Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

Mar 15, 2010

Rachie Wilson 9 posts

Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne

Hi Vic

I do suffer from some hypo's but i usually know when my bloods are dropping as i get really bad headaches. Mine tend to be mid morning or mid afternoon but I have only been on DAFNE since Jan so still a bit of trial and error to be honest. I also do tend to get high's on a morning only and then for the rest of the day I am fine. I really didn't expect my HBAC1 to have dropped that much in such a short time but i am really pleased that it has. I am back for a review tomorrow with the group that did DAFNE in Jan so i am really looking forward to seeing how everyone else is doing.

Mar 15, 2010

Adam Taylor 1 post

Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes and minor illness

I have been diabetic for about seven years now. In the past few years I have found that whenever I'm coming down with a cold or a minor bug, often a couple of days before any other symptoms, I'll find that I'm really tired - to the point of falling asleep at work or not being able to get up in the morning.

The first couple of times this happened I went to my GP and he said that my immune system was having to work harder due to the diabetes so fighting the bug made me tired.

Has anyone else ever experienced this?

Mar 15, 2010

nbraidwood 2 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Advice on sugar levels after exercise

Thank you all for your input. From reading all your responses I think I have the answer. I tend to exercise around 6pm, which is more than 4 hours after my lunchtime QA insulin and just before my split background insulin, so the answer is that I don't have any insulin in my system to handle the energy my body pumps out. I'll try out giving myself a small injection beforehand (assuming my sugar level allows) and see how I get on. For those of you interested I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again all......

Mar 15, 2010

qprfcmark 3 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Lantus Lasting 24 hours?

Diabetic nurse advised me to split the 22 units of Lantus at 22:00 into 2 separate doses of 12 units at 22:00 and 10 units at 08:00. The results were instant and the BG levels at 18:00 & 22:00 are now on target, so Lantus is now lasting the 24 hour cycle! Regards Mark.

Mar 15, 2010

vic demain 87 posts

Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne

Hi,

I have probably worded it wrong. We were told on the course that there shouldn't be the need to test more than four times per day, and not to test just for the sake of it. Of course if one feels low then it would be natural to test and confirm.
Not concerned about my Lantus running out before the 24 hrs, as I have morning hypo's as well as the occasional high. Fay, I think a one unit adjustment pen would be good for me thanks.
Rachie, glad all is going well for you and congratulations on the great results. Given such low overall figures, do you suffer many hypo's?

Regards, Vic.

Mar 15, 2010

Rachie Wilson 9 posts

Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne

Hi

I have been on DAFNE since the middle of Jan this year and my HBAC1 was 8.3 just had my HBAC1 done again and it has come down to 6.6 which I am really please about. I really didn't think i would be able to get my HBAC1 down as i always seemed to stick between 7.7-8.3 and have been now for the last two years. Thanks to going on DAFNE i have managed to get it back into target.

Mar 15, 2010

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Advice on sugar levels after exercise

Hi, You don't say when you are exercising in relation to your injections. You are not experiencing an 'artificial high' as Alan says its your body pumping out 'energy' for your muscles to
use that causes the high and without insulin to make use of it, it stays in your blood. The issue may be that your QA has worn off and so your don't have any insulin to help 'process' the blood sugar. Correction doses after exercise are not a good idea. The effects of exercise can last upto 24 hours afterwards and as soon as you put insulin into your system all that
blood sugar can then be used lowering your BG. Thats why its recommended that you reduce your BI before exercise.
Without the missing info its hard to give any advice, the same goes for Debs, when you say you exercised before breakfast, is this before any injections ? if so that would make sense for the reasons above, no insulin to process the blood sugar. you have to think about the insulin profile ( its in the DAFNE handbook) and the effect it will have on exercise and food intake. Its important to remember the after effect of exercise as well as this can catch you out hours later ( or even the next day).

Mar 15, 2010

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne

Vic, I am shocked your were told only to do 4 test per day. I was told to test as many times as necessary and to test more if I'm ill or changing ratio's etc. I was never told that there was 'no need to do more'. If ever you feel low then do a test regardless of the number you have done already.
With regards to hypos, it does sound like your background was not correct. I suspect the morning high results are due to the 'dawn phenomenon' (see posts in 'Questions for HCPs' forum), I like probably many other people have the same issue with morning BG's. The problem is BI is probably not going to fix the issue. I won't replicate the discussions here as it has been covered on the other forum. Is it possible to split Lantus into two doses ? Maybe a question for your Diabetes team, I am on Levimir and find it much better now I have split it too two doses one in the evening and one in the morning. I know BI is supposed to be largely even over 24 hours but the reality is often different and splitting it may help resolve the issue, but thats something to decide on advice from experts ( rather than other graduates)

Mar 14, 2010

danny mcgeehan 2 posts

Topic: General Discussion / What meter are you using?

Optium Xceed

Mar 14, 2010

Fay 4 posts

Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne

Hi Vic

Must admit I test my BG more than 4 times per day if I feel I need to. Have been having some highs myself and have been testing up to 7 times a day as have changed my Lantus from 17:30 to 21:00 and found some time ago that it doesn't last 24 hours for me. Whilst having problems, my DSN told me to test during the night between 2-6 am but at diffent times to see if I was hypoing. She said that my BG shouldn't be below 4.5 during the night. May be worth you checking for a week too, just to see. Wonder if it would help you to have 21 units of Lantus. I use an Autopen 24 (green coloured) for my Lantus that goes up in single units.

Mar 14, 2010

vic demain 87 posts

Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne

Hi Fay,
Thanks for the reply.
My ratio's are mainly 1:1 and 20 units of Lantus at bed.
Have reduced the BI quite a bit and find on 20 I get high morning results but on 22 run the risk of waking hypo and that continuing through the day.
When taking breakfast dose this morning I was 11.3, two hrs later checked and was 14.1, by lunch was 6.2.
Was told on the course, we should only do four tests per day, there was no need to do more.
No hypo's today and that has to be good, feel so much better for it, although hate running high as well.
Regards.
Vic.

Mar 14, 2010

Fay 4 posts

Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne

Hi Vic

What ratios do you use at mealtimes for your CP/QA and are these correct for you? If they are, try lowering your background insulin and see if this will help sort out the hypos for you. It may also be worth checking your BG 2 hours after a meal. Perhaps if it's low then, you may need to adjust your QA. It's trial and error but remember to adjust just one thing at once.

Keep us posted on how it's going!

Mar 13, 2010

vic demain 87 posts

Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne

As I stated above, I think DAFNE is great and am determined to stick with it, however 4 months down the line and having followed the rules religiously, I feel terrible a lot of the time. I have had so many hypo's, sometimes three a day, and feel constantly listless and lacking any energy. I fall asleep watching television every night and this is while I am not into my busiest period at work, which is the summer months.
I may just be having a bad few days but I am not ill or depressed. Will stick at it though and keep trying to make adjustments and improvements.
Vic.

Mar 13, 2010

Alan 49 284 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Advice on sugar levels after exercise

I've been early-morning swimming for some time and I noticed that my BG was higher after the swim than before. I mentioned this on the DAFNE course and was told that the swim induced an 'adrenalin rush', which evidently triggers the release of glucagon from the liver - hence the increase in BG. What I do now is - if the BG before the swim is higher that 6 I give myself 1 unit of QA insulin - that seems to work for me.

Mar 13, 2010

Debs Ledger 9 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Advice on sugar levels after exercise

Hi,

I have this problem too! I went swimming first thing in the morning before breakfast, swam 20 lengths & started to feel unwell, got out & tested & was just under 20. The next time I went I started off at 7.0 & after 30 mins was 2.1 I am now worried about exercise on my own, even walking my daughter to school can give me a raging high or a low at about 10am....... I am at a loss as to what to do next! Maybe someone else will be able to help

Dx

Mar 12, 2010

nbraidwood 2 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Advice on sugar levels after exercise

Can anyone help: After strenuous exerice my sugar readings are sky high! Artificially so because if I do a correction injection I hypo spectacularly after. I now don't do that correction injection, but just wondered how I can avoid my sugar levels going up during the exercise. DAPHNE guidelines suggest eating more cp's before exercise or cutting back on the earlier injection, but there is nothing on what happens in my scenario. Help?!

Mar 12, 2010

Simon 578 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Bayer Contour USB Meter

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Serial_Programming/Serial_Java#Using_Java_for_Serial_Communication

I've only skimmed this page but it seems you can use javax.comm which is platform independent, and rxtx which provides the platform-specific libraries.

Mar 12, 2010

jovifreak 4 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Giving birth without an insulin/glucose drip

Hi

I've had 3 girls, 17, 16 & 13 now.

1 - Induced at 38 weeks - used a glucose drip, pethadine, gas & air - I could hear the drip bleeping and was either hypo or high but thought there was a budgie in the room and I hate birds !! Baby born was 8lb 2oz

2 - again induced at 38 weeks, I don't remember having a drip but had gas & air and petadine baby was 9lb 2oz

3 - bit more experienced by this time - went into labour in afternoon, got kids fed, bathed and in bed and sorted out a baby sitter before coming to hospital when I couldn't stand it anymore - I was only in the labour room for 5 mins before having baby - no drips, no drugs lol and a healthy 9lb 12oz !

We do have bigger babies but the weight droped off mine in a couple of days, not so much that their weight dropped a lot, but they lost the excess blubber !! None of mine were fed at birth, they were passed to me and we moved to a ward, where i was encouraged to breast feed when they were hungry. breast feeding wasn't for me (it hurt like heck) so they were all bottle fed and fine.

Diane

Mar 12, 2010

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Bayer Contour USB Meter

I'm not sure it is a good suggestion guys, Java is a platform independent language ( well at least it should be if we keep it away from Microsoft). That means it doesn't know or care what the hardware it runs on is. It may be that you can get at a COM port in java but generally it would be frowned upon since its breaking the platform independence rules. This software needs to access the COM ( serial) port to talk directly to the meter.

Sorry if thats a bit techie, I don't know what level of IT you all understand, obviously I do it full time, hence the geeky posting ;^)

Mar 12, 2010

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Bayer Contour USB Meter

Woo, java is a good suggestion in response to this potential problem! Very Happy

Mar 12, 2010

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: General Discussion / What meter are you using?

I've just joined the ranks of One Touch Ultra Easy!

Mar 11, 2010

Yokel 3 posts

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

I also have an ipod touch. I would like a version of the CP list which doesn't rely on internet access. Often restaurants etc don't have wi-fi and we camp alot so would like to be able to look at the CP list offline.
The diary could rely on wi-fi but ideally not.
Hope that helps!

Mar 15, 2010 Rachie Wilson 9 posts	Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne Hi Vic I do suffer from some hypo's but i usually know when my bloods are dropping as i get really bad headaches. Mine tend to be mid morning or mid afternoon but I have only been on DAFNE since Jan so still a bit of trial and error to be honest. I also do tend to get high's on a morning only and then for the rest of the day I am fine. I really didn't expect my HBAC1 to have dropped that much in such a short time but i am really pleased that it has. I am back for a review tomorrow with the group that did DAFNE in Jan so i am really looking forward to seeing how everyone else is doing.

Mar 15, 2010 Adam Taylor 1 post	Topic: General Discussion / Diabetes and minor illness I have been diabetic for about seven years now. In the past few years I have found that whenever I'm coming down with a cold or a minor bug, often a couple of days before any other symptoms, I'll find that I'm really tired - to the point of falling asleep at work or not being able to get up in the morning. The first couple of times this happened I went to my GP and he said that my immune system was having to work harder due to the diabetes so fighting the bug made me tired. Has anyone else ever experienced this?

Mar 15, 2010 nbraidwood 2 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Advice on sugar levels after exercise Thank you all for your input. From reading all your responses I think I have the answer. I tend to exercise around 6pm, which is more than 4 hours after my lunchtime QA insulin and just before my split background insulin, so the answer is that I don't have any insulin in my system to handle the energy my body pumps out. I'll try out giving myself a small injection beforehand (assuming my sugar level allows) and see how I get on. For those of you interested I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again all......

Mar 15, 2010 qprfcmark 3 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Lantus Lasting 24 hours? Diabetic nurse advised me to split the 22 units of Lantus at 22:00 into 2 separate doses of 12 units at 22:00 and 10 units at 08:00. The results were instant and the BG levels at 18:00 & 22:00 are now on target, so Lantus is now lasting the 24 hour cycle! Regards Mark.

Mar 15, 2010 vic demain 87 posts	Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne Hi, I have probably worded it wrong. We were told on the course that there shouldn't be the need to test more than four times per day, and not to test just for the sake of it. Of course if one feels low then it would be natural to test and confirm. Not concerned about my Lantus running out before the 24 hrs, as I have morning hypo's as well as the occasional high. Fay, I think a one unit adjustment pen would be good for me thanks. Rachie, glad all is going well for you and congratulations on the great results. Given such low overall figures, do you suffer many hypo's? Regards, Vic.

Mar 15, 2010 Rachie Wilson 9 posts	Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne Hi I have been on DAFNE since the middle of Jan this year and my HBAC1 was 8.3 just had my HBAC1 done again and it has come down to 6.6 which I am really please about. I really didn't think i would be able to get my HBAC1 down as i always seemed to stick between 7.7-8.3 and have been now for the last two years. Thanks to going on DAFNE i have managed to get it back into target.

Mar 15, 2010 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Advice on sugar levels after exercise Hi, You don't say when you are exercising in relation to your injections. You are not experiencing an 'artificial high' as Alan says its your body pumping out 'energy' for your muscles to use that causes the high and without insulin to make use of it, it stays in your blood. The issue may be that your QA has worn off and so your don't have any insulin to help 'process' the blood sugar. Correction doses after exercise are not a good idea. The effects of exercise can last upto 24 hours afterwards and as soon as you put insulin into your system all that blood sugar can then be used lowering your BG. Thats why its recommended that you reduce your BI before exercise. Without the missing info its hard to give any advice, the same goes for Debs, when you say you exercised before breakfast, is this before any injections ? if so that would make sense for the reasons above, no insulin to process the blood sugar. you have to think about the insulin profile ( its in the DAFNE handbook) and the effect it will have on exercise and food intake. Its important to remember the after effect of exercise as well as this can catch you out hours later ( or even the next day).

Mar 15, 2010 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne Vic, I am shocked your were told only to do 4 test per day. I was told to test as many times as necessary and to test more if I'm ill or changing ratio's etc. I was never told that there was 'no need to do more'. If ever you feel low then do a test regardless of the number you have done already. With regards to hypos, it does sound like your background was not correct. I suspect the morning high results are due to the 'dawn phenomenon' (see posts in 'Questions for HCPs' forum), I like probably many other people have the same issue with morning BG's. The problem is BI is probably not going to fix the issue. I won't replicate the discussions here as it has been covered on the other forum. Is it possible to split Lantus into two doses ? Maybe a question for your Diabetes team, I am on Levimir and find it much better now I have split it too two doses one in the evening and one in the morning. I know BI is supposed to be largely even over 24 hours but the reality is often different and splitting it may help resolve the issue, but thats something to decide on advice from experts ( rather than other graduates)

Mar 14, 2010 danny mcgeehan 2 posts	Topic: General Discussion / What meter are you using? Optium Xceed

Mar 14, 2010 Fay 4 posts	Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne Hi Vic Must admit I test my BG more than 4 times per day if I feel I need to. Have been having some highs myself and have been testing up to 7 times a day as have changed my Lantus from 17:30 to 21:00 and found some time ago that it doesn't last 24 hours for me. Whilst having problems, my DSN told me to test during the night between 2-6 am but at diffent times to see if I was hypoing. She said that my BG shouldn't be below 4.5 during the night. May be worth you checking for a week too, just to see. Wonder if it would help you to have 21 units of Lantus. I use an Autopen 24 (green coloured) for my Lantus that goes up in single units.

Mar 14, 2010 vic demain 87 posts	Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne Hi Fay, Thanks for the reply. My ratio's are mainly 1:1 and 20 units of Lantus at bed. Have reduced the BI quite a bit and find on 20 I get high morning results but on 22 run the risk of waking hypo and that continuing through the day. When taking breakfast dose this morning I was 11.3, two hrs later checked and was 14.1, by lunch was 6.2. Was told on the course, we should only do four tests per day, there was no need to do more. No hypo's today and that has to be good, feel so much better for it, although hate running high as well. Regards. Vic.

Mar 14, 2010 Fay 4 posts	Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne Hi Vic What ratios do you use at mealtimes for your CP/QA and are these correct for you? If they are, try lowering your background insulin and see if this will help sort out the hypos for you. It may also be worth checking your BG 2 hours after a meal. Perhaps if it's low then, you may need to adjust your QA. It's trial and error but remember to adjust just one thing at once. Keep us posted on how it's going!

Mar 13, 2010 vic demain 87 posts	Topic: General Discussion / How good is dafne As I stated above, I think DAFNE is great and am determined to stick with it, however 4 months down the line and having followed the rules religiously, I feel terrible a lot of the time. I have had so many hypo's, sometimes three a day, and feel constantly listless and lacking any energy. I fall asleep watching television every night and this is while I am not into my busiest period at work, which is the summer months. I may just be having a bad few days but I am not ill or depressed. Will stick at it though and keep trying to make adjustments and improvements. Vic.

Mar 13, 2010 Alan 49 284 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Advice on sugar levels after exercise I've been early-morning swimming for some time and I noticed that my BG was higher after the swim than before. I mentioned this on the DAFNE course and was told that the swim induced an 'adrenalin rush', which evidently triggers the release of glucagon from the liver - hence the increase in BG. What I do now is - if the BG before the swim is higher that 6 I give myself 1 unit of QA insulin - that seems to work for me.

Mar 13, 2010 Debs Ledger 9 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Advice on sugar levels after exercise Hi, I have this problem too! I went swimming first thing in the morning before breakfast, swam 20 lengths & started to feel unwell, got out & tested & was just under 20. The next time I went I started off at 7.0 & after 30 mins was 2.1 I am now worried about exercise on my own, even walking my daughter to school can give me a raging high or a low at about 10am....... I am at a loss as to what to do next! Maybe someone else will be able to help Dx

Mar 12, 2010 nbraidwood 2 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Advice on sugar levels after exercise Can anyone help: After strenuous exerice my sugar readings are sky high! Artificially so because if I do a correction injection I hypo spectacularly after. I now don't do that correction injection, but just wondered how I can avoid my sugar levels going up during the exercise. DAPHNE guidelines suggest eating more cp's before exercise or cutting back on the earlier injection, but there is nothing on what happens in my scenario. Help?!

Mar 12, 2010 Simon 578 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Bayer Contour USB Meter http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Serial_Programming/Serial_Java#Using_Java_for_Serial_Communication I've only skimmed this page but it seems you can use javax.comm which is platform independent, and rxtx which provides the platform-specific libraries.

Mar 12, 2010 jovifreak 4 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Giving birth without an insulin/glucose drip Hi I've had 3 girls, 17, 16 & 13 now. 1 - Induced at 38 weeks - used a glucose drip, pethadine, gas & air - I could hear the drip bleeping and was either hypo or high but thought there was a budgie in the room and I hate birds !! Baby born was 8lb 2oz 2 - again induced at 38 weeks, I don't remember having a drip but had gas & air and petadine baby was 9lb 2oz 3 - bit more experienced by this time - went into labour in afternoon, got kids fed, bathed and in bed and sorted out a baby sitter before coming to hospital when I couldn't stand it anymore - I was only in the labour room for 5 mins before having baby - no drips, no drugs lol and a healthy 9lb 12oz ! We do have bigger babies but the weight droped off mine in a couple of days, not so much that their weight dropped a lot, but they lost the excess blubber !! None of mine were fed at birth, they were passed to me and we moved to a ward, where i was encouraged to breast feed when they were hungry. breast feeding wasn't for me (it hurt like heck) so they were all bottle fed and fine. Diane

Mar 12, 2010 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Bayer Contour USB Meter I'm not sure it is a good suggestion guys, Java is a platform independent language ( well at least it should be if we keep it away from Microsoft). That means it doesn't know or care what the hardware it runs on is. It may be that you can get at a COM port in java but generally it would be frowned upon since its breaking the platform independence rules. This software needs to access the COM ( serial) port to talk directly to the meter. Sorry if thats a bit techie, I don't know what level of IT you all understand, obviously I do it full time, hence the geeky posting ;^)

Mar 12, 2010 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Bayer Contour USB Meter Woo, java is a good suggestion in response to this potential problem!

Mar 12, 2010 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: General Discussion / What meter are you using? I've just joined the ranks of One Touch Ultra Easy!

Mar 11, 2010 Yokel 3 posts	Topic: Site Development / DAFNE Online iPhone application - help with content/design needed I also have an ipod touch. I would like a version of the CP list which doesn't rely on internet access. Often restaurants etc don't have wi-fi and we camp alot so would like to be able to look at the CP list offline. The diary could rely on wi-fi but ideally not. Hope that helps!