have time to go on a sliding scale infusion and gave birth on one banana ha ha !!! I have no worries over the children, my first daughter was born with low sugars and they put her on a glucose drip and I didn't know any better but with my second daughter (the banana) I refused to let her have the glucose and demanded that they let me breast feed her as I had read that breast milk (or colostrom - excuse spelling) was better at regulating blood sugars and after a good old feed her sugars were perfect. My son had other (non diabetic related) complications so he had to go to special care and have glucose but it took him a good couple of days to regulate his blood sugars.
Just make sure you take your folic acid as that is very important to and remember that you still have to live and with all the control in world doesn't always mean things work out perfectly so just do your best.

Aug 6, 2010

claireadams 12 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Exhaustion

Hi Athena,
Just to let you know that since i was diagnosed with diabetes my bg has run consistently high and exhaustion is not the word! When my bg is between 16-late 20's i can hardley move my body because i am so tired, like my body is shutting down and if i shut my eyes for 2 seconds id fall asleep... then when i finally got my hba1c lower it made me feel normal again. Whenever my bg is high my body is exhausted. The only thing i can do is take a couple of units and sleep it off or if i force myself to go for a half hour swim it brings my bg back to normal and i feel ok again. I just assumed that everyone who was diabetic suffered the same sort of exhaustion, but i suppose we all have different side affects.
Maybe i should talk to my consultant about this too! could be anemia?

Aug 9, 2010 GR156 3 posts	Topic: General Discussion / 4mm needles Just a quick post to let people know that DB 4mm needles are avliable on prescription... Having just got mine updated... Trialed them a few months back just after finishing my DAFNE course, so I'm not sure if they help improve my control, but they did it no harm, as for comfort, I used 5mm any way so it was negotiable. Just a case that smaller might be better...........

Aug 9, 2010 Labsteward 6 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Insulin resistace and Alergy? I believe it has albumin in it and some people are alergic to that

Aug 9, 2010 Nat 30 posts	Topic: General Discussion / I want an insulin pump Jennypenny I too was always told that I had brittle diabetes but now they don't seem to use that term anymore. I have been diabetic for nearly 20 years now and am the same as you eat, inject, exercise identical days and with totally different BGs. I too am hoping to go down the pump route (and as you say they are half the size and hopefully less noisy than the original ones). Keep us posted!

Aug 9, 2010 toni 9 posts	Topic: General Discussion / I want an insulin pump jennypenny, please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. and the best of luck

Aug 9, 2010 Jennypenny 34 posts	Topic: General Discussion / I want an insulin pump Hi , i have had diabetes for 30 years , i too suffer with hypo unawareness and have done for quiite a few years . My diabetes has often been discribed as brittle diabetes because i could inject the same , eat the same and exercise the same over a matter of time and it will never give the same blood results !!! Years ago i was offered a pump and choose not to have one as i felt being a diabetic was enough without carrying something about me telling everyone i was diabetic !!! ( pumps are now half the size they were originally ) Since doing DAFNE my views have changed .......... I have accepted that i have never had perfect control of my diabetes , i have diabetic related complications , i have had diabetes 30 years , i suffer with hypo unawareness and DP and i now feel Something needs to be done , so when i go for my DAFNE follow up appointment tomorrow i will be signing papers for a pump . I do work and have spoke to my employer who says she will support me with hospital appointments for getting sorted with the pump too .

Aug 9, 2010 Jennypenny 34 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. Thanks for that Alan , i am on humalog i have a dafne follow up session tomorrow so will certialy ask about it .

Aug 8, 2010 Alan 49 284 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. If you have problems remembering if you've injected or not and you're on Humalog insulin, there is a pen with a display and a memory, so you can see the date & time of your last injection - see: http://www.dafneonline.co.uk/forums/1/topics/328 Alan

Aug 8, 2010 Stew B 125 posts	Topic: Site Development / DAFNE Online iPhone application - help with content/design needed Hi Simon, I'm with Claire on this - option 1 would be my preference (can't wait, in fact). Stew

Aug 8, 2010 Jennypenny 34 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. I know what you mean Nat , i was 10 when i got diabetes and am now 40 , so really cant remember what llife pre diabetes was like .

Aug 8, 2010 PNThompson 57 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Loss of Hypo warning signs Since doing DAFNE (April '09), I have managed to improve my hypo awareness, though still not 100%. I too live on my own, and it can be a bit of a concern for my parents especially, and they will ring to check i'm still ok. I nearly passed out a week or so ago, but just managed to catch it, though remember really struggling to focus my vision on trying to sort some food out. Couldn't focus on getting the coca cola or lucozade to recover. When I do sense a hypo, and I feel it's quite bad it isn't that low (3.0-3.4), and often I feel fine even when the BG is below 3.0 or 2.0 Overall my hypo awareness isn't good enough, but not sure if anybody could guarantee that they are aware of all their hypos.

Aug 7, 2010 meltow 78 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Loss of Hypo warning signs I had a BG of 1.8 this week, and nothing felt or showing. Yikes! Never fitted yet, and fingers crossed it isn't about to start. I live alone which is a little disconcerting, but if I tend to go low, most of these are in the night and, it never fails to wake me up. Very heavy sweats, and it may take me a while to be compus mentus and focus on what is happening. But I have always managed to take +ve action, and these BGs are usually around 2.5 to 2.9. I do have a good friend and she is brilliant at picking up the signs - usually 'cos I start talking gibberish, my mind is definitely wandering and I can't formulate a good response to a question! Then she notices the sweats starting........

Aug 7, 2010 Nat 30 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. .... I also took my BI dose (before Dafne and when I was on fixed amounts) so 22 units of Novorapid. I had only been diabetic for a year and had to eat weetabix every 2 hours throughout the night - that was a lesson I will never forget.

Aug 7, 2010 Nat 30 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. Yes, I often sit at dinner and say to the children can you remember if I have done my injection and my little boy usually says "yes mummy look your arm is bleeding" and we all laugh. I too get people asking if it hurts or how can you do that every day, but I have had diabetes for 19 years and have now had it longer than I didn't so really have forgotten the before!

Aug 7, 2010 Simon 578 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. Jenny - yes I've only had it for 4 years but I often forget if I've taken my insulin, as it has become second nature to me now. One time I made a mistake and injected twice - then a couple of hours later had to eat nearly a whole packet of jelly babies to correct! Not making that mistake again...

Aug 7, 2010 Jennypenny 34 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Loss of Hypo warning signs Sorry Judith like Toni , i have not had return of hypo signs if anything i have also lost the signs that my family would pick up on eg , paleness , talking gobbydigook, staring etc The other day my blood sugar was 2.1 on a random blood test and my husband said ' You didnt even appear hypo to us 'Which causes some concern as i too fit if blood goes under 2

Aug 7, 2010 Jennypenny 34 posts	Topic: General Discussion / DAFNE and Employers Hi , i did a DAFNE course in June , i was told i would have to take it as paid sick but it would not be added to my sickness total for the year . When i first started at my place of employment i was told that due to the DDA ( as in post above ) Employers have to be seen to be making Reasonable adjustments . And there is a current advert on the telly at mo that states this too .

Aug 7, 2010 Jennypenny 34 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Dawn Phenomenon Hi i too suffer with DP , 3am checks are showing big dips during the night ( not good as i suffer with hypo unawareness !!) and then massively high blood sugars in the moring 18+ , i am now waiting for a pump as hypo unawareness and DP are two factors as to why a pump will help .

Aug 7, 2010 Jennypenny 34 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. Hmm i guess i agree with Iain , i have had diabetes for 30 years since i was 10 and when people see me injecting a common response is ' Doesnt that get on your nerves ?' my response is 'No its more of an inconvenience really ' but after having diabetes for so long it also becomes a habit quite a few times i will do my injection and have to ask my husband or sons if theyve seen me take it ! Does anyone else do this ?

Aug 7, 2010 Nat 30 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. Claire, I only got to 35 weeks and 37 weeks with my first and last but with the middle one there was a discrepancy of 3 weeks in the dates mine was 1 week late and theirs well you can guess the rest. I was told that all diabetics have big babies due to the amount of insulin in their systems and that is why they scan you so much because their shoulder and tummy areas increase rapidly hence the reason they induce you early before you get to that stage.

Aug 7, 2010 Iain H 3 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. I have only ever referred to my diabetes as an inconvenience during 27 years of it.

Aug 7, 2010 toni 9 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. My kids are all healthy apart from the two youngest being diabetic, which is hereditary in my family! Good lluck with conceiving claire, if you go with the flow of things and keep working at your bgs, im sure will all come good. All three of my children were born early at 11lb+ ( BUT that had nothing to do with my diabetes) Good luck

Aug 6, 2010 claireadams 12 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. p.s how comes they let you go a week late with one of your babies? i was told they wouldnt let me go further than 38 weeks? As it happens my son was born at 36 weeks. My son is nearly 4 now and i have wanted another baby for a year

Aug 6, 2010 claireadams 12 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. Thanks Nat! That makes me feel so much better! Im definately a stress head and really think that must help to make my bg's high. When i was pregnant i found it easy to control because i was doing it for a better reason... but now i find it so hard to have good bg's because it seems so long before the consultant will agree to me trying for a baby. Last year i was in intensive care with ketoacidosis and my hba1c was 16 then... but now ive worked hard to get it to 10% and i just dont know how much harder i can do... feel like giving up! i know that once im pregnant i will control my bg's much better and be able to resist all the 'bad' stuff but am so scared to conceive until ive got a good hba1c as the first baby i conceived (before i was diagnosed with type 1) i lost... and i know a type 1 who went through the whole 9 months and then had a still birth.. it terrifies me! To be honest the hospital scare me more because they're constantly talking about the risks of me getting pregnant without having perfect hba1c to conceive (they say 6%!!!) ... i say '6%!!!! they must be bloody joking, its going to be hard enough for me to get to 8%) ... so they agreed i can start taking folic when im 8%. i breastfed my son for 8 months.. but when he was first born the nurse gave my baby a bottle because she said if i didnt bottle feed my baby would go in intensive care (which i later found out was a lie!! ...but thats another story- they just couldnt be bothered to show me how to breastfeed) Thankyou so much Nat, because i rarely meet any type 1's who have been pregnant let alone had 3 healthy babies and still lived a 'normal' life

Aug 6, 2010 Nat 30 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes............. Claire You will be fine to be honest I don't know what my hba1c was on the last count. My first daughter is was well in the 13s as like I said I was so desperate I just went ahead and conceived. I do find though that once I am pregnant things settle down quite well although I am totally white flour intolerant so all the nice stuff was off the list. My babies all varied in weight due to the diabetes 6lb 15oz at 5 weeks early, 9lb 10oz but one week late and 8lb 15oz at 3 weeks early but both my husband and I were 8lb babies so was it all diabetes or something in our genes!! I think as long as you aren't eating chocolate and really bad stuff day in and day out you have to be happy and you can't think that you can't have a family because of it. I was certainly more concerned the second time round and it took me 4 years to conceive and stress certainly plays a big part in your blood sugars. When my middle child was born she was so quick 1 hour 20 mins from start to finish I didn't have time to go on a sliding scale infusion and gave birth on one banana ha ha !!! I have no worries over the children, my first daughter was born with low sugars and they put her on a glucose drip and I didn't know any better but with my second daughter (the banana) I refused to let her have the glucose and demanded that they let me breast feed her as I had read that breast milk (or colostrom - excuse spelling) was better at regulating blood sugars and after a good old feed her sugars were perfect. My son had other (non diabetic related) complications so he had to go to special care and have glucose but it took him a good couple of days to regulate his blood sugars. Just make sure you take your folic acid as that is very important to and remember that you still have to live and with all the control in world doesn't always mean things work out perfectly so just do your best.

Aug 6, 2010 claireadams 12 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Exhaustion Hi Athena, Just to let you know that since i was diagnosed with diabetes my bg has run consistently high and exhaustion is not the word! When my bg is between 16-late 20's i can hardley move my body because i am so tired, like my body is shutting down and if i shut my eyes for 2 seconds id fall asleep... then when i finally got my hba1c lower it made me feel normal again. Whenever my bg is high my body is exhausted. The only thing i can do is take a couple of units and sleep it off or if i force myself to go for a half hour swim it brings my bg back to normal and i feel ok again. I just assumed that everyone who was diabetic suffered the same sort of exhaustion, but i suppose we all have different side affects. Maybe i should talk to my consultant about this too! could be anemia?