DAFNE course

[Tony337]

Thinking back the one unavoidable problem was 5 days in a meeting room sat down.
On a normal day I am busy all day so that in itself effects sugar levels.

Tony

 

[Deleted Account]

Thinking back the one unavoidable problem was 5 days in a meeting room sat down.
On a normal day I am busy all day so that in itself effects sugar levels.

Tony

Thankfully, my course was held over 4 weeks. Every Monday evening from 5pm to 9pm we learnt diabetes stuff.
It was great that we had a week to put into practice what we learnt the week before and then talk about it.
It was great that we didn't lose a week of work.
It was a pain that it was held straight through the middle of tea time.
It was a pain it started before the end of my working day so I missed a few meetings (as I work for a US company, most of my meetings are in the afternoons).
It was a pain that it was on climbing night but most people haven't sorted themselves out to do something on Mondays (that's why we climb that night) so I guess for most it is the best night.
Overall, I think I preferred the format - like you, I would go crazy sat down in one room for 5 days in a row.

 

[porl69]

Mine was over 4 weeks a LONG time ago. A varied range of people with a varied range of attitudes as well.
I can remember 1 guy there who was worried about his occasional highs (bearing in mind I had a previous HBA1C of over 150!!). His occasional high was 5.9. Was constantly between 4.2 and 4.9. He couldnt believe the ups and downs that i was having. I learned soo much from that course, would defo recommend it to any T1D

 

[smc4761]

My main concern at moment is that they have asked me to try 1:10 ratio, whereas I am normally, 1:3 for breakfast and 1:5 for both lunch and dinner. First day my levels were a little bit higher but for past 2 days have been pretty high around 13 most of the time. They have now asked me to try 1:8 which I did at lunchtime but there has still been no change still really high.

They are also suggesting correction dose of 1 unit of insulin will bring mmol down by 3 units. Typically I was, 1 unit brought down 1 mmol. As with all things new it is simply going to be trial and error to see what works. We are all different and have different needs

 

[Alasdair]

Done mine, in South Lanarkshire, back in 2009......

Because I was coming from a mixed, twice a day regime, it was life changing really....

If you do the course after being on here for a while you wont feel a huge benefit likely, especially if you have established ratios and correction factors already.....

its the approach to the analysis of your readings and how to adjust doses to that data that is valuable....

It allowed me to really get my teeth into dosing techniques, timing.......I actually had 4/5 correction factors on MDI.....now I have one on the pump......

The course does contain standard advice and things like that, which is good for the newbies and those who have had no experience of such things from the start....

I am a fan of DAFNE and similar........having the skills it provides is a must, especially for people considering Libre....

Done mine in south Lanarkshire also. After 30yrs it gave me to insight into making some real sense of my analysis and also changed my meetings and appointments with the consultant etc quite dramatically. Instead of walking in with unknown waiting to see what a random doctor wanted to tell me I now go armed with info (go and get my bloods done prior to appointment) and I download and email over my data sometimes. Which means my appointments become meaningful conversations about what I want to get out of them.

Everyone gets different things out of it, I hope it’s a success for you

 

[novorapidboi26]

Done mine in south Lanarkshire also. After 30yrs it gave me to insight into making some real sense of my analysis and also changed my meetings and appointments with the consultant etc quite dramatically. Instead of walking in with unknown waiting to see what a random doctor wanted to tell me I now go armed with info (go and get my bloods done prior to appointment) and I download and email over my data sometimes. Which means my appointments become meaningful conversations about what I want to get out of them.

Everyone gets different things out of it, I hope it’s a success for you

It was a great success for me, apart from the dawn phenomenon, but injections would never be able to wrestle that under control anyway....

It was such a success that I don't actually go to appointments needing anything from them.....I encourage them to make suggestions from the results they see off my meter upload but they know I am in control.....

A fresh pair of eyes are always welcome of course....

 

[purplesally]

Well today was the first day on my ADAPT course, this is the new name for the DAFNE course in South Lanarkshire.

9 brave souls on the course for 4 days ranging from 14 years old to the old man of the course, me at 56.

Although I have so much still to learn despite having diabetes for 37 years, did not feel that I learned a great deal today that I did not already know. Today was mainly about carb counting, the importance of testing regular, varying sites, changing needles each time. I was surprised that there were a few on the course who did not know much about carb counting.

They have suggested we each try a ratio of 1 unit insulin to 10g of carbs. This will be fun for me as I am usually at least twice that dose. Even for dose adjustment they have suggested 1 unit insulin brings down bg by 2 or 3 mmol. With me its usually 1 unit to bring down 1 mmol. I know we are all different so again will be interesting to monitor.

Anyone else down the DAFNE/ ADAPT course and did you get a lot out of it

Yep I was told 13grams to 1 unit and 1 unit to bring down 3mmol. That didn't work for me. I never have more than 50 grams of carbs in a meal and its usually much lower. I have to have at least 8 - 10 units to keep within 5 & 6 mmol. That was until the mini heatwave last week when I had to half everything, 3 days of constant hypo's.

 

[lizdeluz]

I did my version 11 years ago and got a great friendship group out of it. Be aware that after 37 years of type 1 you may be insulin resistant so that the average ratio suggested just won't work for you.
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[lizdeluz]

yes, I agree that after years of diabetes, insulin resistance may be a factor and that I may need to adjust Dafne ratios, correction for example.