Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

Aug 9, 2009

lucy 3 posts

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

Hello! I'm looking for further information / personal experiences about giving birth without being on an insulin/glucose drip. I'm 33 weeks pregnant with my first baby, DAFNE trained & well controlled. I'm eager to have the most natural birth experience possible. Thank you!

Aug 7, 2009

Simon 578 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Avocado

Hi John,

That's a really good point about the low GI foods being included - maybe a separate list could be added to the Carb Counting book. I'll feed this back to DAFNE Central.

Thanks,

Simon

Aug 7, 2009

John Roscoe 14 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Avocado

Simon,
As I understand it some things aren't included because although they contain carbohydrate they have a low GI and are so slowly absorbed that they aren't counted. So this then leads to confusion between things not included because they don't contain CHO, things that are CHO containing and low GI and therefore should not be counted and things that just haven't been iincluded yet. In some ways it would be good if the low GI, CHO containing items were added with a note saying you don't need to count them. Sorry if I have confused things but I have been caught out with this in the past.
Cheers
John

Aug 6, 2009

Simon 578 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Avocado

Guys,

It's true that the Carb book we get on the DAFNE Course doesn't have everything in - this is unfortunate but understandable as the people who make it can't possibly sample every type/brand of food out there, in much the same way that a dictionary doesn't have every word in the English language. If something is missing and you go on to find out the CP value of a portion, you can add your findings to the online carb counter we have here on the site. You never know - it may feed into the paper based diary in the future.

Simon

Aug 6, 2009

John Roscoe 14 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Avocado

Hi Bill,
I think you are right as I believe Avacado has a very low GI and so will be absorbed very slowly so therefore you don't count it.
However your comment touches on a wider issue that if something isn't included in the DAFNE carb counter can you automatically assume you don't count it. This is the one weakness with the carb counter as it doesn't cover everything. I raised this at a recent DAFNE follow up meeting with our dietician and there doesn't seem to be an answer other than it is recognised that this a weakness of the system.
Regards
John

Aug 5, 2009

Buffalo Bill... 1 post

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Avocado

Hi there,

anybody know if you need insulin for an avocado? My gut instinct tells me no but I checked it online and it has 12 g CHO for 150g of avocado. Anyone any experience of this to share?

Can I presume if a fruit is not in the DAFNE carb counter book, then it is a 0 CP food?

thanks,

Aug 5, 2009

marke 686 posts

Topic: DAFNE Graduate Group (DGG) / DAFNE user group first meeting

I am posting this here because we haven't had time to create a specific area on the site for the user group as yet.
As soon as time permits we will have a dedicated area for the DAFNE User Group. Anyway, in the spirit of keeping you all
informed, the minutes of the first meeting of the DAFNE User Action Group (DUAG) are here.
The group is intended to represent YOU and your views (DAFNE Graduates) to the steering groups within the DAFNE Programme.
The minutes give a much better summary of the group and its current state, so I will leave you to read them :-)

Aug 4, 2009

Simon 578 posts

Topic: Site Development / Can User lists topics be alphabetically listed?

Hi Tony,

Welcome to the site and thanks for your feedback - its always good to hear what our users want. I'd just like to get clarification on some of your points:

What do you mean when you say the page index links - is this the list of forums/topics or something else?

I assume when you say link you mean by attaching your blood glucose meter to your computer. In practice the site is set up to do this as we can accept formatted data, extracting the data from meters is more difficult as meter manufacturers don't seem to want third parties to access data on their devices directly - meaning that they use obscure access methods which different from meter to meter. If you have contacts with meter companies who may be able to assist us with APIs/other access methods to the device data that would be most welcome as this is a feature we'd love to have on the site.

Thanks again for your feedback, and we hope you find the site a useful resource.

Simon

Aug 4, 2009

tonyd 9 posts

Topic: Site Development / Can User lists topics be alphabetically listed?

Hi there Admin Team!

As a new user great site and credit to you for your hard work and efforts in getting the site this far already guys.

Any chance that page index links can be listed alphabetically rather than by numbers?

Will bloods eventually be able to downloaded by link rather than manually? Do you need any contacts with meter companies?

Apologies if this is all in the pipeline or has been asked for already or cant be done.

Aug 4, 2009

tonyd 9 posts

Topic: General Discussion / DAFNE in peril at the Wirral

Its a terrible decision but what happened to the complaints made? Did anyone ever get a reply from the Trust?

Aug 3, 2009

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Increasing awareness of this fourm.

Widster,
Thanks for your positive actions, I agree it would be good if others could do the same with such positive results. To this end we will be approaching members of the site in the near future in the guise of the DAFNE User Action Group. This is the elected 'users group' for the DAFNE programme. The group has only just had its first meeting and is still getting orgainised, but in the near future there will be more information about the group on this site and requests for your involvement in publicising and moving DAFNE forward.

In the mean time thank you again for your efforts !

Aug 3, 2009

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Increasing awareness of this fourm.

I asked my DAFNE nurse about getting a code because I lost my original letter telling me I was a graduate, which from what I understand the code was on it but I couldn't work out where it was on the leaflet before losing it. Has anyone else had this trouble? Unfortunately, the new code the nurse gave me was incorrect so I will be asking again....

I do recommend DAFNE to those that I know just incase they know someone who might need it... I really ought to think to recommend this forum too! I shall in future.

Aug 3, 2009

Derek Brown 32 posts

Topic: Site Development / Online BG Diaries

Hi Simon

That's exactly what I was after Smile

Thanks again

Derek

Aug 2, 2009

Simon 578 posts

Topic: Site Development / Online BG Diaries

Hi Derek / All

You are now able to add the ratio when entering diary entries - this is possible when entering them one at a time, using the multiple entry page and via the mobile site too. The ratio of a diary entry is displayed in the tabular view for that entry.

Hope this is what you were after - let us know if not / there are any problems with the update.

Thanks,

Simon

Jul 31, 2009

Widster 23 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Increasing awareness of this fourm.

Thanks for the comments Simon. Just to let you know that the educator at Leicester has today sent out an email to all the Leicester DAFNE graduates, past and present, giving a link to the site and also giving the registration code. I'm really pleased that she has done this as others may now benefit from the site and we will benefit from their input.

Also, one other way i have thought of to get increased coverage of the forum would be a write up or comment in 'Balance' magazine.

Jul 31, 2009

Derek Brown 32 posts

Topic: Site Development / Online BG Diaries

Hi Simon

I'd prefer the manual input option personnaly.

I think that removing + or - correction values would make readings confusing as well, unless I'm not understanding this corectly.

Jul 31, 2009

ABennett 2 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Needle Bins

I've always had my own sharps bin, since my diagnosis in 1991. Unfortunately my local council has recently changed its policy on how I dispose of full ones, so I now can't take them to my doctors surgery, but instead have to ring up a private contractor who will deliver a new one (and take away the old one) within 3 weeks! Luckly, the system at my university is better organised and I can just take them into my surgery and get a new one. Its worth asking about a prescription for one as its much less hassle than trying to explain why you need one to a pharmasist who won't believe you're diabetic!

Jul 30, 2009

ABennett 2 posts

Topic: General Discussion / "Balance" letter about injecting in public

Whenever I'm sitting at a table with people, whether I'm familiar with them or not, I always ask if anyone would object to me injecting there and have always had the same sort of response: Why on earth are you asking! Most people accept that, unfortunately, injecting is part of who I am and if I'm honest, I'm not sure I'd want to associate with people who want me to go back to my old ways of skulking of to the loos to inject. When I was younger (I was diagnosed before I was 2), having to always go to the loos always made me feel like my diabetes was a dirty secret, and I do hope that the article hasn't made newly diagnosed diabetics feel like they have to hide away like I did

Jul 30, 2009

Simon 578 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Increasing awareness of this fourm.

We have a mechanism in place to get the message out to the DAFNE Educators at each centre, sending them flyers with registration instructions, and also instructions on how to generate a registration code for their centre. It is then in their hands to spread the message to their graduates, as they are the only ones who know who has been educated at their centre - there is no central list of DAFNE Graduates, which is a shame. So far this has given us mixed results, with some centres (such as Leicester) getting a high number of Educator + Graduate signups, whilst other centres have had no presence on the site at all. Obviously we'd like to improve this as most feedback we've had has been positive and people really think this is a great support resource. So... Echoing what Widster said - let your DAFNE Educator/fellow Graduates know about the site, spread the word any way you can. If you think of a new, innovative way to market the site then let us know, we'll do everything we can to make it bigger, better and more accessible to those who need it most.

Jul 30, 2009

NiVZ 82 posts

Topic: Site Development / BG Graphs

Hi Simon,

Looks fine now. Can't believe how quickly you guys fix and implement things!!

Thanks again for all your hard work on this site Smile

NiVZ

Jul 30, 2009

Widster 23 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Increasing awareness of this fourm.

After logging on today i was surprised by the limited number of peopel contributing to the forum. I know it's in it's infancy but i am sure there are more DAFNE graduates and other people with diabetes out there who would like to contribute. So, i have just emailed the 'Diabetes Education Support Administrator' at University Hospitals Leicester (where i did my course a few years ago) to see if she can remind people. It would be useful if some other DAFNE graduates could find the time to ask their respective hospitals or DAFNE administrators to email or circulate the web address to other DAFNE graduates? After all, the more people using the forum the better for everyone. Just a thought....... Widster

Jul 30, 2009

Widster 23 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Mobile site released

That would be great. Don't want to sound like i am complaining though! It's always easy to criticise but i'm sure there has been a lot of hard work gone into the creation of this forum and i think i speak for everyone when i say it is all much appreciated.

Jul 30, 2009

Simon 578 posts

Topic: Site Development / Online BG Diaries

One option if you wanted an automatic calculation would be to drop the correction value from QA,BI and CPs - so that in your example above '6+2' would just become '6' in the automatic calculation.

We're happy to do it either way Smile

Jul 29, 2009

Derek Brown 32 posts

Topic: Site Development / Online BG Diaries

Hi Simon

Thanks for your response.

I think another input box for adding it manually would be better, in my opinion anyway.

I'm also unsure if it can be formulated to work out a ratio from 2 CPs and 6+2. I know that this is a 3:1 ratio with a +2 correction but not sure if + - corrections would alter any automatic value?

Thats how I see it working from my circumstances, everyone is different

Thanks

Jul 29, 2009

Simon 578 posts

Topic: Site Development / BG Graphs

Hi NiVZ,

I've updated the graphs - it now says "No data for selected period" instead of the more obscure error if there are no BG results for the specified time period - I'm assuming there were no BG results in the set of data you were trying to graph when you got this error. If this is not the case then let me know.

Thanks,

Simon

Aug 9, 2009 lucy 3 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Giving birth without an insulin/glucose drip Hello! I'm looking for further information / personal experiences about giving birth without being on an insulin/glucose drip. I'm 33 weeks pregnant with my first baby, DAFNE trained & well controlled. I'm eager to have the most natural birth experience possible. Thank you!

Aug 7, 2009 Simon 578 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Avocado Hi John, That's a really good point about the low GI foods being included - maybe a separate list could be added to the Carb Counting book. I'll feed this back to DAFNE Central. Thanks, Simon

Aug 7, 2009 John Roscoe 14 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Avocado Simon, As I understand it some things aren't included because although they contain carbohydrate they have a low GI and are so slowly absorbed that they aren't counted. So this then leads to confusion between things not included because they don't contain CHO, things that are CHO containing and low GI and therefore should not be counted and things that just haven't been iincluded yet. In some ways it would be good if the low GI, CHO containing items were added with a note saying you don't need to count them. Sorry if I have confused things but I have been caught out with this in the past. Cheers John

Aug 6, 2009 Simon 578 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Avocado Guys, It's true that the Carb book we get on the DAFNE Course doesn't have everything in - this is unfortunate but understandable as the people who make it can't possibly sample every type/brand of food out there, in much the same way that a dictionary doesn't have every word in the English language. If something is missing and you go on to find out the CP value of a portion, you can add your findings to the online carb counter we have here on the site. You never know - it may feed into the paper based diary in the future. Simon

Aug 6, 2009 John Roscoe 14 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Avocado Hi Bill, I think you are right as I believe Avacado has a very low GI and so will be absorbed very slowly so therefore you don't count it. However your comment touches on a wider issue that if something isn't included in the DAFNE carb counter can you automatically assume you don't count it. This is the one weakness with the carb counter as it doesn't cover everything. I raised this at a recent DAFNE follow up meeting with our dietician and there doesn't seem to be an answer other than it is recognised that this a weakness of the system. Regards John

Aug 5, 2009 Buffalo Bill... 1 post	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Avocado Hi there, anybody know if you need insulin for an avocado? My gut instinct tells me no but I checked it online and it has 12 g CHO for 150g of avocado. Anyone any experience of this to share? Can I presume if a fruit is not in the DAFNE carb counter book, then it is a 0 CP food? thanks,

Aug 5, 2009 marke 686 posts	Topic: DAFNE Graduate Group (DGG) / DAFNE user group first meeting I am posting this here because we haven't had time to create a specific area on the site for the user group as yet. As soon as time permits we will have a dedicated area for the DAFNE User Group. Anyway, in the spirit of keeping you all informed, the minutes of the first meeting of the DAFNE User Action Group (DUAG) are here. The group is intended to represent YOU and your views (DAFNE Graduates) to the steering groups within the DAFNE Programme. The minutes give a much better summary of the group and its current state, so I will leave you to read them :-)

Aug 4, 2009 Simon 578 posts	Topic: Site Development / Can User lists topics be alphabetically listed? Hi Tony, Welcome to the site and thanks for your feedback - its always good to hear what our users want. I'd just like to get clarification on some of your points: What do you mean when you say the page index links - is this the list of forums/topics or something else? I assume when you say link you mean by attaching your blood glucose meter to your computer. In practice the site is set up to do this as we can accept formatted data, extracting the data from meters is more difficult as meter manufacturers don't seem to want third parties to access data on their devices directly - meaning that they use obscure access methods which different from meter to meter. If you have contacts with meter companies who may be able to assist us with APIs/other access methods to the device data that would be most welcome as this is a feature we'd love to have on the site. Thanks again for your feedback, and we hope you find the site a useful resource. Simon

Aug 4, 2009 tonyd 9 posts	Topic: Site Development / Can User lists topics be alphabetically listed? Hi there Admin Team! As a new user great site and credit to you for your hard work and efforts in getting the site this far already guys. Any chance that page index links can be listed alphabetically rather than by numbers? Will bloods eventually be able to downloaded by link rather than manually? Do you need any contacts with meter companies? Apologies if this is all in the pipeline or has been asked for already or cant be done.

Aug 4, 2009 tonyd 9 posts	Topic: General Discussion / DAFNE in peril at the Wirral Its a terrible decision but what happened to the complaints made? Did anyone ever get a reply from the Trust?

Aug 3, 2009 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Increasing awareness of this fourm. Widster, Thanks for your positive actions, I agree it would be good if others could do the same with such positive results. To this end we will be approaching members of the site in the near future in the guise of the DAFNE User Action Group. This is the elected 'users group' for the DAFNE programme. The group has only just had its first meeting and is still getting orgainised, but in the near future there will be more information about the group on this site and requests for your involvement in publicising and moving DAFNE forward. In the mean time thank you again for your efforts !

Aug 3, 2009 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Increasing awareness of this fourm. I asked my DAFNE nurse about getting a code because I lost my original letter telling me I was a graduate, which from what I understand the code was on it but I couldn't work out where it was on the leaflet before losing it. Has anyone else had this trouble? Unfortunately, the new code the nurse gave me was incorrect so I will be asking again.... I do recommend DAFNE to those that I know just incase they know someone who might need it... I really ought to think to recommend this forum too! I shall in future.

Aug 3, 2009 Derek Brown 32 posts	Topic: Site Development / Online BG Diaries Hi Simon That's exactly what I was after Thanks again Derek

Aug 2, 2009 Simon 578 posts	Topic: Site Development / Online BG Diaries Hi Derek / All You are now able to add the ratio when entering diary entries - this is possible when entering them one at a time, using the multiple entry page and via the mobile site too. The ratio of a diary entry is displayed in the tabular view for that entry. Hope this is what you were after - let us know if not / there are any problems with the update. Thanks, Simon

Jul 31, 2009 Widster 23 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Increasing awareness of this fourm. Thanks for the comments Simon. Just to let you know that the educator at Leicester has today sent out an email to all the Leicester DAFNE graduates, past and present, giving a link to the site and also giving the registration code. I'm really pleased that she has done this as others may now benefit from the site and we will benefit from their input. Also, one other way i have thought of to get increased coverage of the forum would be a write up or comment in 'Balance' magazine.

Jul 31, 2009 Derek Brown 32 posts	Topic: Site Development / Online BG Diaries Hi Simon I'd prefer the manual input option personnaly. I think that removing + or - correction values would make readings confusing as well, unless I'm not understanding this corectly.

Jul 31, 2009 ABennett 2 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Needle Bins I've always had my own sharps bin, since my diagnosis in 1991. Unfortunately my local council has recently changed its policy on how I dispose of full ones, so I now can't take them to my doctors surgery, but instead have to ring up a private contractor who will deliver a new one (and take away the old one) within 3 weeks! Luckly, the system at my university is better organised and I can just take them into my surgery and get a new one. Its worth asking about a prescription for one as its much less hassle than trying to explain why you need one to a pharmasist who won't believe you're diabetic!

Jul 30, 2009 ABennett 2 posts	Topic: General Discussion / "Balance" letter about injecting in public Whenever I'm sitting at a table with people, whether I'm familiar with them or not, I always ask if anyone would object to me injecting there and have always had the same sort of response: Why on earth are you asking! Most people accept that, unfortunately, injecting is part of who I am and if I'm honest, I'm not sure I'd want to associate with people who want me to go back to my old ways of skulking of to the loos to inject. When I was younger (I was diagnosed before I was 2), having to always go to the loos always made me feel like my diabetes was a dirty secret, and I do hope that the article hasn't made newly diagnosed diabetics feel like they have to hide away like I did

Jul 30, 2009 Simon 578 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Increasing awareness of this fourm. We have a mechanism in place to get the message out to the DAFNE Educators at each centre, sending them flyers with registration instructions, and also instructions on how to generate a registration code for their centre. It is then in their hands to spread the message to their graduates, as they are the only ones who know who has been educated at their centre - there is no central list of DAFNE Graduates, which is a shame. So far this has given us mixed results, with some centres (such as Leicester) getting a high number of Educator + Graduate signups, whilst other centres have had no presence on the site at all. Obviously we'd like to improve this as most feedback we've had has been positive and people really think this is a great support resource. So... Echoing what Widster said - let your DAFNE Educator/fellow Graduates know about the site, spread the word any way you can. If you think of a new, innovative way to market the site then let us know, we'll do everything we can to make it bigger, better and more accessible to those who need it most.

Jul 30, 2009 NiVZ 82 posts	Topic: Site Development / BG Graphs Hi Simon, Looks fine now. Can't believe how quickly you guys fix and implement things!! Thanks again for all your hard work on this site NiVZ

Jul 30, 2009 Widster 23 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Increasing awareness of this fourm. After logging on today i was surprised by the limited number of peopel contributing to the forum. I know it's in it's infancy but i am sure there are more DAFNE graduates and other people with diabetes out there who would like to contribute. So, i have just emailed the 'Diabetes Education Support Administrator' at University Hospitals Leicester (where i did my course a few years ago) to see if she can remind people. It would be useful if some other DAFNE graduates could find the time to ask their respective hospitals or DAFNE administrators to email or circulate the web address to other DAFNE graduates? After all, the more people using the forum the better for everyone. Just a thought....... Widster

Jul 30, 2009 Widster 23 posts	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Mobile site released That would be great. Don't want to sound like i am complaining though! It's always easy to criticise but i'm sure there has been a lot of hard work gone into the creation of this forum and i think i speak for everyone when i say it is all much appreciated.

Jul 30, 2009 Simon 578 posts	Topic: Site Development / Online BG Diaries One option if you wanted an automatic calculation would be to drop the correction value from QA,BI and CPs - so that in your example above '6+2' would just become '6' in the automatic calculation. We're happy to do it either way

Jul 29, 2009 Derek Brown 32 posts	Topic: Site Development / Online BG Diaries Hi Simon Thanks for your response. I think another input box for adding it manually would be better, in my opinion anyway. I'm also unsure if it can be formulated to work out a ratio from 2 CPs and 6+2. I know that this is a 3:1 ratio with a +2 correction but not sure if + - corrections would alter any automatic value? Thats how I see it working from my circumstances, everyone is different Thanks

Jul 29, 2009 Simon 578 posts	Topic: Site Development / BG Graphs Hi NiVZ, I've updated the graphs - it now says "No data for selected period" instead of the more obscure error if there are no BG results for the specified time period - I'm assuming there were no BG results in the set of data you were trying to graph when you got this error. If this is not the case then let me know. Thanks, Simon