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Accu-Chek Aviva Expert

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Hiya. I have done DAFNE and found it strange that they said we could get away with small snacks and no insulin. A 10g snack is going to cause a rise in BG level - I always bolus for my snacks (unless grazing over a buffet or something, it gets confusing with stacking insulin).
 
NiVZ said:
On DAFNE you are taught you can get away with 10g snack without needing insulin and I thought thats what this snack size was for, but it seems to always tell me to take insulin to cover my 10g snack.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Not sure NiVZ...

Perhaps it's just a software thing x>y or x>=y. If you set the snack size at 11g maybe it would have changed the way the bolus advice treated the 10g snack. Have to say I'd agree with Shiv though, 5g of carbs I can pretty much always let slide, but by 10g I know I'll see an impact on BG. I find carby snacks more trouble than they are worth most of the time. I just grab a handful of peanuts 🙂
 
The bolus wizard setting for snack size isn't to do with whether it will calculate a bolus or not, but to distinquish between two types of food intake to determin if the reminder for post meal needs to be activated..

what probably happened is that when it calcuated your 10g, if found that there was enough active insulin in your body to remain within your target range with an additional 10gs..
 
To be honest I couldn't really remember what the Snack Size setting was for. It seems to be related to meal rise rather than post-meal reminders though.

From the handbook:
Snack Size
The Snack Size defines a certain amount of carbohydrates for which a meal bolus is calculated, but no Meal Rise is triggered. No BG level above the Target Range or currently allowed BG is tolerated for this amount of carbohydrates, so Bolus Advice will calculate a correction bolus for any increase in BG after a snack.
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Essentially if you test soon after a snack (and your BG has risen because the insulin is lagging) the Expert will recommend an additional bolus despite the insulin-on-board because it is not expecting the sort of rise you have asked it to permit (without recommending a correction bolus) with the Meal Rise setting.
 
Thanks for the replies.

See what you guys are saying now about some of it being a bit fiddley and not working the way you expect.

So far, active insulin and snack size have completely confused me. And I had one strange bolus advice. My BG was 10 and it was only suggesting +0.5 correction when my insulin sensitivity is set to 1u brings down 3mmol. I'd always calculate that as a +1 correction (which is what I took)

NiVZ
 
NiVZ said:
Thanks for the replies.

See what you guys are saying now about some of it being a bit fiddley and not working the way you expect.

So far, active insulin and snack size have completely confused me. And I had one strange bolus advice. My BG was 10 and it was only suggesting +0.5 correction when my insulin sensitivity is set to 1u brings down 3mmol. I'd always calculate that as a +1 correction (which is what I took)

NiVZ
Click to expand...

How long ago was your previous injection? There's a gradual fall-off of the Expert's understanding of insulin onboard based on your Meal Rise, Acting Time and Offset Time. There's a graph or two in the blurb about when and when not corrections might be suggested based on multiple meals close together.

But as you say, sometimes it just seems to ignore insulin-on-board/active insulin entirely!

M
 
Hi Mike,

Previous injection was more than 4 hours before it gave that advice so no insulin should have been in my system to change the calculation.

Got the handbook in with me today so away to work through it.

Thanks,

NiVZ
 
I've had an occasional correction advice like that, although I'm using the combo with a pump, and it's turned out to be right.
 
the meal rise and snack size did confuse me at first but managed to get my head around it now. The tighter you want your control the higher the snack size needs to be.
after a snack the meter doesn't expect your blood glucose to rise, but after a meal it expects it to rise whilst the bolus insulin is working. It helps with reccommending corrections.
I'm not using my expert at the moment but might go back to it,
 
AccuChek Aviva Expert

Hi all... I thought I'd share some good news and some positive thoughts!

I went for my clinic the otehr day, determined to leave feeling positive. It just so happens that I did but mainly because of a new meter my doc gave me (and no, I don't work for AccuChek I promise 😛)

It's amazing, just like a pump apparently (without the pumping function...): you input insulin sesitivity and ratios, then all you have to do is tell it when you've eaten, how many carbs and how much insulin and it tells you what to do - it's amazing! I've only been using it for 2 days but so far my blood sugars haven't been above 9... A miracle for me!

I was just wondering if anyone else uses it and your experiences? I know it's early days for me, but I can't help thinking that it will just take off the pressures of calculations etc 🙂
 
Munjeeta said:
Hi all... I thought I'd share some good news and some positive thoughts!

I went for my clinic the otehr day, determined to leave feeling positive. It just so happens that I did but mainly because of a new meter my doc gave me (and no, I don't work for AccuChek I promise 😛)

It's amazing, just like a pump apparently (without the pumping function...): you input insulin sesitivity and ratios, then all you have to do is tell it when you've eaten, how many carbs and how much insulin and it tells you what to do - it's amazing! I've only been using it for 2 days but so far my blood sugars haven't been above 9... A miracle for me!

I was just wondering if anyone else uses it and your experiences? I know it's early days for me, but I can't help thinking that it will just take off the pressures of calculations etc 🙂
Click to expand...

Hi Munjeeta! Lovely to hear from you - and good to hear that you had a positive visit to the clinic 🙂 As you can see, your post has been added to a thread extolling the vitues of that very device! 🙂
 
I've got the pump version of the expert, been using it since January...

Yes its very good...

I do love mine as it saves a lot of the number crunching I used to do with my pump, and best bit being that he also a remote control for the pump which means I don't need to ensure that I have access to the pump..
 
The thing for me after 6 days of use is it remembers insulin dose both basal & bolus plus food eaten. I'm really bad at keeping diaries and this works for me. Now just give us keytones tests now and a NICE friendly 'Basics' range pump and I will be happy.

Marc
 
Can you ask for the Accu-check Aviva Expert or does it have to be offered? I reckon Luke would have better BG control if he had this tester. It just takes out all (well, most) of the maths and would make our lives so much easier.

Would it be the GP or the diabetes clinic that would be able to do this?
 
Best bet is to ask your DSN Ren (you have to get one via them so you can be shown how it works, and some teams even have a few to give out)

M
 
Thanks Mike. I really liked your blog posts about the this tester, by the way. I sent the link to my partner the other week to read. I'll see if we can get in touch with his DSN so that we can see if one would be available.
 
I have been given one of these and think its great. I was having a lot of trouble with my numbers as most know on hear. But I have been a bit better since getting this. I was over correcting but now I think things are starting to settle dow a bit and I just give what it says. I have had a few highs but think this is the first week that I am mostly in range only had 1 test this week that wasent.
I realy like this meater.
 
grandma said:
...I have had a few highs but think this is the first week that I am mostly in range only had 1 test this week that wasent.
I realy like this meter.
Click to expand...

That's brilliant Grandma 🙂

The nice thing is that you can change the settings just a little bit and it does all the tricky sums, then shows you how it's worked out the dose!
 
Hi Meacey, welcome to the forum 🙂 Have you tried calling Roche and asking for a trial of one? I'm pretty sure one or two people here have got them that way. I'm surprised your DSN wasn't more supportive of the idea, perhaps she could get one from a rep if cost is an issue. I don't have one, but I do tend to write my levles and doses down in my blood glucose diary, along with all sorts of other shorthand for stuff!

If there's anything we might be able to help with in getting your HbA1c down, let us know! 🙂
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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