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DAFNE did anyone feel like it didn't really help them?

T

Tracey167

Well-Known Member
Hi All

Just wondered if there is anyone who has been on the DAFNE course and felt like it did'nt really help them and they did'nt really get much out of it.
I went on a 5 week DAFNE course back in February 2014 and even though i learnt a few things about like what to do with your sugar level and insulin when you are sick, most of the stuff the nurse was talking about i have been doing since i had diabetes and learnt to carb count. I don't agree with not counting a HYPO above 3.5mmol i think this could be dangerous especially if like me you have lost your awareness, because some people me included,once you sugar reading reaches 4mmol it will start to drop like a brick. That is one of the things i can't afford to do. When we was having to do a weekly dairy of what we had been eating all week and how much insulin we had taken the diabetic nurse could'nt understand me having a tight control why and eating 3 meals a day and snacks and not really doing that much insulin as at the time my ratio was 0.8 to 10g carbs now is 0.7 to 10g carbs and was still having hypos.
Maybe its just me but i just felt that this course is brilliant for newly diagnosed type 1 diabetics but for people who have had it for many years like myself i did'nt really get what they had promised (less hypos) because all that they were talking about i already new and was already doing, and nothings changed with the amount of hypos i'm having.

Would be great to hear other peoples opions on there experience with DAFNE

tracey167
 
Yeah I had the same experience as you. It just showed the pros what I had been telling them for years (novorapid doesnt work for the first two hours and i then drop like a brick.) helped me get a pump though.
 
Hi, I haven't been on the course myself, but my friend has and she thought exactly the same as you. I got a pump 9 months ago and like I said haven't been on it and I'm managing ok my a1c has dropped from 66 to 51 since getting it so I must be doing something right!!

Abbie
 
Anyone who's been diagnosed a long-time and are use to carb counting and have good control may not learn a great deal, but much like you Tracey I thought the Sick Day Rules and Exercise advice were really helpful and I learnt a lot from it, many on the course that I attended did gain a great deal from the course and managed to reduce their insulin needs and consequently reduce their frequency of hyper's and hypo's.

I think the DAFNE course should be a prerequisite for all those who are newly diagnosed.
 
It helped me enormously even though I have been Type 1 for 30 years. Many people find this hard to believe but no one had ever told me how much insulin would reduce my BS levels by and how many carbs would increase it. I was suffering up to 2 extreme hypos a week which required assistance and had completely lost hypo awareness.
After doing the course I learnt very quickly that I was injecting almost twice as much insulin as required and since then, although not perfect my control is heaps better. Some parts were not useful but to those that have slipped through the net (as I did by frequently moving around the country and world) it was great for me.
 
Thanks for everyones replys, I am also shocked that a child can not go on the DAFNE course until they are 17 years old, i understand you could'nt have young toddlers or even 4 and 5 years olds but children who start secondary school this course i think would help them a great deal because when a child moves into secondary school they have to do alot more for thereselfs and be alot more responsible over there diabetes. My daughter started secondary school in september 14 and she is now having to do her own carb counting at lunchtime which to be honest is quite hard to judge with school meals but with help from the carbs & cals book she is doing really well this book is a god send. BUT at the DAFNE course we were told not to use the carbs & cals book you can't win in one breath there telling you to buy this book its brilliant then at the DAFNE course they say don't use it.

I don't know i suppose everyone has there own thoughts over there diabetes but i think we are the only ones who can control our bodies no two diabetics are the same and it just annoys me how some of these diabetes specialists dictate to you as if you are stupid.

tracey167
 
For me it was life changing, but I was on a mixed insulin since diagnosis in 1999......I did my course in 2009.........

I was only exposed to carb counting and insulin/carb ratios a year before the course, unofficially, of course..........but for me it was the dose adjustment education that helped, getting my self into a routine, the step wise approach as they call out........all that stuff appealed to my methodical nature and I was hooked.....

For the newly diagnosed of today, getting the basic carb counting and dose adjustment information is much easier as more of the nurses understand more....and can provide it, so I can imagine for one of the more enthusiastic patients the course may cover stuff they already know.....

its definitely worth it for anyone of different abilities and knowledge in my opinion as its an opportunity to learn some things you may not know, but also to use your experiences to help the others who will be attending, which in turn will allow the team providing the course to refine it for future DAFNE graduates...
 
It's odd that you were advised not to use the Carbs 'n Cals book. It just shows the amount of variation between the way the course is run in different locations. At my course they were selling copies of Carbs 'n Cals as well as recommending it. Personally it doesn't work for me but it does for lots of people. DAFNE has no official position on Carbs 'n Cals so this was just the view of your local team delivering it.
 
One thing that I was pleasantly surprised to learn was that following the DAFNE course, you are issued with a booklet and capillary HbA1c testing tube. Every three months, you fill the tube using a normal lancet, give the tube and book to your practice to send to the hospital lab who then send the book and results back to you . Short version , you self test your Hb .

I hadn't heard of this before ( and probably shouldn't mention it - and be escorted from the DAFNE premises between two lines of educators who flog me with bananas )

Signy
 
Heathenlass said:
I hadn't heard of this before ( and probably shouldn't mention it - and be escorted from the DAFNE premises between two lines of educators who flog me with bananas )

Signy
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Signy!!! the banana-flogging ritual is supposed to be kept secret! Once word gets out everyone will want to go on DAFNE!
 
I went on the course last year. It was quite informative at the time. I applied the carb counting technique for a few weeks after which did help to improve my control but after a while I found it a pain to have to keep recording everything and I have found myself slipping into old habits again.
 
personally I found their stupid insistence on using their little oraneg book and talking about CPs rather than g carbs bloody irritating. The nurse phoning me up before hand and telling to switch to 1U:10g without any discussion really pi$$ed me off as well.

As for the sports section, I learned nothing.

The things I found useful were the basal testing and the sick-day stuff. I was only really doing it as a prerequisite for a pump
 

The little orange book is very basic and doesn't have a comprehensive list of food items. CP's, I still say grams
 
personally I found their stupid insistence on using their little oraneg book and talking about CPs rather than g carbs bloody irritating.
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Maybe they are just trying to emulate WeightWatchers which assigns points to everything (in order to force people to keep buying WeightWatchers brand food, of course)... Maybe they are preparing to launch a range of DAFNE brand snacks?
 
Yes there are irritating parts.
They shouldn't insist on using a particular logbook and definitely shouldn't make you change a ratio without evidence - my course didn't do either of these things.

The CP thing is stupid and seems to be based on the assumption that ordinary people can't do simple division even if their life literally depends on it. Lowest common denominator low expectations.

Not to mention the Eatwell Plate... but despite the irritations I still strongly recommend DAFNE to anyone. If you go on DAFNE and 19 things just irritate you but you learn one thing that improves your diabetic management, surely that's a win?
 
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