[Diabetes] General Chat and Support Thread

BlackEdelweiss

I am only on insulin for about 2 months now, maybe less so I am still not sure about the ins and outs of it all. My levels were actually better when I was on tablets than they are now and I am either having hypos or am having sky high readings. Today I had a hypo and took some lucozade to correct it, I then had 2 slices of bread and a granola bar to catch it on the way down, I probably could have done without the granola bar but I was hungry aswell. A while later after my next dose with dinner I had about 2 spoons of ice cream, if even that and a chocolate chip cookie that I had baked for the kids. My blood went through the roof after this, it was already high before dinner due to the hypo but 2 hours after dinner I was at 22.6 and feeling really crap. This is where I need some advice, I decided to give myself an extra 2 units to see could I get my blood down a bit and it did work but I have been told to inject 4 times a day, every 4 hours roughly but this was an extra dose, is this safe to do and should I do it if my blood is very high or should just wait till my next scheduled dose.

tbh

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

I am only on insulin for about 2 months now, maybe less so I am still not sure about the ins and outs of it all. My levels were actually better when I was on tablets than they are now and I am either having hypos or am having sky high readings. Today I had a hypo and took some lucozade to correct it, I then had 2 slices of bread and a granola bar to catch it on the way down, I probably could have done without the granola bar but I was hungry aswell. A while later after my next dose with dinner I had about 2 spoons of ice cream, if even that and a chocolate chip cookie that I had baked for the kids. My blood went through the roof after this, it was already high before dinner due to the hypo but 2 hours after dinner I was at 22.6 and feeling really crap. This is where I need some advice, I decided to give myself an extra 2 units to see could I get my blood down a bit and it did work but I have been told to inject 4 times a day, every 4 hours roughly but this was an extra dose, is this safe to do and should I do it if my blood is very high or should just wait till my next scheduled dose.

standard disclaimer: you should give your diabetes care team a ring to discuss any changes you make to your regime.

my personal worthless opinion: 22.6 after dinner is quite high. Do you remember what it was before dinner and what did you have for dinner - how much did you take with your dinner?

Remember as well that insulin keeps on working for four hours. Technically, 22.6 is post-prandial (immediately after your meal) - p-p bloods can go quite high, especially if the meal has fast acting carbs, but 22.6 is still a lot higher than I personally would be comfortable with.

before we get into it any further - are you carb counting? in other words, do you calculate the amount of carbs you are eating in a meal and then figure out how much insulin you need to take?

graflynn

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

This is where I need some advice, I decided to give myself an extra 2 units to see could I get my blood down a bit and it did work but I have been told to inject 4 times a day, every 4 hours roughly but this was an extra dose, is this safe to do and should I do it if my blood is very high or should just wait till my next scheduled dose.

I agree with tbh, you need to talk to your diabetes team before you make changes, especially when you are so new to insulin.

And learning to carb count with a dietician makes diabetes life so much easier to figure out - I hope you can look into this further.

sofaraway

Hi, I'm hoping some of you can pass on some info/advice (apologies for the long story below.......)

I moved to Dublin from the UK around 6 months ago. I'm type 1 diabetic and got myself sorted with a gp and the LTI scheme fairly quickly but what took a bit longer was getting a referral to a hospital clinic. My gp at first recommended that going through the public system would mean that I would go to a "one-stop shop" at a hospital clinic where I would get consultant/eye scan/foot check all done on one visit whereas if I went private it would mean organising different appointments with different people at different times. Based on this (and the fact my diabetes isn't covered by my heath insurance as a pre-existing condition) I opted for a referral through the public service. A couple of months later when I was back at the gp, they took a different track and seemed to be trying to push me to go private - I still hadn't had a hospital appointment through by then - but I said I was happy to stay public and the gp then followed this up and I got my appointment booked.

The appointment is drawing nearer and I suppose I am getting a bit apprehensive about what to expect - I have been diabetic for 26 years and for the last 10 have been going to the same hospital clinic so this is a pretty big change and I have some questions some people here might be able to help with.

Firstly, is not going private the way to go? I hadn't really ever thought of it until my gp slightly put me off at that last visit. I'm not expecting miracles but preferably would like to see someone who knows what they are talking about! Along the same line, can you choose where you go and who you see? Obviously I have an appointment coming up but can I change where I go in future and if so, is there a best place to go? Finally, in general, do all the normal checks - eyes,feet, bp, hba1c, etc get done at the one appointment or, for example, do I have to go get bloods taken prior to the appointment to get reesults when I'm there - in the past I have got used to instant results but I know not everywhere does this?

Sorry for a first post ramble but any tips/advice anyone has would be much appreciated!
Thanks

robinph

Was a good few years ago now, but I did the move from UK to Ireland as a diabetic as well. I can't actually remember how I went about getting the referral to a hospital, but I was a bit lax in actually keeping appointments for a while back then. Must have been just whatever GP I went to, never quite got the hang of having to pay cash to a GP. :mad:

Anyway, once I was referred to the hospital it was them that took care of everything. I would have annual appointments which the consultants where they would do the general checks for everything, but that would have required some bloods to be taken a few weeks beforehand. I'd also go in just to see the specialist nurse or dietitians at other points in the year.

Shouldn't be any reason to have to pay for anything or go private, and if you've been working for the last couple of years in the UK and paying your NI then you are fully paid up for the equivalent in Ireland (whatever they actually call it now). You don't get as much other stuff free in Ireland, you'll now have to pay for non-diabetes related prescription items in addition to GP visits for example. But all diabetes stuff will be "free".

purplestar1986

Hi, I'm not diabetic myself but my parnter has been recently diagnosed (start of july) and up till about a month ago was getting on grand with everything. She was put on levemir twice a day, novorapid three times a day and metformin 500mg twice a day at the beginning.

About a month ago they changed her metformin to 1000mg twice a day and that's when everything went down hill, they sent a presciption out in the post and never advised her to lower her insulin and therefore she ended up having a lot of hypos over a two week period.

When her insulin was lowered things started to even out again but she has had constant muscle pain, all over her body, for the past two weeks. She's been told it's because her sugars were so high when she was first diagnosed (it was in the 60s) that it's just everything settling now and the pain will eventually go away but it's some serious amount of pain she does be in and it only gets better for two to three hours in the afternoon.

Has anyone else experienced this with diabetes? My partner thinks it's the metformin causing the pain, has anyone else been on metformin and experienced this kind of pain?

Sorry for the long post but thanks for taking the time to read it

Alanstrainor

Alanstrainor wrote: »

As in, my pump is out of warranty, so they sent me out a loan of a pump for 3 months to give me some chance to get a replacement.

Only trouble is that they sent out the wrong one...god damn it....

EDIT: Turns out the one they sent me will actually work with the supplies i have...phew

I have a minimed 512, and they sent a larger 712 which i just figured would need larger reservoirs...turns out the small ones fit just fine.

Well still no new pump. HSE are dragging their feet on this one, my consultant has no real idea how long it's going to take.

robinph

Stupid internet downtime messed me up today. "Crisis" in work just as I was having my lunch led to me forgetting to press the bolus buttons as I tried to sort things out and find workarounds with various mobile dongles and network cables.

Then took a while of me feeling crap later in the afternoon before it suddenly dawned on me the reason for feeling rubbish wasn't actually the lack of access to boards.ie but was the lack of insulin.

CathyMoran

robinph wrote: »

Stupid internet downtime messed me up today. "Crisis" in work just as I was having my lunch led to me forgetting to press the bolus buttons as I tried to sort things out and find workarounds with various mobile dongles and network cables.

Then took a while of me feeling crap later in the afternoon before it suddenly dawned on me the reason for feeling rubbish wasn't actually the lack of access to boards.ie but was the lack of insulin.

I hate when I forget to take insulin too. Hope that you feel better now.

robinph

CathyMoran wrote: »

I hate when I forget to take insulin too. Hope that you feel better now.

Yeah, getting there. Annoyed now though as I can't really safely go for a run now this evening as I don't like going so soon after taking a bolus.

Having a night off from the training is good too of course, but I'm having a few too many of them lately. Have another half marathon to do weekend after next and a full marathon in Amsterdam in almost exactly a month. Really running out of time to get any more decent training miles done.

I did beat "the other fast local type 1" that I know of in a half marathon this weekend just gone, only by 30 seconds though so was pretty close at the end. Shouted a bit of encouragement as I passed him towards the end and could see him struggling a bit, we are usually racing pretty close together towards the end of races.

ElBarco

robinph wrote: »

Stupid internet downtime messed me up today. "Crisis" in work just as I was having my lunch led to me forgetting to press the bolus buttons as I tried to sort things out and find workarounds with various mobile dongles and network cables.

Then took a while of me feeling crap later in the afternoon before it suddenly dawned on me the reason for feeling rubbish wasn't actually the lack of access to boards.ie but was the lack of insulin.

Fair play. Either is a pain but both is a disaster.

Hal Emmerich

robinph wrote: »

I did beat "the other fast local type 1" that I know of in a half marathon this weekend just gone, only by 30 seconds though so was pretty close at the end. Shouted a bit of encouragement as I passed him towards the end and could see him struggling a bit, we are usually racing pretty close together towards the end of races.

Was it this.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX7wtNOkuHo

:pac:

robinph

Just did a 5 mile race this evening, but after this race a load of us from the running club go out for a pub meal afterwards as it's on a 40 minute drive away from home. As we are sat down waiting for the food to appear one of the women shouts down the table to another "I'm 18.0, what are you?". Second woman shouts back "I'm 17.9". Couple of confused looks from some of the other people at the table who aren't sure what is going on as neither of them are anywhere near their teenage years still. Then I join in with "I'm 18.1, does that mean I win?".

Between us we then have to explain to the rest of them what we were on about. But we have clearly proved that managing running races and diabetes is not all that simple, even for me with my bionic pump attachment.

CramCycle

robinph wrote: »

Just did a 5 mile race this evening, but after this race a load of us from the running club go out for a pub meal afterwards as it's on a 40 minute drive away from home. As we are sat down waiting for the food to appear one of the women shouts down the table to another "I'm 18.0, what are you?". Second woman shouts back "I'm 17.9". Couple of confused looks from some of the other people at the table who aren't sure what is going on as neither of them are anywhere near their teenage years still. Then I join in with "I'm 18.1, does that mean I win?".

Done a 5km one in Portugal last night. The heat is my excuse as my bloods would not go down and I feel worse today then the Dublin Marathon 2 years ago

even for me with my bionic pump attachment.

Coolest description yet of a pump, when I get one, that is what it will be referred to. My OH wants to come to my next appointment in the hospital (she has never been before) as she wants to know what is required for the pump (she did find my pop it off to pop it in joke (sound effects and actions included) stolen from a thread about getting a pump funny, sorry for stealing that). From now this is how I will refer to it before running out of the kitchen to this music (from 1:14 onwards):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HofoK_QQxGc

cynder

my ladys still on the waiting list for the pump, but its a long waiting list.......

she is joining the schools cross country team (she has just gone into 6th class ) the fastest girl in the school is now in secondry, so my lady is now the fastest girl in the school...:D...

Its interesting to read how many adult diabetics run/do marathons. My lady loves running and doing hurdles. Hope she keeps it up in secondry next year....


Maybe one day she will be running a marathon too.......

robinph

grindelwald wrote: »

Its interesting to read how many adult diabetics run/do marathons.

...and some of them to a pretty high level as well.

http://missyfoy.com/

I don't think she actually ever qualified for the US Olympic team.

This guy did for the Winter Olympics though and is on a pump:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Freeman

cynder

Good to know things dont come to a dead end if you have diabetes..... My lady is good at running but really wants to be a show jumper, as she is horsey mad, its her 12th birthday today and she is going for a trek for her birthday tomorrow with a few friends, she is ok at swimming, we were in lanzarote they last month and she went scuba diving in the swimming pool, she wasnt allowed into the sea for health and safty reasons and needed a gps medical cert, DO ANY OF YOU GUYS SCUBA DIVE? Friends of ours have a boat and go scuba diving regularly and they will bring her when she is older if she has the certification. My concern would be a hypo under the water.... any thoughts?

Did anyone else here that the EU plan to bad diabetic drivers if they have more than 2 hypos a YEAR!

Think that's mad, surely it will never get passed ?

robinph

Never done scuba myself, but have always thought that I'd not be able for it from pre-diabetes time due to asthma.

tbh

grindelwald wrote: »

DO ANY OF YOU GUYS SCUBA DIVE?

I actually got my PADI certification in Turkey the year before I was diagnosed, but haven't been diving since. There are other risk factors at play other than hypos, but the hypo risk is the major one. The problem with diving is that if you get into trouble, someone else has to rescue you, so potentially you diving is putting others at risk. It's a harsh rule, but I understand the logic behind it. I know that you are rarely asked straight out if you are diabetic, but you will have to say you aren't on your paperwork. If you tell the truth, you won't be able to do the course and get certified, unfortunately.

Griffin87

just a heads up The DAFNE android app has just been released. I just downloaded the application and it is working perfectly.

just search for dafne on the android market to find it.

robinph

Griffin87 wrote: »

just a heads up The DAFNE android app has just been released. I just downloaded the application and it is working perfectly.

just search for dafne on the android market to find it.

In the absence of a Carbs & Cals Android app making an appearance this looks like it will do just what I need when guesstimating carbs when out and about eating food that doesn't come with a packet. One CP is 10g of carbs in the DAFNE system, right?

Griffin87

robinph wrote: »

In the absence of a Carbs & Cals Android app making an appearance this looks like it will do just what I need when guesstimating carbs when out and about eating food that doesn't come with a packet. One CP is 10g of carbs in the DAFNE system, right?

Yes 10g carbs to 1CP.

Coletteh

Is there a dafne app for the iPhone?

tbh

Coletteh wrote: »

Is there a dafne app for the iPhone?

Yep, and a great carbs and cals app too

robinph

grindelwald wrote: »

Did anyone else here that the EU plan to bad diabetic drivers if they have more than 2 hypos a YEAR!

Think that's mad, surely it will never get passed ?

I've heard rumours about this, and seen a rumour printed in the Daily Mail. I did not buy or read it, the item was thrust upon me and I had little choice but to see it.

A quick Google just showed various pages on general driving restrictions as they currently stand, the recent Mail "article", and a BBC News one from 2006 about them removing some limitations for T2's.

elvis jones

Doc confirmed today i have type 2, all new to me. Going back on Friday for more bloods and to have a chat re medication etc !

SusanOF

Hi everyone

I've had a few enquiries with regards to support groups in the Kilkenny region. Does anyone know of any Type 1 specific support groups in that area?

Thanks.

CramCycle

Originally Posted by grindelwald
Did anyone else here that the EU plan to bad diabetic drivers if they have more than 2 hypos a YEAR!

Think that's mad, surely it will never get passed ?

How would they even prove you have had 2 hypos?

I think the UK has a better system than we do. Over here i just handed in a form from my GP no questions asked, over there they give you information about testing before driving, testing while driving. If you suspect you maybe nearing a hypo you must pull over and remove the keys from the ignition and get into the passenger seat or out of the car. All common sense stuff but it was never mentioned to me here.

As a matter of interest does anyone know what the loading is like for a Diabetic type 1 driver?

robinph

CramCycle wrote: »

How would they even prove you have had 2 hypos?

I think the UK has a better system than we do. Over here i just handed in a form from my GP no questions asked, over there they give you information about testing before driving, testing while driving. If you suspect you maybe nearing a hypo you must pull over and remove the keys from the ignition and get into the passenger seat or out of the car. All common sense stuff but it was never mentioned to me here.

As a matter of interest does anyone know what the loading is like for a Diabetic type 1 driver?

You have to re-apply for the license every three years as well giving them your consultant details and answering a few questionnaires and giving them permission to check medical records. Now, I don't think they have ever actually done that for me as the license always came back far too quickly for there to have been time for them to refer to the hospitals, either in the UK or Ireland, does give you a chance to update your picture card more often though. For some reason my latest license actually came back with an older picture of me on it than the previous one though.

I'm not aware of any loading on the insurance previously, but at the moment I'm just a named driver. If I did have any loading on insurance then it would previously have been due to driving issues rather than medical ones.

tbh

robinph wrote: »

You have to re-apply for the license every three years as well giving them your consultant details and answering a few questionnaires and giving them permission to check medical records. Now, I don't think they have ever actually done that for me as the license always came back far too quickly for there to have been time for them to refer to the hospitals, either in the UK or Ireland, does give you a chance to update your picture card more often though. For some reason my latest license actually came back with an older picture of me on it than the previous one though.

I'm not aware of any loading on the insurance previously, but at the moment I'm just a named driver. If I did have any loading on insurance then it would previously have been due to driving issues rather than medical ones.

I've always understood "hypo" in this sense to mean you actually passed out from a hypo. also, I'm with quinn about 4 years and they load me about 60 quid.