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DAFNE NOT FOR TYPE 2????

J

Joantype2

Member
Messages
5
Location
Norfolk
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
I was interested in trying to match my insulin to the carbs I eat as my sugars have been all over the place for at least 2 years now! I regularly wake up with sugar readings over 15 at 7am. Sometimes I get readings of 'hi'. I have even tried hardly eating any carbs at all, which makes me feel sick. I take insulin and metformin. I was diagnosed in 2007. I thought the DAFNE course sounds just what I wanted, but it is only for type 1's according to their website. Has anyone with type 2 on this forum gone on a DAFNE course?
 
There is a version of the XPERT course for T2s who use insulin - http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/diabete ... programmes
DAFNE's great, but might not be that useful for you, I wouldn't have thought, because it teaches how to manage a T1 body that can't produce any insulin of its own - slightly different issues crop up. What insulins do you use and how many injections do you do a day? DAFNE tends these days to concentrate on people who are on 4 or 5 injections a day on a basal/bolus regime, so again if that's not your regime, it would be of limited use.
 
Thanks for your reply snodger I am on only 2 jabs a day with humilin. I will look at the link you gave me, thanks! I am going to a dietitian soon, but last time they told me to eat too many carbs, the whole session was useless! I was very well controlled then and not on insulin as I was regularly going to the gym, but that is not possible at the moment. If I can go to my next appointments in November armed with some details of programs I can use, perhaps I can get better treatment! - Thanks again!
 
Joantype2 said:
I was interested in trying to match my insulin to the carbs I eat as my sugars have been all over the place for at least 2 years now! I regularly wake up with sugar readings over 15 at 7am. Sometimes I get readings of 'hi'. I have even tried hardly eating any carbs at all, which makes me feel sick. I take insulin and metformin. I was diagnosed in 2007. I thought the DAFNE course sounds just what I wanted, but it is only for type 1's according to their website. Has anyone with type 2 on this forum gone on a DAFNE course?
Click to expand...
Joantype2,
As an alternative might be the BDEC e-learning course which shows you how to count carbs etc:
www.bdec-e-learning.com/
 
I was on 4 injections a day basal/bolus as a T2 and was still refused a DAFNE course as it is different for a T2 with pancreatic function to work out exact carb to insulin matching units, with a T1 it is more stable as 'most' T1's dont have to take insulin resistance into account which can change alarmingly quickly depending on visceral fat, exercise etc. I still dont understand the full ins and outs of it but I found I just had to adjust as I thought appropriate and up or lower the basal/bolus unit amounts accounting to my levels, so if for eg I woke with a fasting level of 8 mmol/L I would reduce my basal 1 unit at a time until I got to the levels I was looking for.

Not sure how you could even start to do it on a mixed insulin regime as (as I understand it) you have to eat enough carbs to match the insulin you take rather than the other way round.
 
The methods of dose adjustment used on the Bdec course won't work with twice daily insulins.
This leaflet gives a good diagram as to how this type of insulin workshttp://www.nhslanarkshire.org.uk/S ... nsulin.pdf

There's a bit more info on adjustment here:
http://medweb.bham.ac.uk/easdec/prevent ... tures.html
From all I read and understand, this type of insulin works best when you eat at similar times every day, eating similar amounts of carbs (ie if you have 30g of carb for breakfast and 45 for lunch you do that every day).
When you exercise you need to be aware of the time the insulin peaks (ie at it's strongest action) and if necessary you may need to take a snack to avoid a hypo.
 
Thanks everyone! I have just been to the dietitian and she says I am doing everything wrong. I am now doing carb constistancy (oh dear can't remember the right word). Anyway I only went to the dietitian yesterday, I was cutting carbs when my sugars were high and this impacted on my sugars because I am still producing insulin myself and everything was yo-yoing! So perhaps by keeping my carbs constant each day, my body will adjust (that's the theory).
 
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