Using DIASEND at home
Achieving predictable blood glucose control and limiting highs, lows and unpredictable results is the best possible way of avoiding the problems which can be associated with diabetes. Well controlled diabetes is also, importantly, associated with improved wellbeing. The best performing diabetes centres help achieve this by providing easy routes for patients and specialists to share information and provide advice. Frequent contact is very strongly associated with good diabetes control - Diasend provides you with a convenient way to share information with us.
What is Diasend?
Diasend is a system which uploads your blood glucose meter readings and displays them in a clear format to help pick up patterns. Identifying reasons why blood glucose readings are ‘out of target’ or unpredictable is the best way to help improve diabetes control. You may have reviewed your blood glucose results using Diasend in our clinics.
What is Diasend Personal?
Diasend Personal allows you to create your own account and upload your blood glucose results on your home computer / laptop (Mac and PC). You can link this account to the hospital diabetes clinic, meaning that if you contact us for advice, we can look over the glucose results and provide the best possible advice. The system is secure and no one outside the diabetes clinic has access to your results.
How do I create a Diasend Personal Account?
Diasend Personal is now completely free.
Visit www.diasend.com and select: 'REGISTER HERE'
The website will guide you through a few simple registration pages. Diasend installs a program on your computer which is used to upload your meter readings. The following video explains the simple registration process:
Further information is available at: https://www.diasend.com/en/patient
IMPORTANT: To allow Royal Infirmary Diabetes clinic staff to access your account, you must enter our clinic ID (17-17161) on the 'share data' registration page.
How do I link my meter to my computer?
Most meters have a link cable which connects by USB – please see the separate guide on ‘connecting your meter’ for specific information. Many meters are supplied with a connection cable in the box. If you do not have a connector, most meter manufacturers will provide a link cable free of charge, if you contact them directly. We may be able to provide you with a connection cable from the diabetes clinic (OPD2). The following videos explains the process of connecting your meter to Diasend:
I'm using Diasend Personal - how do I get diabetes advice?
Once you’re uploading your results on to Diasend, please contact the diabetes department at: Diabetesclinic.RIE@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk (or phone 0131 242 1471) providing us with your name, date of birth and contact details. It is also helpful to provide some details of your current treatment and any issues you have identified or are concerned about. Someone from the department will then get back in touch by phone or email.
What do Diasend reports look like?
There are a wide range of reports you can review once you've uploaded your meter(s) to Diasend. Click here to download the Diasend report guide. One of the most helpful reports plots all your readings, over a specified time interval, (the last month is often the best option) on a single chart:
1. You can select a midnight-to-midnight or noon-to-noon view over the selected date range.
2. You can choose to show lines to connect the values relating to each day of the week in different colours (It is best to look at a single week of readings when looking at the connected lines).
3. View the mean (average) value by clicking this link.
4. Statistics can be found at the bottom of each report.
Is my meter compatible with Diasend?
Almost all blood glucose meters are compatible with Diasend. A full list of compatible devices is listed on the Diasend website.
I use the software provided with my meter, can I send reports from this?
The benefit of Diasend is that it provides a number of different ways of looking at results, irrespective of what meter is used. If you use the upload software provided by your meter manufacturer, you are welcome to send PDFs of these reports by email, however we would encourage you to use Diasend as all clinic staff are familiar with this system.
I have an insulin pump, is this relevant to me?
Yes. In advance of clinic appointments it is very useful to send a PDF of your pump download which can be reviewed before you are seen, to help identify areas for discussion. However, it is also very useful to use Diasend as well, as it presents information on blood glucose results in a very clear and easy to understand format.
If you have a MEDTRONIC pump, we should have provided you with a CARELINK USB to connect to your computer - if you don't have one, ask for one at the clinic. Click here to find out more about uploading your pump.
How often should I be in contact with the diabetes clinic?
We are keen to hear from you whenever you feel there is something to be gained from us helping review your blood glucose results. In some cases this may be weekly - in other cases no contact may be needed between clinic appointments. Regular review, even by email or phone, is strongly associated with better, stable diabetes control. We are keen to be available to provide this as often as necessary.
I can't get diasend to work, what should I do?
Get in touch with us at diabetesclinic.RIE@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk and we’ll see if we can help.
How often should I upload my results?
Do this before your clinic appointments and also before contacting us for advice. It is probably worthpersonally looking at your uploads every few weeks tohelp pick up patterns.
What extra information can be useful to help improve blood glucose control?
Youmay have been asked, in the past, to complete a detailed diary which includes information ondiet and physical activity; thiscan prove useful in looking at what influences glucose levels. In addition, during a short period of ‘intensivemonitoring’, it can be helpful to: check a few overnight blood sugar readings; take some measurements a couple of hours after meals; and also to assess the effect of a ‘carbohydrate free meal’. Further details (and a printable version of the diary) are available on the clinic website:
Click here to go to 'Improving control in type 1 diabetes'
We would be keen toreview the results of a spell of intensive monitoring – which you could scan and send to our email address (or post to the Diabetes Department). Looking over Diasend and an intensive diary together can highlight patterns or issues which may benefit from a change (e.g. insulin doses or ratios, carbohydrate counting, correction doses, approach to exercise etc.).