Accu Chek Aviva Expert Bolus Advisor - got it - helppp!

[mum2westiesGill]

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=40753

So went to the meter offer today, we've all been given the meter 😱
- the diabetic nurse from my X-Pert course was there and also the rep from accu chek
- we all had to set up our meters as a group but with our own diabetic details
- we have to start using the meter from tomorrow 😱 😱
- the rep explained that you have to trust the meter and that it does now have our own personal diabetic details in
- it is purely for bolus only and not for basal so I may have to still record basal doses on my previous meter
- we were told that by Sunday we would not be looking back!
- school children are being given this meter

 

[Northerner]

Hope all goes well with it Gill! 🙂 I'm sure some of the members here will be able to help with any questions that arise.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I'm sure you will get on brilliantly with it Gill. It took a little while to tweak the settings to be 'just right' for me, but once it was working it gave very good advice and certainly helped take all the effort and guesswork out of things.

One thing I really liked was the way you could very gently adjuct things (either by altering ratio, correction factor or target range for different time periods). In a way that would be almost impossible to do manually.

If you have any questions, just post them and some of us who have used the Expert (or Combo) will see if we can help!

 

[mum2westiesGill]

Northerner & Mike, Thank you both so much

 

[mum2westiesGill]

Settings for my meter

my time blocks:
0.00 5.30
5.30 12.00
12.00 16.00
16.00 21.30
21.30 0.00

I know I'll have to log basal insulin doses into my back up/current meter
Q - Will I be able to do fasting/waking tests on my expert meter?
Q - Can I do my bedtime tests on my expert meter

my targets:
8 lower target/12 upper target - corrects to 10
4 lower target/7 upper target - corrects to 5.5
4 lower target/7 upper target - corrects to 5.5
4 lower target/7 upper target - corrects to 5.5
8 upper target/12 upper target - corrects to 10

my carb ratios:
1 unit insulin/10 grams carbs
1 unit insulin/10 grams carbs
1 unit insulin/10 grams carbs
1 unit insulin/10 grams carbs
1 unit insulin/10 grams carbs

my Insulin sensitivity/corrections:
1 unit/3 mmol
1 unit/3 mmol
1 unit/3 mmol
1 unit/3 mmol
1 unit/3 mmol

 

[mum2westiesGill]

Help Needed Please

I'm off out for a meal tonight, first time since using my Expert Bolus Advisor.

After asking a few times on the forum in the past I came to my ideal solution when eating out
- order food
- test while waiting for food to arrive, having a drink etc
- food arrives - eat & I know now how many carbs have been eaten
- as a one off inject after the meal

however with my new meter you can only get the bolus advice if carbs are entered at the same time as testing, which I won't know until after the meal
- as a one off do I just reckon the bolus myself as I would have done before I had the meter?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Why dont you wait to test until your food had arrived Gill? Doesn't take two ticks to test and inject (no need to wait until after IMO) and you'd get the bolus advice based on the BG after your pre-dinner drinks. Alternatively wait umtil after the meal to test/inject?

But yes... of course you can just do what you would heve done before. The bolus advice is just that - advice. No need for you to take it in unusual circumstances 🙂

Enjoy your meal!

 

[mum2westiesGill]

Think I've found a way round the eating out - does it sound ok?


- order food
- estimate the number of carbs that I am likely to inject
- get the bolus advice and
- then inject later (after the meal) once I know whether my estimate was in range
- If I had less carbs, then I'll reduce the QA dose and
- if I had more, I'll increase it.

 

[trophywench]

Exactly Gill ! - it will work out any correction plus the dose for whatever the carbs are in the meal and you could take the correction pre eating, if you are 'quite high' before you eat. Then just take the carb insulin after the meal, cos the Expert won't know whether you actually did what it said, or when you did it !

You could then stick a reminder on to test again in say 2 hours, just to make sure your bolus was about right.

 

[PattiEvans]

You can actually put your basal in. Turn the meter on, go to "My Data" go to "add data" and scroll down to the very bottom (you can't see it on the screen because it's not big enough, but if you keep scrolling you get to it) where it says "Basal". Click the middle button and use the up and down buttons to add the amount of basal.

 

[trophywench]

LOL - I didn't know that, because mine picks the basal up from the pump automatically and I never had the meter before the pump.

 

[mum2westiesGill]

Settings for my meter

my time blocks:
0.00 5.30
5.30 12.00
12.00 16.00
16.00 21.30
21.30 0.00

Re these time blocks does it matter if a meal is skipped or a meal is had later?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

No. The time blocks allow you to have different settings for what your body generally needs at any point in the day. Some people find they need more insulin in the mornings for example, so they can set a different ratio for that time block.

In my head it makes sense if the time blocks fit around when you generally eat your meals (if you tend to find slightly different settings work for different meals in your case), but they don't have to - and if I remember right all your time blocks are set at 1u:1CP at the moment anyway 🙂