Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

Aug 29, 2016

RichoDemo 3 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Hypo Awareness

Thanks Warick. Yes that's right about the carbs. and portions just the way I write it and my memory is bad so the nurse said she can put up with it. I asked my ex wife about my severe hypo years ago and it was probably more than 6 years ago. I was only seeing a endo. for about 6 mths after that. The start of this year or late last year I have just seeing one again. They are thinking in all that time 6yrs. or more that I have probably lost my hypo awareness. That is probably right. I haven't worked for 12 months because I can't get a medical clearance. I'm working hard on getting it write but some days I have had enough a lot of ups and downs. I don't no weather I'm Auther or Martha some days any way enough of my problems it's a beautiful sunny dayðŸ˜Ž Thanks Warick. I'm bloody hopeless with computers and writing as you have noticed and that why basal entry's are wrong. Am and Pm it should be of 8 units levemir.
Thanks Richard

Aug 25, 2016

Warwick 423 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Hypo Awareness

I can see why you are feeling frustrated. There seems to be large swings from hight to low and back again with not a lot of readings in the desired range.

Can I ask why the number of basal injections vary so much from day to day? i.e Sunday 1 basal injection, Monday 4, Tuesday 2, Wednesday 4, Thursday 6, Friday 3, Saturday 5 and Sunday 4.

When I look at others' diaries, usually they inject basal insulin only once or twice per day, and it tends to largely be the same amount each day at the same time(s). If this isn't just a diary input error, then it would explain why your BGLs are so unpredictable.

One of the DAFNE principles is to only make small changes (10%) to basal insulin doses and then wait a couple of days to see how BGLS respond.

Also, not particularly important, but a CP is 10g of carb. I suspect that you are entering grams of carbs instead of CPs. So for example on Monday, your 126 CPs would equal 1.26 kg of carbohydrate which would be a fairly significant achievement Very Happy

Just in terms of making the diary more readable for others, if it is in fact 126 grams of carb, then divide by 10 and round to the nearest CP so it becomes 13 CPs. Or if it is more helpful for you to leave it in grams, then leave it that way and we'll figure it out. Wink

Thanks,
Warwick.

Aug 24, 2016

RichoDemo 3 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Hypo Awareness

Warwick said:
Hypo unawareness usually develops from having too many hypos. I attended an excellent presentation by Professor Stephanie Amiel recently on fighting hypos:

https://youtu.be/jV1ta51w5J4

https://www.diabetesvic.org.au/See-all-news-detail?content_id=a1R9000000JPHzjEAH

I found it very helpful and I'd highly recommend viewing it.

My understanding of regaining hypo awareness is to avoid having hypos for a period of time. This can be achieved by raising your target BG levels for a period of about 6 weeks, so rather than aiming to keep BGs between 4.5-8, you would look at keeping them between 6.5 -10. The risk of diabetic complications over such a short period of time is extremely low, and usually some hypo awareness will return by the end of the 6 weeks.

An alternative (if you can afford it) is to wear a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). I wear a Dexcom G4 which alerts me when my BGLs drop below a set BGL reading that I have specified as being low for me. Prior to wearing the CGM, I was confident that I had excellent hypo awareness, but once I was wearing it, I discovered that I was having multiple hypos, especially during the night, that I had no idea about. My hypo awareness is now much better as I have avoided having as many hypos as previously. The Abbot Freestyle Libre is a popular choice on this forum and is certainly cheaper than the Dexcom. However, unlike the Dexcom it does not alert you when you are hyper or hypo, so is not as useful for avoiding hypos (although it can be excellent for detecting patterns).

Hope that helps.

Aug 24, 2016

Warwick 423 posts

Topic: General Discussion / NICE Guidance on Diabetes

Hello Helen, I have ICE in my phone, and I also wear a RoadID except when I sleep - https://www.roadid.com/c/roadid-wrist-sale I have not needed it yet, but I am sure that I will need it one day.

Aug 24, 2016

HelenP 218 posts

Topic: General Discussion / NICE Guidance on Diabetes

Warwick,
Re the hospital admission for the blood infection (above post). The ambos came...I had been conscious enough to ring but had passed out before they got there. They were standing around as I regained consciousness and had read a "sign" I keep on the fridge ..."I am a diabetic etc etc". They had checked my BG and it was fine. They collected the insulin stuff I keep in a bag similar to yours with everything I would need for a week as well as the insulin from the fridge. I think if you are in a private hospital you have much more say but as I had arrived less than 6 hours ago from Korea they wanted to put me in an infectious ward until they found out what it was...hence the big public hospital.

The ambos also check for next of kin details etc in a purse or wallet. Do you have an ICE number in your phone? I was encouraged to put (my son's name as an ICE (In Case of Emergency) number. Have never needed it but it is there. Ambos are trained to look fro it apparently.

Trust we can stay out of hospital!!! Helen

Aug 24, 2016

Warwick 423 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Hypo Awareness

Hypo unawareness usually develops from having too many hypos. I attended an excellent presentation by Professor Stephanie Amiel recently on fighting hypos:

https://youtu.be/jV1ta51w5J4

https://www.diabetesvic.org.au/See-all-news-detail?content_id=a1R9000000JPHzjEAH

I found it very helpful and I'd highly recommend viewing it.

My understanding of regaining hypo awareness is to avoid having hypos for a period of time. This can be achieved by raising your target BG levels for a period of about 6 weeks, so rather than aiming to keep BGs between 4.5-8, you would look at keeping them between 6.5 -10. The risk of diabetic complications over such a short period of time is extremely low, and usually some hypo awareness will return by the end of the 6 weeks.

An alternative (if you can afford it) is to wear a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). I wear a Dexcom G4 which alerts me when my BGLs drop below a set BGL reading that I have specified as being low for me. Prior to wearing the CGM, I was confident that I had excellent hypo awareness, but once I was wearing it, I discovered that I was having multiple hypos, especially during the night, that I had no idea about. My hypo awareness is now much better as I have avoided having as many hypos as previously. The Abbot Freestyle Libre is a popular choice on this forum and is certainly cheaper than the Dexcom. However, unlike the Dexcom it does not alert you when you are hyper or hypo, so is not as useful for avoiding hypos (although it can be excellent for detecting patterns).

Hope that helps.

Aug 24, 2016

Warwick 423 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Why ketones with low blood sugars?

The body will produce ketones when it can't use blood glucose as an energy source. There are a number of reasons why the body will produce them including severe dehydration, lack of insulin, fasting, or a ketogenic diet (low-carb diet).

Ketone build up becomes dangerous if there is a lack of insulin present as it can quickly lead to Diabetic Ketoacidosis which will make you ill very quickly.

I was on a conference on exercising with diabetes recently, and one of the speakers there is one of the world's leading researchers into exercising with diabetes. His view is that as long as insulin is present, ketones should not usually cause an issue, but if insulin is not present, then it becomes a big issue.

From talking with others who have experienced DKA, it seems much more common amongst T1Ds who pump than use MDI. Pumpers who experience a blocked cannula, can be without any insulin after about 4 hours, whereas as those who inject usually have basal insulin in their body which lasts 12-24 hours and therefore doesn't cause so much of an issue. That isn't to say that MDI can't lead to DKA - it definitely can, but it appears to be more rare.

I honestly don't know why you would have low blood sugars and high ketones. Do your medical team believe that you are still in the honeymoon period where your pancreas is still producing some insulin? I imagine that it could be possible for the pancreas in this case to produce some insulin which lowers BGLs, but then stop, and for ketones to then build up. I am not medically trained though and the one thing I have learned from T1D is that there are so many factors, some of which are completely unknown that can have an influence on my diabetes management.

Did having high ketones lead to an issue such as DKA, or are you otherwise fine?

Aug 24, 2016

Warwick 423 posts

Topic: General Discussion / NICE Guidance on Diabetes

I have a spare kit containing BG meter, jelly beans, needles and an insulin pen. It has instructions inside on what insulin to take from the fridge. If I end up in hospital, my wife will bring it to me, and I will not be telling the medical staff about it. It will be my backup for if they take my primary kit off me. I have heard too many horror stories of well meaning staff putting our lives at risk from their ignorance and I am taking no chances.

Thinking about it, I might also get my excellent GP to write me a letter stating that I have excellent blood glucose control and am fully aware of how to make necessary changes to my insulin doses and that can be included in the kit.

I have also made my wife a medical power of attorney so that if I am in no state to make decisions, she can make them on my behalf.

Aug 19, 2016

HelenP 218 posts

Topic: General Discussion / NICE Guidance on Diabetes

Hi Mark, On the hospital situation...here in Australia I was told by the doctor that it was my responsibility and the nurses would not be involved...great! I took my pump off to have a shower and left it on the bed as I do at home only to find out the nurse had taken it because I was not a diabetic or in need of insulin.

It was a shared room and my room mate was quite happy to report this. Tried to get it back by going to the nurses station but no luck. Ended up getting a message to the doctor who "fixed" the situation. I was without it for over an hour!!!! The nursing staff then took an extraordinary interest in my insulin doses and wanted to record every time I took some insulin...pump users will know how ridiculous this is!

I was in an infectious diseases ward!

Helen

Aug 19, 2016

Julie Meehan 1 post

Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / DAFNE Excel Spreedsheat

Could I please please please get a copy sent to me at [email protected]. Thanks!!!

Aug 19, 2016

marke 681 posts

Topic: General Discussion / NICE Guidance on Diabetes

The DAFNE Programme team have asked us to publish this information on our news page. It relates to a new document issued by NICE ( UK medical body) regarding Diabetes. If I sound a bit cynical in the news article its because NICE publish lots of guidance but none of it is actually mandatory and so the NHS is free to do what it wants. The idea of people being given structured education within 12 months of Diagnosis would be great if it wasn't for the fact that in my area the waiting list to do a course is about 18 months, So even if you are referred for a course within 12 months you won't actually do one. They also say that Diabetics should be allowed to manage their own diabetes if admitted to hospital, someone needs to tell nurses this Sad

I had to be very firm, borderline rude when they tried to take over my management when I was in hospital. However not everyone is a 'difficult' person like me and will accept their management being taken over on the grounds that the nurse knows best ( not unless they are a Diabetes nurse and even then sometimes no Wink

)

Anyway have a read and see what YOU think......

Aug 11, 2016

rose_02 1 post

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Why ketones with low blood sugars?

Hi,

I was recently diagnosed with type 1 and taken off insulin straight away as my bloods were so low. However, while they remained low off the insulin, I was still developing ketones. My team have no idea why and no tips on what to do, other than keep checking and retaking my insulin but if anyone could give me more advice that would be great!

Aug 11, 2016

RichoDemo 3 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Hypo Awareness

Had diabetes for 32 years. New to Dafne but have been counting carbs. for about 6 years. Is there anyone that's has had hypo awareness. I haven't worked for about 8 months because of this and have been trying all of this time to get it back. Does anyone have any advice. I have just about had enough of diabetes

Aug 7, 2016

Marsbar63 5 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Jelly Babies

That's two of us a bit OTT. I refill the tubes from the tubs. Countless tubes in pockets, draws, and just about anywhere they'll fit. Very Happy

Aug 7, 2016

SimonC 78 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Jelly Babies

I use Glucotabs - I buy a 12 pack of the 50 in a tub, and use these to fill up the smaller tubes of 10. I have 1 tub of 50 at my work - replaced when needed, and every jacket has a tube of 10 - I know this is a bit over the top, but I was once caught out with no access to fast sugar.

I prefer the raspberry ones, but have noticed that in the tubes of 10, they now do lemon and blueberry ones as well as the orange and raspberry. I like the blueberry ones, but they don't appear to do these in the 50 tubs yet. Buying them in bulk like this saves on the cost, and transferring to the smaller tubes means they are easy to transport about,

I found that once a bag of jelly babies is open, they harden and become inedible if left.

Jul 29, 2016

Daveq 1 post

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Jelly Babies

I find Jelly babies very effective, and usually carry 6 in a small plastic coin bag, in my pocket. I take 2, which is 1CP, unless I am very low and then I take 4, as recommended by the DSN. I have been keeping a small plastic box of them in my car, but with the recent hot weather they all melted into one big squishy lump.

Jul 28, 2016

Colin McC 15 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Cyborg Times (new BG meter)

Met this guy on a recent DAFNE meet & he has been using the freestyle for a while & he sold it to me. Been thinking of getting it for a while now & finally ordered the package on Thurs night & it arrived Mon afternoon, so no problems with stock it appears. First few readings showed LO ( BG less than 2.2! ) but my BG Aviva meter showed readings of 4,5,6 & 5. But after 12 hours approx. the readings become very close, 1 or less, so I am pleased. No problems when going to bed or showering, the sensor stayed on. Would recommend that you make sure that your skin in bone dry though. Very easy to insert the sensor & the reader gives good patterns of what your BG is doing, so you can act quickly. Like most I pick up hypo's but it is beneficial for night-time patterns & high BG'. Yes it is expensive but I think it is worth a try as already I am getting a better understanding of what my BG' are doing.

Jul 27, 2016

Yelekreb 11 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Is the honeymoon over?

Hi, need some help here. I've been diagnosed (T1 LADA) about 18 months and have had pretty good control. I think I've been in the honeymoon phase. A couple of weeks ago I was struggling to keep my BG levels up - as if my pancreas was having a laugh and pumping out extra insulin. This week, it's as if Novorapid isn't working. Post meal mountain ranges that slowly drop, with corrections. Have upped my BASEL, but still struggling to get BG under control. Have changed injection sites, even changed the Insulin pen to a new one. I suspect this is the end of the Honeymoon phase and the end of 'easy' control. The Freestyle Libre is a real help in keeping an eye on things, but does anyone have any experience/tips for this new stage I seem to be facing?

Jul 23, 2016

HelenP 218 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Pump death?

Yep, I have a new pump. I received it on 10/6/16. It is a Minimed 640G. The pump transition has been relatively easy! I have found that I am experiencing far fewer problems with the tubing, cartridge etc than I did with the Animas pump. The new pump is fairly intuitive and only rarely do I make an error. Gave myself two boluses with a meal (inadvertently!!!).

I opted to pay for the Medtronic Carelink system (Continuous Glucose Monitoring). It is expensive. To wear the sensors continuously costs about $6000 a year. They had a special deal and I have purchased/signed up for 12 months supply at $300 per month. They deduct the $300 from your bank account and you get a new box. To set me up with the "serter', the charger for the sensor etc cost me an initial $700 (I did receiver two boxes (2 x 5) of sensors included in that cost). They are very addictive. To be able to press a button on your pump and have it tell you what you BG is, is very reassuring...however it is not always accurate! Post meals is the worst. The greatest difference I have found is 3.7mmol/L which is quite a bit if your target is set at 5.0-6.0. You also have to calibrate it 4 times a day. Recommended times, pre breakfast, lunch, dinner and before going to bed. Our sensors last 6 days (to the hour). The reservoirs last three days but I have not been able to co-ordinate the changes!!! So I am inserting a new sensor every Monday morning and changing the cartridges etc whenever. This means I am without the sensor for at least one day over the weekend. My health fund pays for none of this but they did fund the pump.

Downloading is much simpler with the 640G. Keeping everything charged is also a consideration!!!

The turning off when it thinks it is going low is also a long way from perfect. My experience is that it turns itself off at about 5mmol/L. At that level I do not get hypo symptoms so unless you are expecting it to turn of at a particular time it turns itself off and then turns itself on an hour or so later and for the next hour or so your BG rises to beyond target!!! This needs fine tuning. Still working on the basal settings but very difficult to get more than about 60% within target when target is so tight.

Would I recommend it...not sure. It is certainly time consuming and the alarms can drive you to drink.

Ask me in another month!

Helen

Jul 22, 2016

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Pump death?

a brand new pump would definitely be great news, any updates?

Jul 22, 2016

novorapidboi26 1,819 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Medical tattoos

If you upload the image to one of the many image hosting site out there, all you need to do is past the image link into the below code, replacing the web address with your image link:

An example below:

Aug 29, 2016 RichoDemo 3 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Hypo Awareness Thanks Warick. Yes that's right about the carbs. and portions just the way I write it and my memory is bad so the nurse said she can put up with it. I asked my ex wife about my severe hypo years ago and it was probably more than 6 years ago. I was only seeing a endo. for about 6 mths after that. The start of this year or late last year I have just seeing one again. They are thinking in all that time 6yrs. or more that I have probably lost my hypo awareness. That is probably right. I haven't worked for 12 months because I can't get a medical clearance. I'm working hard on getting it write but some days I have had enough a lot of ups and downs. I don't no weather I'm Auther or Martha some days any way enough of my problems it's a beautiful sunny dayðŸ˜Ž Thanks Warick. I'm bloody hopeless with computers and writing as you have noticed and that why basal entry's are wrong. Am and Pm it should be of 8 units levemir. Thanks Richard

Aug 25, 2016 Warwick 423 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Hypo Awareness I can see why you are feeling frustrated. There seems to be large swings from hight to low and back again with not a lot of readings in the desired range. Can I ask why the number of basal injections vary so much from day to day? i.e Sunday 1 basal injection, Monday 4, Tuesday 2, Wednesday 4, Thursday 6, Friday 3, Saturday 5 and Sunday 4. When I look at others' diaries, usually they inject basal insulin only once or twice per day, and it tends to largely be the same amount each day at the same time(s). If this isn't just a diary input error, then it would explain why your BGLs are so unpredictable. One of the DAFNE principles is to only make small changes (10%) to basal insulin doses and then wait a couple of days to see how BGLS respond. Also, not particularly important, but a CP is 10g of carb. I suspect that you are entering grams of carbs instead of CPs. So for example on Monday, your 126 CPs would equal 1.26 kg of carbohydrate which would be a fairly significant achievement Just in terms of making the diary more readable for others, if it is in fact 126 grams of carb, then divide by 10 and round to the nearest CP so it becomes 13 CPs. Or if it is more helpful for you to leave it in grams, then leave it that way and we'll figure it out. Thanks, Warwick.

Aug 24, 2016 RichoDemo 3 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Hypo Awareness Warwick said: Hypo unawareness usually develops from having too many hypos. I attended an excellent presentation by Professor Stephanie Amiel recently on fighting hypos: https://youtu.be/jV1ta51w5J4 https://www.diabetesvic.org.au/See-all-news-detail?content_id=a1R9000000JPHzjEAH I found it very helpful and I'd highly recommend viewing it. My understanding of regaining hypo awareness is to avoid having hypos for a period of time. This can be achieved by raising your target BG levels for a period of about 6 weeks, so rather than aiming to keep BGs between 4.5-8, you would look at keeping them between 6.5 -10. The risk of diabetic complications over such a short period of time is extremely low, and usually some hypo awareness will return by the end of the 6 weeks. An alternative (if you can afford it) is to wear a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). I wear a Dexcom G4 which alerts me when my BGLs drop below a set BGL reading that I have specified as being low for me. Prior to wearing the CGM, I was confident that I had excellent hypo awareness, but once I was wearing it, I discovered that I was having multiple hypos, especially during the night, that I had no idea about. My hypo awareness is now much better as I have avoided having as many hypos as previously. The Abbot Freestyle Libre is a popular choice on this forum and is certainly cheaper than the Dexcom. However, unlike the Dexcom it does not alert you when you are hyper or hypo, so is not as useful for avoiding hypos (although it can be excellent for detecting patterns). Hope that helps.

Aug 24, 2016 Warwick 423 posts	Topic: General Discussion / NICE Guidance on Diabetes Hello Helen, I have ICE in my phone, and I also wear a RoadID except when I sleep - https://www.roadid.com/c/roadid-wrist-sale I have not needed it yet, but I am sure that I will need it one day.

Aug 24, 2016 HelenP 218 posts	Topic: General Discussion / NICE Guidance on Diabetes Warwick, Re the hospital admission for the blood infection (above post). The ambos came...I had been conscious enough to ring but had passed out before they got there. They were standing around as I regained consciousness and had read a "sign" I keep on the fridge ..."I am a diabetic etc etc". They had checked my BG and it was fine. They collected the insulin stuff I keep in a bag similar to yours with everything I would need for a week as well as the insulin from the fridge. I think if you are in a private hospital you have much more say but as I had arrived less than 6 hours ago from Korea they wanted to put me in an infectious ward until they found out what it was...hence the big public hospital. The ambos also check for next of kin details etc in a purse or wallet. Do you have an ICE number in your phone? I was encouraged to put (my son's name as an ICE (In Case of Emergency) number. Have never needed it but it is there. Ambos are trained to look fro it apparently. Trust we can stay out of hospital!!! Helen

Aug 24, 2016 Warwick 423 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Hypo Awareness Hypo unawareness usually develops from having too many hypos. I attended an excellent presentation by Professor Stephanie Amiel recently on fighting hypos: https://youtu.be/jV1ta51w5J4 https://www.diabetesvic.org.au/See-all-news-detail?content_id=a1R9000000JPHzjEAH I found it very helpful and I'd highly recommend viewing it. My understanding of regaining hypo awareness is to avoid having hypos for a period of time. This can be achieved by raising your target BG levels for a period of about 6 weeks, so rather than aiming to keep BGs between 4.5-8, you would look at keeping them between 6.5 -10. The risk of diabetic complications over such a short period of time is extremely low, and usually some hypo awareness will return by the end of the 6 weeks. An alternative (if you can afford it) is to wear a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). I wear a Dexcom G4 which alerts me when my BGLs drop below a set BGL reading that I have specified as being low for me. Prior to wearing the CGM, I was confident that I had excellent hypo awareness, but once I was wearing it, I discovered that I was having multiple hypos, especially during the night, that I had no idea about. My hypo awareness is now much better as I have avoided having as many hypos as previously. The Abbot Freestyle Libre is a popular choice on this forum and is certainly cheaper than the Dexcom. However, unlike the Dexcom it does not alert you when you are hyper or hypo, so is not as useful for avoiding hypos (although it can be excellent for detecting patterns). Hope that helps.

Aug 24, 2016 Warwick 423 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Why ketones with low blood sugars? The body will produce ketones when it can't use blood glucose as an energy source. There are a number of reasons why the body will produce them including severe dehydration, lack of insulin, fasting, or a ketogenic diet (low-carb diet). Ketone build up becomes dangerous if there is a lack of insulin present as it can quickly lead to Diabetic Ketoacidosis which will make you ill very quickly. I was on a conference on exercising with diabetes recently, and one of the speakers there is one of the world's leading researchers into exercising with diabetes. His view is that as long as insulin is present, ketones should not usually cause an issue, but if insulin is not present, then it becomes a big issue. From talking with others who have experienced DKA, it seems much more common amongst T1Ds who pump than use MDI. Pumpers who experience a blocked cannula, can be without any insulin after about 4 hours, whereas as those who inject usually have basal insulin in their body which lasts 12-24 hours and therefore doesn't cause so much of an issue. That isn't to say that MDI can't lead to DKA - it definitely can, but it appears to be more rare. I honestly don't know why you would have low blood sugars and high ketones. Do your medical team believe that you are still in the honeymoon period where your pancreas is still producing some insulin? I imagine that it could be possible for the pancreas in this case to produce some insulin which lowers BGLs, but then stop, and for ketones to then build up. I am not medically trained though and the one thing I have learned from T1D is that there are so many factors, some of which are completely unknown that can have an influence on my diabetes management. Did having high ketones lead to an issue such as DKA, or are you otherwise fine?

Aug 24, 2016 Warwick 423 posts	Topic: General Discussion / NICE Guidance on Diabetes I have a spare kit containing BG meter, jelly beans, needles and an insulin pen. It has instructions inside on what insulin to take from the fridge. If I end up in hospital, my wife will bring it to me, and I will not be telling the medical staff about it. It will be my backup for if they take my primary kit off me. I have heard too many horror stories of well meaning staff putting our lives at risk from their ignorance and I am taking no chances. Thinking about it, I might also get my excellent GP to write me a letter stating that I have excellent blood glucose control and am fully aware of how to make necessary changes to my insulin doses and that can be included in the kit. I have also made my wife a medical power of attorney so that if I am in no state to make decisions, she can make them on my behalf.

Aug 19, 2016 HelenP 218 posts	Topic: General Discussion / NICE Guidance on Diabetes Hi Mark, On the hospital situation...here in Australia I was told by the doctor that it was my responsibility and the nurses would not be involved...great! I took my pump off to have a shower and left it on the bed as I do at home only to find out the nurse had taken it because I was not a diabetic or in need of insulin. It was a shared room and my room mate was quite happy to report this. Tried to get it back by going to the nurses station but no luck. Ended up getting a message to the doctor who "fixed" the situation. I was without it for over an hour!!!! The nursing staff then took an extraordinary interest in my insulin doses and wanted to record every time I took some insulin...pump users will know how ridiculous this is! I was in an infectious diseases ward! Helen

Aug 19, 2016 Julie Meehan 1 post	Topic: DAFNE Online Mobile / DAFNE Excel Spreedsheat Could I please please please get a copy sent to me at [email protected]. Thanks!!!

Aug 19, 2016 marke 681 posts	Topic: General Discussion / NICE Guidance on Diabetes The DAFNE Programme team have asked us to publish this information on our news page. It relates to a new document issued by NICE ( UK medical body) regarding Diabetes. If I sound a bit cynical in the news article its because NICE publish lots of guidance but none of it is actually mandatory and so the NHS is free to do what it wants. The idea of people being given structured education within 12 months of Diagnosis would be great if it wasn't for the fact that in my area the waiting list to do a course is about 18 months, So even if you are referred for a course within 12 months you won't actually do one. They also say that Diabetics should be allowed to manage their own diabetes if admitted to hospital, someone needs to tell nurses this I had to be very firm, borderline rude when they tried to take over my management when I was in hospital. However not everyone is a 'difficult' person like me and will accept their management being taken over on the grounds that the nurse knows best ( not unless they are a Diabetes nurse and even then sometimes no ) Anyway have a read and see what YOU think......

Aug 11, 2016 rose_02 1 post	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Why ketones with low blood sugars? Hi, I was recently diagnosed with type 1 and taken off insulin straight away as my bloods were so low. However, while they remained low off the insulin, I was still developing ketones. My team have no idea why and no tips on what to do, other than keep checking and retaking my insulin but if anyone could give me more advice that would be great!

Aug 11, 2016 RichoDemo 3 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Hypo Awareness Had diabetes for 32 years. New to Dafne but have been counting carbs. for about 6 years. Is there anyone that's has had hypo awareness. I haven't worked for about 8 months because of this and have been trying all of this time to get it back. Does anyone have any advice. I have just about had enough of diabetes

Aug 7, 2016 Marsbar63 5 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Jelly Babies That's two of us a bit OTT. I refill the tubes from the tubs. Countless tubes in pockets, draws, and just about anywhere they'll fit.

Aug 7, 2016 SimonC 78 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Jelly Babies I use Glucotabs - I buy a 12 pack of the 50 in a tub, and use these to fill up the smaller tubes of 10. I have 1 tub of 50 at my work - replaced when needed, and every jacket has a tube of 10 - I know this is a bit over the top, but I was once caught out with no access to fast sugar. I prefer the raspberry ones, but have noticed that in the tubes of 10, they now do lemon and blueberry ones as well as the orange and raspberry. I like the blueberry ones, but they don't appear to do these in the 50 tubs yet. Buying them in bulk like this saves on the cost, and transferring to the smaller tubes means they are easy to transport about, I found that once a bag of jelly babies is open, they harden and become inedible if left.

Jul 29, 2016 Daveq 1 post	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Jelly Babies I find Jelly babies very effective, and usually carry 6 in a small plastic coin bag, in my pocket. I take 2, which is 1CP, unless I am very low and then I take 4, as recommended by the DSN. I have been keeping a small plastic box of them in my car, but with the recent hot weather they all melted into one big squishy lump.

Jul 28, 2016 Colin McC 15 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Cyborg Times (new BG meter) Met this guy on a recent DAFNE meet & he has been using the freestyle for a while & he sold it to me. Been thinking of getting it for a while now & finally ordered the package on Thurs night & it arrived Mon afternoon, so no problems with stock it appears. First few readings showed LO ( BG less than 2.2! ) but my BG Aviva meter showed readings of 4,5,6 & 5. But after 12 hours approx. the readings become very close, 1 or less, so I am pleased. No problems when going to bed or showering, the sensor stayed on. Would recommend that you make sure that your skin in bone dry though. Very easy to insert the sensor & the reader gives good patterns of what your BG is doing, so you can act quickly. Like most I pick up hypo's but it is beneficial for night-time patterns & high BG'. Yes it is expensive but I think it is worth a try as already I am getting a better understanding of what my BG' are doing.

Jul 27, 2016 Yelekreb 11 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Is the honeymoon over? Hi, need some help here. I've been diagnosed (T1 LADA) about 18 months and have had pretty good control. I think I've been in the honeymoon phase. A couple of weeks ago I was struggling to keep my BG levels up - as if my pancreas was having a laugh and pumping out extra insulin. This week, it's as if Novorapid isn't working. Post meal mountain ranges that slowly drop, with corrections. Have upped my BASEL, but still struggling to get BG under control. Have changed injection sites, even changed the Insulin pen to a new one. I suspect this is the end of the Honeymoon phase and the end of 'easy' control. The Freestyle Libre is a real help in keeping an eye on things, but does anyone have any experience/tips for this new stage I seem to be facing?

Jul 23, 2016 HelenP 218 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Pump death? Yep, I have a new pump. I received it on 10/6/16. It is a Minimed 640G. The pump transition has been relatively easy! I have found that I am experiencing far fewer problems with the tubing, cartridge etc than I did with the Animas pump. The new pump is fairly intuitive and only rarely do I make an error. Gave myself two boluses with a meal (inadvertently!!!). I opted to pay for the Medtronic Carelink system (Continuous Glucose Monitoring). It is expensive. To wear the sensors continuously costs about $6000 a year. They had a special deal and I have purchased/signed up for 12 months supply at $300 per month. They deduct the $300 from your bank account and you get a new box. To set me up with the "serter', the charger for the sensor etc cost me an initial $700 (I did receiver two boxes (2 x 5) of sensors included in that cost). They are very addictive. To be able to press a button on your pump and have it tell you what you BG is, is very reassuring...however it is not always accurate! Post meals is the worst. The greatest difference I have found is 3.7mmol/L which is quite a bit if your target is set at 5.0-6.0. You also have to calibrate it 4 times a day. Recommended times, pre breakfast, lunch, dinner and before going to bed. Our sensors last 6 days (to the hour). The reservoirs last three days but I have not been able to co-ordinate the changes!!! So I am inserting a new sensor every Monday morning and changing the cartridges etc whenever. This means I am without the sensor for at least one day over the weekend. My health fund pays for none of this but they did fund the pump. Downloading is much simpler with the 640G. Keeping everything charged is also a consideration!!! The turning off when it thinks it is going low is also a long way from perfect. My experience is that it turns itself off at about 5mmol/L. At that level I do not get hypo symptoms so unless you are expecting it to turn of at a particular time it turns itself off and then turns itself on an hour or so later and for the next hour or so your BG rises to beyond target!!! This needs fine tuning. Still working on the basal settings but very difficult to get more than about 60% within target when target is so tight. Would I recommend it...not sure. It is certainly time consuming and the alarms can drive you to drink. Ask me in another month! Helen

Jul 22, 2016 novorapidboi26 1,819 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Pump death? a brand new pump would definitely be great news, any updates?

Jul 22, 2016 novorapidboi26 1,819 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Medical tattoos If you upload the image to one of the many image hosting site out there, all you need to do is past the image link into the below code, replacing the web address with your image link: An example below: