Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

Feb 21, 2017

JennyMBarnwell 7 posts

I did my DAFNE course last September and it has been life changing for me. After 30 years as a diabetic I am now making more informed decisions on my insulin doses and my control has definitely improved dramatically. However, I know i am still learning and one area that I am unsure about is the GI index of foods, specifically of vegetables. I certainly count the carbs in my potatoes but what about the carrots, marrow or cabbage etc. I have been told I don't need to count the carbs in pulses and beans but they do affect my blood sugar to a degree. I guess I need to learn more about GI index and if so, can you advise on a good source of information? Many thanks

Feb 20, 2017

marke 681 posts

Topic: General Discussion / forum issues

All,
apologies for the problems with the site forums recently. As you can see if you are reading this , its all fixed and working again. Hopefully Simon will also get the alerts going to me as well when problems occur because although the error page said we had been informed that there was an issue, we had not been informed and had no idea that there was an issue.

Jan 25, 2017

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Suggestions for phone app

I've had the "carbs and cals" app recommended to me several times but it's not free.
Fitnesspal's app isn't too bad for carb information searching, especially with the bar code scanning feature, it just can be quite slow to use.

Otherwise, I just work out carbs using a calculator app, then again for working out the ratio result for the dose required. Some testing machines have this built in (such as the Accu-Chek Expert).

Jan 25, 2017

Phil_Eck 1 post

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Suggestions for phone app

Hi
I use the S Health app which came with my Samsung Galaxy S6 phone. It has searchable food items which is pretty comprehensive. You can even search for restaurant menu items I understand. It also allows you to add regularly eaten food items to a 'My Food' section which cuts down on the time taken to input the data. Once you have entered all your food for a particular meal it then summaries how much carbohydrate, protein, fat and other food groups are in your meal eg for lunch yesterday it calculated 85g. Divide by 10 to get CPs and then multiply by your conversion ratio to get the number of QI units to inject. For me, this comes to 10. Hope this helps.

Jan 23, 2017

Jcalderwood91 1 post

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Suggestions for phone app

Can anybody suggest an app for easy carb counting the last time i done the dafne course was like 2009 so i need something simple and fee to use thanks Very Happy

Jan 22, 2017

Lone-Lee 1 post

Topic: General Discussion / BG METERS

Hello everyone,
I've just completed the amazing DAFNE course in Leicester
I'm interested in people's thoughts and recommendations about BG Machines.
I have now started using the DARIO maxhine and have to say it has to be the best and easiest machine to use and carry around.
Obviously this excludes the LIBRE only because the sensors aren't yet available on the NHS

Jan 20, 2017

Crystal_Clear 4 posts

Topic: General Discussion / "Diabetes set off course" Balance letter

Paul, that was brave of you to post your original message and I agree with most of what you say.
Like yourself I was trained to keep to a steady amount of CHOs a day to keep the metabolism steady.
The name of the course irritates me, Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating, as I think that everyone
particularly diabetics should be encouraged to eat the best possible diet they can, not to be
digging into handfuls of sweets and drinking diet coke whilst undergoing the course.
And all that testing would make your blood sugars rise.
We are all waiting for the day when there is no such thing as having to take
injections and do blood sugar testing, and being diapathetic. That day is drawing closer.
In my opinion, a normal diet is not a good idea for most people. What about the days
when you are feeling "wabbit"? What is easy and nutritious to eat then?
How about Dose Adjustment for Natural Eating?

Jan 10, 2017

Sarahlawlor 4 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Hot Tubs

Warwick, thanks for your reply and advice I will take it on board. of course I now recall from the DAFNE course that heat can effect absorption of insulin and I found when on holiday I needed to reduce my BI doses as the temp was usually 30 degrees each day and I more hypo's than usual. so of course the same would apply in a hot temp as the temp is 38degrees and we have been sitting in it for around an hour at a time. I will always check my BG before and after and reduce my time in there.
thanks again, Sarah

Jan 10, 2017

Warwick 423 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Hot Tubs

Heat tends to make insulin work faster. I sometimes find that a hot shower will drop my BGLs quicker than I was expecting, but it doesn't always happen. Whether it would make your BGL decrease rapidly would depend largely on how much insulin you had on board. If you had just had a large dose of carbs and had taken a large amount of insulin to cover it, then you may find that your BGL would decrease quicker than usual. But you may not too. Everyone responds differently to different external factors and external heat can be one that affects some but not others. Just be careful, and test a little more regularly to see if your BGL is affected or not when in a hot tub.

Jan 10, 2017

Sarahlawlor 4 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Hot Tubs

I recently heard that Type 1 Diabetics should not use hot tubs as it can cause our BG to decrease quite rapidly, is this true?
Had anyone else experienced this?
Sarah

Jan 8, 2017

AMcD 38 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Accu-check Aviva Expert meter

Hi. Reading your initial post it seems that the GP is changing the prescription as the test strips are no longer manufactured and would in that case have to change your meter which if five years old may well be the case. The GP can't prescribe strips that are no longer made. However as others have said if you contact your team at the hospital there are various blood glucose monitors on the market that have the bolus calculator function and it's a matter of getting a new meter from your team and prescription for test strips to match the new blood glucose monitor. I'm not based in UK but assume it works the same as Ireland??

Jan 7, 2017

JayBee 587 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Accu-check Aviva Expert meter

Oh yes, definitely speak to your hospital team if no one else. Even a Diabetes Specialist Nurse will trump the GP decision every time. They only care about saving money usually. Best wishes!

Jan 7, 2017

sdhanani 4 posts

Topic: General Discussion / no pancreas

What dose if Creon do you take 10,000 units or 25,000units?
I take 25,000units x3-4 for upto 10 CP, then 25,000x2 for snacks.
Do you use Dafne principles for your Novorapid?
Prior to DAFNE my BG were all over one minute 15 then couple of hours later a hypo.
After attending Dafne and applying principles my BG is getting better.
And by trial and error with Creon I came up to my normal dose for 10 CP,
Plus we have to remember we can't have big meals....

Jan 7, 2017

sdhanani 4 posts

Topic: General Discussion / no pancreas

Do you take any background insulin

Jan 6, 2017

pjc21 8 posts

Topic: General Discussion / no pancreas

Thanks for reply. I'm interested in the idea that the Creon dose may influence the BG level. At the moment I'm taking 4 Creon and 5 units of Novorapid at breakfast, 6 Creon and 6 units at lunch, and 6 Creon and 8 units at dinner. My BG levels average about 6-8 at breakfast and lunch, but are up around 9-12 at dinner and bedtime. Does this match any of your readings? And how many Creon do you find make how much difference? I have found that my diabetes nurse is not sure about Creon doses, and my dietician is not sure about Novorapid doses, which is why I'm looking for other people's experience.

Jan 6, 2017

sdhanani 4 posts

Topic: General Discussion / no pancreas

Yes I have the same problem, I try and take more freon if my carb count is on the high side

Jan 5, 2017

HelenH 9 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Accu-check Aviva Expert meter

My GP tried this too, I rang up & explained that my diabetes control was good partly due to this machine. They agreed to leave my prescription for a while. I also asked my hospital nurse to mention in letter after next appointment, which she did. I've heard nothing from GP since. Stick to your guns!

Dec 29, 2016

marke 681 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Accu-check Aviva Expert meter

Hi,
Sorry for the delayed response, xmas and all that ;-) Your GP should NOT be doing this, it is NOT NHS policy . If you are a member of Diabetes UK I would contact them and or your local Clinical Commissioning Group ( CCG) and ask for an explanation. I don't know where you are in the country so its hard to give specific advice. Only Type 2 diabetics have the meter type they use 'imposed' on them not Type 1s. You should also be under a hospital to for your Diabetes check-ups so I would also contact them and explain what is going on. I have heard about this happening but not in my part of the UK ( South-East Kent) , its not acceptable and you don't have to accept it !!

Dec 29, 2016

Peter 109 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Viewing BG Graphs using DAFNE App on Android Phone

Claire,

Unfortunately the Android version of the App does not contain all the features of the iPhone version. The site is run by volunteers and one of the founders is an iPhone user who has developed the app on his own and continues to add new features to that version. A couple of years ago someone else volunteered to port the iPhone app to Android, and that's the version that is still used (by me as well). Unfortunately the original volunteer who undertook the port hasn't had the time to continue to make the same updates that have been applied to the iPhone version, so there is a growing difference between the capabilities of the two. This will continue unless someone else volunteers to update the Android version.

In the meantime you can upload the data from the Android version to this site (there's an option to do this automatically) or in the entries list press and hold to the right of the power button and you will see a menu including the ability to upload data. Note this is also useful if you have no wi-fi/3G/4G connection when adding data in the app as it will fill in any gaps on the "server". Once the data is loaded to the site you can view it through the DAFNE Tools/My Blood Glucose Diary menu option at the top of the page. The graphical options appear after the data is listed.

If that's not good enough, the final option is to export the data from the site in csv format and load it into Excel where you can produce your own graphs.

Hope that helps.

Peter

Dec 26, 2016

Alan 49 284 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Centre code

Sorry - I didn't answer your first question: I think your status would be 'User' rather that 'Graduate', but I don't think it would restrict your access.

Dec 24, 2016

Alan 49 284 posts

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Centre code

Go to 'Settings' (in the orange bar above), then choose 'Enter Centre Code - I think this should do it.

Dec 24, 2016

jjnesbitt86 1 post

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Centre code

When signing up I didn't enter a centre code although I do actually have one. Does this affect my level of access to the site's resources? If so is there a way I can go back?

Dec 22, 2016

Diabadass05 1 post

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Viewing BG Graphs using DAFNE App on Android Phone

Hi all,

I am new to this site, having completed my DAFNE training just last week. Whilst we were at the course a few of us downloaded the DAFNE app on our mobile phones and I have been playing around with mine lately. One thing I have realised is that I can't seem to find where you view the BG diary entries as a graph? The others in the group had iphones and seemed to have no issues but having downloaded the app to my Samsung Galaxy S6 android phone, I just can't seem to find where that option is! Any help would be greatly appreciated - many thanks Very Happy

Claire

Feb 21, 2017 JennyMBarnwell 7 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / GI index I did my DAFNE course last September and it has been life changing for me. After 30 years as a diabetic I am now making more informed decisions on my insulin doses and my control has definitely improved dramatically. However, I know i am still learning and one area that I am unsure about is the GI index of foods, specifically of vegetables. I certainly count the carbs in my potatoes but what about the carrots, marrow or cabbage etc. I have been told I don't need to count the carbs in pulses and beans but they do affect my blood sugar to a degree. I guess I need to learn more about GI index and if so, can you advise on a good source of information? Many thanks

Feb 20, 2017 marke 681 posts	Topic: General Discussion / forum issues All, apologies for the problems with the site forums recently. As you can see if you are reading this , its all fixed and working again. Hopefully Simon will also get the alerts going to me as well when problems occur because although the error page said we had been informed that there was an issue, we had not been informed and had no idea that there was an issue.

Jan 25, 2017 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Suggestions for phone app I've had the "carbs and cals" app recommended to me several times but it's not free. Fitnesspal's app isn't too bad for carb information searching, especially with the bar code scanning feature, it just can be quite slow to use. Otherwise, I just work out carbs using a calculator app, then again for working out the ratio result for the dose required. Some testing machines have this built in (such as the Accu-Chek Expert).

Jan 25, 2017 Phil_Eck 1 post	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Suggestions for phone app Hi I use the S Health app which came with my Samsung Galaxy S6 phone. It has searchable food items which is pretty comprehensive. You can even search for restaurant menu items I understand. It also allows you to add regularly eaten food items to a 'My Food' section which cuts down on the time taken to input the data. Once you have entered all your food for a particular meal it then summaries how much carbohydrate, protein, fat and other food groups are in your meal eg for lunch yesterday it calculated 85g. Divide by 10 to get CPs and then multiply by your conversion ratio to get the number of QI units to inject. For me, this comes to 10. Hope this helps.

Jan 23, 2017 Jcalderwood91 1 post	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Suggestions for phone app Can anybody suggest an app for easy carb counting the last time i done the dafne course was like 2009 so i need something simple and fee to use thanks

Jan 22, 2017 Lone-Lee 1 post	Topic: General Discussion / BG METERS Hello everyone, I've just completed the amazing DAFNE course in Leicester I'm interested in people's thoughts and recommendations about BG Machines. I have now started using the DARIO maxhine and have to say it has to be the best and easiest machine to use and carry around. Obviously this excludes the LIBRE only because the sensors aren't yet available on the NHS

Jan 20, 2017 Crystal_Clear 4 posts	Topic: General Discussion / "Diabetes set off course" Balance letter Paul, that was brave of you to post your original message and I agree with most of what you say. Like yourself I was trained to keep to a steady amount of CHOs a day to keep the metabolism steady. The name of the course irritates me, Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating, as I think that everyone particularly diabetics should be encouraged to eat the best possible diet they can, not to be digging into handfuls of sweets and drinking diet coke whilst undergoing the course. And all that testing would make your blood sugars rise. We are all waiting for the day when there is no such thing as having to take injections and do blood sugar testing, and being diapathetic. That day is drawing closer. In my opinion, a normal diet is not a good idea for most people. What about the days when you are feeling "wabbit"? What is easy and nutritious to eat then? How about Dose Adjustment for Natural Eating?

Jan 10, 2017 Sarahlawlor 4 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Hot Tubs Warwick, thanks for your reply and advice I will take it on board. of course I now recall from the DAFNE course that heat can effect absorption of insulin and I found when on holiday I needed to reduce my BI doses as the temp was usually 30 degrees each day and I more hypo's than usual. so of course the same would apply in a hot temp as the temp is 38degrees and we have been sitting in it for around an hour at a time. I will always check my BG before and after and reduce my time in there. thanks again, Sarah

Jan 10, 2017 Warwick 423 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Hot Tubs Heat tends to make insulin work faster. I sometimes find that a hot shower will drop my BGLs quicker than I was expecting, but it doesn't always happen. Whether it would make your BGL decrease rapidly would depend largely on how much insulin you had on board. If you had just had a large dose of carbs and had taken a large amount of insulin to cover it, then you may find that your BGL would decrease quicker than usual. But you may not too. Everyone responds differently to different external factors and external heat can be one that affects some but not others. Just be careful, and test a little more regularly to see if your BGL is affected or not when in a hot tub.

Jan 10, 2017 Sarahlawlor 4 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Hot Tubs I recently heard that Type 1 Diabetics should not use hot tubs as it can cause our BG to decrease quite rapidly, is this true? Had anyone else experienced this? Sarah

Jan 8, 2017 AMcD 38 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Accu-check Aviva Expert meter Hi. Reading your initial post it seems that the GP is changing the prescription as the test strips are no longer manufactured and would in that case have to change your meter which if five years old may well be the case. The GP can't prescribe strips that are no longer made. However as others have said if you contact your team at the hospital there are various blood glucose monitors on the market that have the bolus calculator function and it's a matter of getting a new meter from your team and prescription for test strips to match the new blood glucose monitor. I'm not based in UK but assume it works the same as Ireland??

Jan 7, 2017 JayBee 587 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Accu-check Aviva Expert meter Oh yes, definitely speak to your hospital team if no one else. Even a Diabetes Specialist Nurse will trump the GP decision every time. They only care about saving money usually. Best wishes!

Jan 7, 2017 sdhanani 4 posts	Topic: General Discussion / no pancreas What dose if Creon do you take 10,000 units or 25,000units? I take 25,000units x3-4 for upto 10 CP, then 25,000x2 for snacks. Do you use Dafne principles for your Novorapid? Prior to DAFNE my BG were all over one minute 15 then couple of hours later a hypo. After attending Dafne and applying principles my BG is getting better. And by trial and error with Creon I came up to my normal dose for 10 CP, Plus we have to remember we can't have big meals....

Jan 7, 2017 sdhanani 4 posts	Topic: General Discussion / no pancreas Do you take any background insulin

Jan 6, 2017 pjc21 8 posts	Topic: General Discussion / no pancreas Thanks for reply. I'm interested in the idea that the Creon dose may influence the BG level. At the moment I'm taking 4 Creon and 5 units of Novorapid at breakfast, 6 Creon and 6 units at lunch, and 6 Creon and 8 units at dinner. My BG levels average about 6-8 at breakfast and lunch, but are up around 9-12 at dinner and bedtime. Does this match any of your readings? And how many Creon do you find make how much difference? I have found that my diabetes nurse is not sure about Creon doses, and my dietician is not sure about Novorapid doses, which is why I'm looking for other people's experience.

Jan 6, 2017 sdhanani 4 posts	Topic: General Discussion / no pancreas Yes I have the same problem, I try and take more freon if my carb count is on the high side

Jan 5, 2017 HelenH 9 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Accu-check Aviva Expert meter My GP tried this too, I rang up & explained that my diabetes control was good partly due to this machine. They agreed to leave my prescription for a while. I also asked my hospital nurse to mention in letter after next appointment, which she did. I've heard nothing from GP since. Stick to your guns!

Dec 29, 2016 marke 681 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Accu-check Aviva Expert meter Hi, Sorry for the delayed response, xmas and all that ;-) Your GP should NOT be doing this, it is NOT NHS policy . If you are a member of Diabetes UK I would contact them and or your local Clinical Commissioning Group ( CCG) and ask for an explanation. I don't know where you are in the country so its hard to give specific advice. Only Type 2 diabetics have the meter type they use 'imposed' on them not Type 1s. You should also be under a hospital to for your Diabetes check-ups so I would also contact them and explain what is going on. I have heard about this happening but not in my part of the UK ( South-East Kent) , its not acceptable and you don't have to accept it !!

Dec 29, 2016 Peter 109 posts	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Viewing BG Graphs using DAFNE App on Android Phone Claire, Unfortunately the Android version of the App does not contain all the features of the iPhone version. The site is run by volunteers and one of the founders is an iPhone user who has developed the app on his own and continues to add new features to that version. A couple of years ago someone else volunteered to port the iPhone app to Android, and that's the version that is still used (by me as well). Unfortunately the original volunteer who undertook the port hasn't had the time to continue to make the same updates that have been applied to the iPhone version, so there is a growing difference between the capabilities of the two. This will continue unless someone else volunteers to update the Android version. In the meantime you can upload the data from the Android version to this site (there's an option to do this automatically) or in the entries list press and hold to the right of the power button and you will see a menu including the ability to upload data. Note this is also useful if you have no wi-fi/3G/4G connection when adding data in the app as it will fill in any gaps on the "server". Once the data is loaded to the site you can view it through the DAFNE Tools/My Blood Glucose Diary menu option at the top of the page. The graphical options appear after the data is listed. If that's not good enough, the final option is to export the data from the site in csv format and load it into Excel where you can produce your own graphs. Hope that helps. Peter

Dec 26, 2016 Alan 49 284 posts	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Centre code Sorry - I didn't answer your first question: I think your status would be 'User' rather that 'Graduate', but I don't think it would restrict your access.

Dec 24, 2016 Alan 49 284 posts	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Centre code Go to 'Settings' (in the orange bar above), then choose 'Enter Centre Code - I think this should do it.

Dec 24, 2016 jjnesbitt86 1 post	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Centre code When signing up I didn't enter a centre code although I do actually have one. Does this affect my level of access to the site's resources? If so is there a way I can go back?

Dec 22, 2016 Diabadass05 1 post	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / Viewing BG Graphs using DAFNE App on Android Phone Hi all, I am new to this site, having completed my DAFNE training just last week. Whilst we were at the course a few of us downloaded the DAFNE app on our mobile phones and I have been playing around with mine lately. One thing I have realised is that I can't seem to find where you view the BG diary entries as a graph? The others in the group had iphones and seemed to have no issues but having downloaded the app to my Samsung Galaxy S6 android phone, I just can't seem to find where that option is! Any help would be greatly appreciated - many thanks Claire