[LauRa Lu]

I know a couple of people that inject thru there jeans and stuff, i havent tried that yet it doesnt sound too hygeinic to me. if i'm out i tend to just do it in my belly, perhaps one day i'll be brave enough to do it thru my trousers but i doubt it!

As for gloucester it is a dump (alltho not all of it) and thats why i dont live there! Abbymead is where familly live...small word huh!

[DeusXM]

Wouldn't jab through your jeans if I were you - denim's a bit thick and would blunt the needle very quickly and make for a nice painful injection.

T-shirts work pretty well but you've always got the risk of bleeding. A blood-stained T-shirt always seems to worry other people

[shamsul]

Hi Laura,

Sorry to hear about your problem. Rest assured, I feel that it helps to complain. We all need help at some point or other.

Medisense has an interactive demo. I don't know whether you've seen it. It does try to show, among others, how to get that precious drop of blood.

If you haven't seen it, you can find it at www.medisense.com, click on the graphic and then you can go directly to the "Getting a blood sample" link.

There's something else that I do, which I find helps very much. I wind a rubber band around my finger, once or twice, to force the blood into the first joint of my finger (even though the Medisense guide says not to squeeze the finger). Start around the middle of the second joint and wind up to the first. This causes the joint to get slightly numb and, since the skin is slightly stretched because of all the blood in it, I can use my lancing device at the #1 setting (I've never gone higher than #2 - I use #2 on cold mornings). How hard you press the lancing device on the finger as you press the trigger is matter of testing.

I've been a diabetic since 1997 and it has taken quite a lot of pricking to get here and, personally, I think I've got it down to an art to the extent that most of the time I don't even feel the prick, it draws just enough blood for the test and the puncture closes up very quickly.

Since you test very often, I would also suggest that you make a mental note of where exactly on the side of your fingers that you prick because you don't want the points on which you prick to be too close to one another. They need to heal.

FYI I use my Medisense lancing device with the Lifescan Ultrasoft lancets (they fit just nice). I find that Medisense's lancets cause some kind of vibration (like if you snap a rubber band on your skin) as it pricks my skin which I can feel and that causes some amount of discomfort. I also dislike the new Medisense lancets because the protective cover can get me confused about whether it has been used or not (i.e. at times when I feel it is not safe to dispose of the lancets, I put it back into the case and dispose of it later).

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but, just in case no one has said this, you shouldn't use a lancet more than once. They become dull and this makes it more painful.

Finally, the pain that you feel that stays for the rest of the day (or even longer) is IMHO the result of the lancet going in too deep (which of course differs from person to person). With experience you should be able to get this right. You should aim to get the lancet in as little as possible but the balancing act is in getting just enough blood for the test. (FYI I've even tried not screwing the cap in tightly - with the depth set at #1 - or trying at the imaginary 1 and a half, hoping to get that little less depth).

Good luck. I hope you get over this problem and can get on to concentrating on BG control instead of getting frustrated and having to live with the pain.

Regards,
Shamsul

p/s: If you looking for a good book to learn about diabetes, I've found that Diabetes For Dummies by Dr. Alan Rubin is extremely easy to follow and understand. Check it out at http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/Dumm...76455154X.html

[LauRa Lu]

thanx for that reply it was a real help, especially the link to how to test.

I have no idea about keytones! How do i test for that? i dont have a tester that does it like on that site? If my bg is ok does that mean keytones will be too, or could the keytones be too high even if my bg is normal??

[LauRa Lu]

ok im gonna add this question to this post as i dont wanna hog the whole forums!

Since ive been diabetic i seem to have a really bad headache nearly everyday! could this be something to do with my diabetes or do u thikn its likely to be something else?

My bg is usually between 4 and 8 and hardly ever really high or low.

[DeusXM]

Ketones: something you really don't want. If your bg is well controlled then it's unlikely you'll have them, providing you are eating a sensible diet which includes some carbohydrate.

You can check for ketones with Ketostix, available on prescription from your doctor. To test for ketones, you have to dip them in your urine (icky, I know) and then watch to see if they change colour - bit like litmus paper really.

Ketones are bad for a number of reasons. Firstly, they're evidence that your body is unable to process sugar and is therefore resorting to burning up fat and muscle - your body's literally eating itself to death. Ketones are also a sign that your blood is now rather acidic, which also isn't good.

Most people wake up with a very small amount of ketones since you haven't eaten since the previous night, but it's nothing to worry about. Ketones only become a problem if they're very high, or you have them for a long time, more than a few weeks or so.

Usually you won't need to check for ketones, but a good rule of thumb is to check whenever you have very high blood sugar (over 15mmol/l), or when you are ill.

As for your headaches....it could quite easily be caused by something else but it's worth first just ruling out diabetes. With your headaches, do you wake up with them or do they just appear later in the day?

If you're waking up with headaches, that's usually a sign that you've had a hypo during the night which you've slept through. When this happens your liver releases sugar into your blood to make sure you don't have any major problems, but the side-effect of this is a rather bad headache (not unlike a hangover), and usually, but not always, high blood sugar the next morning. To see if this is likely, wake up and do a blood test somewhere between 1 and 3 in the morning (typically when your bg is at it's lowest). If you're getting low readings then, then you're probably having sleep hypos. Best way to prevent that is to eat a carbohydrate-based snack like toast (or Pot Noodle if you're me ) or reduce your insulin intake.

If they're happening during the day it might be worth doing a blood test when you get a headache just to see what your sugars are doing. Since you're newly diagnosed, it may be that because your body has been used to elevated BG, you have hypos 'earlier' than the rest of us at the moment. When I was first diagnosed I'd have a hypo whenever I went below 5, but now it's more of a case of 3.5 before I notice. Sometimes I still don't notice which is rather scary - my lowest every reading has been 2.1mmol/l (38mg/dl).

In any case, if you are having severe headaches then you should see your GP, since there are a whole variety of things that can cause bad headaches, and you shouldn't have to put up with them.

[LauRa Lu]

the lowest my bg has ever been was 1.5mmol/ (felt very scarey!), the evening i came out of hospital. i dont tend to go lower than 4 and i'm usually always ok when im 4. today i did fall to 3.5 and i certainly noticed! but that was because i hadn't had enough breakfast.

i usually wake up around 7 in the morning and test then, my bg is usually around 6-8 depending on what i'd had for supper. so do u think i should test in the night tonight, because it is in the morning that my headaches are bad..?

[DeusXM]

Give it a try because at least then it'll either confirm or rule out the night hypo idea.

As a thought....you're not on Lantus insulin are you?

[LauRa Lu]

nope i'm not.

There's alot of talk about it on here, i've never heard of it b4..whats it like?

[rzrbks]

There's alot of talk about it on here, i've never heard of it b4..whats it like?

for most of us, it's wonderful at keeping an even B/G reading, it's a synthetic that's supposed to last for 24 hours--like any other medicine, it just depends on how your body reacts to it--

Deus has a good thread up about how there are people who have had problems with Lantus--it's important to know whether or not you're a person who has trouble with Lantus

[Ella1]

Originally posted by LauRa Lu
nope i'm not.

There's alot of talk about it on here, i've never heard of it b4..whats it like?

Laura, we also didn't have any idea about Lantus, and had a nightmare with controling BS on Insulatard. The dawn phenomenon every morning didn't help either. We read about it on the internet and my boyfriend said to his doctor during one of those checks that he would like to try it. He got prescription without any problems. I guess, it depends on your doctor. But you still can tell him that you want to try it. I understand that sometimes it's so difficult to fit in all your concerns into a 15 min consultation. But I figured one thing that it's good to have a doctor's advise, though sometimes you need be more persistant to get it

Lantus hasn't got peaks, and it helps to avoid hypos, given you got your daily dose right.

[DeusXM]

Lantus is a very good insulin for bg control but it sounds at the moment that you're ok anyway. From what I can gather, I believe you're on a two-jab a day system at the moment; on Lantus, you will need around 4 jabs a day.

I wouldn't worry about going onto Lantus just yet because all this is still relatively new to you, and since you are having problems with injecting at the moment, I doubt that a 4-jab system is really ideal at the moment.

Since you seem to have pretty good control at the moment I wouldn't recommend changing your insulin system. I only asked if you were on Lantus since it is known (unofficially) to have very severe side-effects in a minority of individuals. I just wanted to rule out the (unlikely) possibility that Lantus might be causing your headaches.

Keep in mind that not all the problems you will face in your health from time to time will be related to diabetes. Too many doctors seem to think that any problems we have are purely linked to blood sugar and nothing else, which is certainly not the case. I'm just waiting for the day when (god forbid) I develop cancer or something equally horrible and my GP will be more concerned with my bg levels! If you have reasonable readings during the middle of the night, go and see your GP about your headaches since it would therefore be unlikely that they're caused by diabetes.

[shamsul]

You can also test for ketones using Medisense's Precision Xtra (in Malaysia where I am, it's called the Precision Optium). Testing for ketones requires a different strip (not unlike the BG strip) and the test process is pretty much the same: calibrate meter, put in strip, prick finger, get drop of blood ... blah ... blah ... To the best of my knowledge the Medisense Precision Xtra is the only consumer-available meter that has the ability to check for ketones, for now.

Testing for ketones is recommended only if your BG is more than 16 mmol/L (288 mg/dL) or something like that which is really high. The machine usually tells you to check ketones. The other side is of the coin it if your BG remains that high even after 2 hours you should probably go to the ER and get them to put you on a drip or something like that.

Since your BG is between 6 and 8 (which appears to be remarkably well controlled), I wouldn't worry too much about ketones. No one has told you about it so far because they probably feel that there are other areas regarding diabetes which are more relevant which you need to know for the time being. At 6 weeks, I'd recommend that you focus on getting your food/insulin balancing act (and the art of pricking your finger) off on the right foot. Then, you may not need to test too often. The rest you can learn as time goes by.

[Ella1]

Originally posted by DeusXM
; on Lantus, you will need around 4 jabs a day.

I still can't get it.. I've been on different forums with members from all over the world... I've never heard about multiple injections of Lantus.. It's considered to be the longest-acting insulin out of all the insulins. If it doesn't last all 24 hours.. then it's probably better to use some other insulin, and inject NPH or Insulatard twice. Ok, 2 injections, but 4 times!?

I'm currently on the forum where people are on the intensive insulin therapy. They always scrupulously analyse each other's routine, and trying to pin-point the problem, if there is any. The majority managed to bring their HbA1c from 9 to 5.6 and targets are 4.8 - 7mmol/l. And when I posted that Lantus can be injected twice and more times within 24 hours, they were a bit surprised.

I have a suggestion. Would it be possible to create a poll, where people vote how many times they inject Lantus. I always find polar opinions interesting. It can be something like:

How many times a day we inject Lantus?
- Once
- Twice
- 3 times
- 4 times
- I found Lantus is not for me

[DeusXM]

You inject Lantus only once a day. However, you will also need to do other injections of a bolus insulin like Humalog for every time you eat - typically another 3 injections, hence 4 in total.

Lantus is basically a replacement for NPH/Isophane.

In fairness, you actually need more injections on NPH/Isophane. Because that kind of insulin still has a peak, I've been told it's better to inject half of your total isophane dose in the morning, and the rest in the evening, thus eliminating the period where isophane is effectively doing nothing. That takes us up to 5 injections along with the bolus insulin.

I'd be astonished if you found anyone injecting Lantus more than once a day because there's simply no point.