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DAFNE course

Cumberland said:
Wow
I learned something important today I think all of us in the group did regarding basal injections

I like others had been told to inject twice daily 12 hours apart (I do mine 10am and 10pm) the educators told us to inject before bed and as soon as we get up in the morning ensuring there is a 7 hour gap so if I inject at 10pm I should inject again when I rise 6,7,8,9am and not wait till 10am
Click to expand...
That's the DAFNE rule. If you get into testing it out there's a whole new and fascinating world relating to basal testing.

That model doesn't really work for me... And funnily enough for many people given how Levemir works!
 
Day 2

All about carb counting
Weighing food and calculating carb content

I started carb counting recently and bought a book on carb counting

This afternoon we were shown a range of meters and talked through the range and each of us were given a one of our choice to try out till Friday

I chose the AccuChek model Aviva Expert to trial does anyone use this already and if so how do you find it?

I currently have the AccuChek model Mobile which is great for the 50 tests on a cassette and 6 finger pricker

Any views welcome please

We're covering hypo tomorrow
 
Cumberland said:
I chose the AccuChek model Aviva Expert to trial does anyone use this already and if so how do you find it?
Click to expand...

Used this meter prior to changing to a pump, it's a great meter as it has a built-in bolus wizard that suggests bolus doses based on your current bg levels and the information that you input into the meter.

When I got mine I had to go in for an hour with the DSN to set-up the meter, it can be quite complicated at first but the user manual is self-explanatory.
 
Cumberland said:
Wow
I learned something important today I think all of us in the group did regarding basal injections

I like others had been told to inject twice daily 12 hours apart (I do mine 10am and 10pm) the educators told us to inject before bed and as soon as we get up in the morning ensuring there is a 7 hour gap so if I inject at 10pm I should inject again when I rise 6,7,8,9am and not wait till 10am
Click to expand...

Interesting.... did they say this is for any type of basal insulin?

I'm on lantus and I swear it wears off at about the 18 hour mark as I always have higher BGL's for the last 5-6 hours before my next injection. I asked my endocrinologist if I could split the dose instead to see if this worked better and he said no I couldn't do that and that lantus is a 24 hour dose. hmmm.
 
noblehead said:
Used this meter prior to changing to a pump, it's a great meter as it has a built-in bolus wizard that suggests bolus doses based on your current bg levels and the information that you input into the meter.

When I got mine I had to go in for an hour with the DSN to set-up the meter, it can be quite complicated at first but the user manual is self-explanatory.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this Noblehead

All of us took this model home yesterday to trial until Friday

It's high tech certainly a bit more faffy than the AccuChek mobile but early on I quite like it and as you say the bolus wizard is very useful
 
Mep said:
Interesting.... did they say this is for any type of basal insulin?

I'm on lantus and I swear it wears off at about the 18 hour mark as I always have higher BGL's for the last 5-6 hours before my next injection. I asked my endocrinologist if I could split the dose instead to see if this worked better and he said no I couldn't do that and that lantus is a 24 hour dose. hmmm.
Click to expand...
We covered all the basal insulins that folk in the group were on and Lantus included none of us were aware of this concept of basal before bed and again upon rising ensuring there is a 7 hour gap minimum

I was told to have mine 12 hours apart so this is new to me

Mep I would check with your DSN regarding your own circumstances
 
Day 3
All about hypo and hyper (ketones) and treatments of these as well as correction doses (of which I had not been educated on) I have mainly experienced hypers but maybe get a hypo say once every 2 months but I know the warning signs never have I been hypo unaware which we also covered

We were all given a Freestyle Optium Neo meter to test for ketones and at the end of the week they are going to write to our GPs with the changes to prescriptions they said ketostix are not as accurate as the meter so they will stop my ketostix and start up the ketone meter strips instead

Been good so far, we're off out for a bar meal at lunch time tomorrow
 
Mep said:
Interesting.... did they say this is for any type of basal insulin?

I'm on lantus and I swear it wears off at about the 18 hour mark as I always have higher BGL's for the last 5-6 hours before my next injection. I asked my endocrinologist if I could split the dose instead to see if this worked better and he said no I couldn't do that and that lantus is a 24 hour dose. hmmm.
Click to expand...
I believe you have been advised correctly but not given the solution. I have also been informed lantus lasts 24 hours but that will vary from person to person and it probably drops off before then, so 18 hours seems about right. It shouldn't therefore be split as you would need to know how much is left active from the previous injection. I used to be on split lantus and was told this was dangerous and I was switched to a split does on levemir which lasts 12 hours. I have seen a great improvement in both testing with 24 hours 0 carbs and normal eating.
 
Oops posted before I had finished

The group of us (8 patients & 2 HCPs have bonded really well we are learning so much from the HCPs and from each other

Last day tonorrow
 
Day 5

Learned about health related conditions that diabetes can affect, very informative

Then we had a test on the whole week afterwards

Tutors have arranged a half day get together for the group on April 20th

It has been a worthwhile week
 
We all were given a spare meter and compared our readings since the course last month
So glad I attended course it has provided me with new information I feel better equipped and hopefully the downward trend in sugars will continue
 
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