DAFNE

[claire91]

Good Evening everyone
So I am brand new to this forum! I am on diabetessupport.co.uk which I have found really supportive and good to chat
I start the DAFNE course on Monday! Who has been on it and was it worthwhile?
x

 

[mrman]

hi claire, and welcome. Did do dafne about 6 months after diagnosis. it was a three day course in my area. To be honesty I pretty much researched everything myself by that time such as carb counting, excercise, gi index etc. was nice to go through with a group . Did enjoy meeting fellow diabetics discussing what we all do as a regime. There were about fifteen in my group which was surprising as we were all type 1s from a small town. Overall was a great experience but unfortunately at the time didn't think to ask for numbers to keep in touch afterwards which I would recommend.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app

 

[claire91]

awwww thanks for the advice! I've been diabetic for 11 years.. Only now setteling down with it x

 

[mrman]

Thats ok, if your not familiar with carb counting, ratios, basal testing the course should help you alot, anything your unsure of ask then to go over it with you. The people running the course I went on were extremely helpful. It was a diabetic nurse and also a dietician so plenty of expertise.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app

 

[claire91]

Your a type 1 too! and your on exactly the same insulin as me!! How weird haha!
x

 

[mrman]

lol, weird indeed

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app

 

[Paul_c]

it teaches you to match your insulin dosage to your normal eating habits... DAFNE stands for Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating"

what it does not even consider is reducing your carbohydrate intake in order to reduce the amount of insulin you require.

 

[mrman]

it teaches you to match your insulin dosage to your normal eating habits... DAFNE stands for Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating"

what it does not even consider is reducing your carbohydrate intake in order to reduce the amount of insulin you require.

yes it does, if you need to lose weight our want to eat less you have your ratios of insulin for less food. Eg you eat 50 carbs and your ratio is 1 to 10 you put in 5 units qa. If you eat less ie 30 carbs you inject 3 units. Dose adjustment. Note though some people have different ratios depending on quantities eaten.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app

 

[claire91]

Woww! This sounds extremely confusing!

 

[mrman]

Lol, dont worry, the course will help and plenty of people here to answer any questions. How do you currently calculate how much insulin for each meal?

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app

 

[claire91]

Urrrm estimate lol.. Ive figured out If i give myself 14 units of Novarapid at teatime and 14 Levemir.. Before bed im like 8... then i have a snack and when i wake up im all over the place lol like a rollercoaster

 

[mrman]

Oh dear lol, you will hopefully have much better control after the course . once you understand and get to know your ratios it will be less of a rollercoaster, although sometimes it might be.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app

 

[claire91]

8 is good tho lol! When i was a teenager i used to be in the 30's lol.. are you really strict with your diet then?

 

[mrman]

Strict with my diet lol, not at all. Although I do have healthy options I do eat a lot. Always at least 200 carbs a day but normally manage 300 a day no problem. I am still trying to gain weight and muscle mass though so I don't have to restrict myself much. So although I east a lot its always low fat food such as whole grain bread, pasta etc. plenty of protein. The good thing with dose adjusting is I can usually vary my meals a lot and know 90 % of the time my bloods will be between 5 and 8 during the day. I usually make sure I'm at least 7 b4 bed.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app

 

[claire91]

I had to have councelling because i once went semi conscious from a low bloodsugar and was in hospital for a few days.. so petrified of low blood sugars. I got really bad anxiety and always had panic attacks if i went out of my house

 

[mrman]

Aww, thats horrible. So far havnt been unconscious, but did have alot of anxiety not long after diagnosis and was a bit of an insomniac cause I was dreading night hypos. Got easier over time and still am a little bit wary but manage to sleep ok now. Glad you seeked professional help not many people do.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app

 

[phoenix]

Claire

There are a lot of threads on DAFNE including this sticky ,
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=26523
DAFNE type courses were started in Germany in the 1970, it has been adapted for use in Russia, Austria, Australia , the UK (probably other countries) A similar course is now used in France where I live. (I did a sort of intermediate course here in France... they hadn't quite got their heads round individuals making so many decisions when I was diagnosed. However I was lucky enough to be able to benefit online from the expertise of those who did DAFNE type courses )
Most people find the course useful, some find it life changing.

One thing that is important about any course like this is simply meeting other people with T1.

DAFNE stands for Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating and is a way of managing Type 1 diabetes for adults and provides the skills necessary to estimate the carbohydrate in each meal and to inject the right dose of insulin.

The aim of DAFNE is to help you lead as normal a life as possible, while controlling your blood glucose levels, hence reducing the risk of long-term diabetes complications

The earlier poster who commented negatively on DAFNE is according to his profile not a T1, not using insulin and was diagnosed within the last year. He may not realise what normal eating can actually mean when contrasted to regimes prior to this.
In earlier years, people might be told to have regular mealtimes, consistent carb amounts , consistent exercise times and consistent insulin doses (adapted only on results the day before and recent exercise). That isn't a caricature, I was taught initially to do exactly this and yes it works well in those that are able to lead a very regular lifestyle. Such a regime is difficult for many people.
Sadly many people are now not even given this type of info and are left to sink or swim.

DAFNE also helps you to cope with illness, ketones eating out, drinking alcohol etc
Here is a DAFNE timetable
http://www.dafne.uk.com/uploads/135/doc ... etable.pdf

 

[CollieBoy]

phoenix,
Sorry if a mere "non T1" dared to comment on a T1 course/topic. I was under the mistaken impression that T1s could comment on T2 matters (and vice versa)

 

[smidge]

Hey Claire!

Good luck with the DAFNE course. Every Type 1 (and Type 2 in my opinion!) needs to learn the effect of carbs on blood glucose, how to carb count and how to adjust bolus doses. In so far as DAFNE teaches this, it is a good thing. What Paul_c was pointing out in a previous comment was that this isn't the end of the story. The majority of Type 1s and LADAs have to manage our carbs carefully to achieve good HbA1cs without causing hypos, so please don't get the impression that you'll attend the course and can then 'eat normally'. If you are diabetic and want good control, your cannot 'eat normally'.

Some Type 1s seem fortunate enough to be able to have a relatively normal diet and keep their BGs stable - they are often very vocal about it. However, the vast majority of us cannot. Around 95% of Type 1s fail to meet the NICE guidelines for HbA1c levels -and many of us believe the NICE guidelines are too high to avoid complications. Most Type 1s who want good BG control have to reduce their carb intake to some extent to achieve this - DAFNE might not give you this impression. Some of us choose to follow a low carb diet as it has a host of advantages, including:

1. Helps maintain stable BG without the swings from high to low.
2. Enables you to reduce the amount of insulin you take and keep it to smaller doses.
3. Helps avoid serious hypos as smaller insulin doses mean smaller mistakes.
4. Helps avoid the weight gain that can result from eating too much and covering it with insulin.
5. Helps avoid insulin resistance that can occur with weight gain and continued use of high insulin doses over many years.

Enjoy the course - I'm sure you will learn a lot, but keep the above in my mind. Ultimately, you will need to decide for yourself what diet is appropriate to you.

For information and to give you some background, I eat about 50g carb a day and my latest HbA1c was 5.9%, which it has been for more than a year now. My weight is stable and well within BMI targets. My Cholestorol and Blood Pressure are excellent. My insulin doses are tiny to cover low-carb meals and I rarely hypo - when I do they are mild ones. As I say, you will need to decide the best dietary approach for you, but I just wanted to let you know that there are options.

Take care.

Smidge

 

[phoenix]

Sorry Claire, I'm sorry, please miss this post out.
Fergus,

“The prospect of being relatively free of a
‘fixed routine’ is a concept that only a diabetic
can fully understand, but this is extremely
important. As the course progressed I gained
confidence that this is now possible.”

quote from DAFNE website (sorry can't link as closed window)
I was annoyed by Paul Cs comment since it didn't seem to take into account the difference between what DAFNE teaches and the type of regimen it in many cases replaced. These regimens were not normal in any way. He has not had to use such a regimen and since he takes no medicaton has not had the need to. It is not the first time he has made such a comment and this time I felt I wanted to reply.

I have to defer to people who have done DAFNE itself on the specific content (and it changes over time, this is clear) :Brett has and commented on this.

yes it does, if you need to lose weight our want to eat less you have your ratios of insulin for less food. Eg you eat 50 carbs and your ratio is 1 to 10 you put in 5 units qa. If you eat less ie 30 carbs you inject 3 units. Dose adjustment. Note though some people have different ratios depending on quantities eaten

Actually DAFNE is very effective in reducing the amount of insulin people take. Some of the people on the DAFNE videos managed to reduce their insulin by over 50%. Insulin reductions for many are sustained and this is mentioned in the recent audito'rs document quantifying the savings to the NHS attributed to the DAFNE course.

I haven't done DAFNE but I made that clear in my post. I am enthusiastic about it but would have been dishonest not to do so.
( I was lucky to learn from those who had + an 'acquired' handbook) Having healthcare and diabetic education in a language that you are far from fluent in makes you very pro active)
Funnily enough I would have to eat more carbohydrates on my prescribed regime than I actually do . I would have had to, to feed the insulin.
As to commentating on T1/T2 threads it depends on the thread, the context, whether the person says where they are coming from etc etc By the way since I thought I had T2 for over 3 years (before the time I started using insulin, I have LADA) then I certainly wouldn't use the word mere T2!