Diabetes and You .. my Course

The last 2 points may have been use had you not found this site or similar. I suspect the course organisers are going for economies of scale.

AM1874 & yet you do similar on this forum?

AM1874 said:

"my name's ****** and I'm a diabetic"

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Playing devil's advocate here but the AA does a lot of good work for people who want to cut out alcohol, whether they be deemed to be alcoholic or not.

At the end of the day if you are not comfortable with the 3rd and 4th points then that's a perfectly good reason for not going.

You have found this forum and have benefited from following other people's experiences. I expect most people will not have found this forum. Even a cousin of mine who is computer literate, always on Skype to her brother in Australia, uses google all the time, has never contemplated looking for a forum like this, never mind taking and benefiting from other people's experiences, except for mine.

Knowing other people with diabetes isn't necessary but might be comforting to some people. I had a family of fellow diabetics, type I and type II, fat and thin, old and young, I didn't feel lonely at all, some might.

As for sharing your experiences, well that's an individual thing, some might enjoy the opportunity, some might not. Personally I wanted to tell the world that I had stumbled across something that helped me throw away drugs I didn't need any more. I had dropped my carbs to lose weight, very quickly had to drop Gliclazide and Januvia because of constant low BG, got the courage to throw away statins for ever because my cholesterol was low and then I found this forum.

Personally, I'd go, I like people so meeting other diabetics isn't a big deal, I might get the opportunity to share my experience and they might benefit from perhaps gaining additional knowledge and having more confidence in controlling their condition by their own efforts and perhaps avoiding the Eatwell plate bit where their condition might get progressively worse. If you look at the number of members on this forum . . . and others . . . . we are a very small minority who are interested in our health and want to do something about it. There is a huge majority who are not. I didn't want to be a victim and I'd encourage other diabetics to take control of their condition. We always seem to be reminded that "us" diabetics cost the NHS £14 billion a years (was it 10%? £14 billion, something like that), we could change that . . . . . . EASY, let's all share our experiences when we can.

Going back to my cousin, she'd been on some diabetic related course where they had all been told to eat sensibly, she'd also been told to monitor twice a week because that's all the strips they get prescribed. She very quickly realised her condition was poorly controlled and what I told her from my soapbox was sinking in. I saw her last week and she was telling me how stupid she'd been by having pizza as part of celebrating her grandson's 13th birthday and how she was back to low carb straight away. Somebody who told me she couldn't give up spuds is now a confirmed low carber who now and again strays off the straight and narrow.

I might be jealous, no one ever offered me a course, definitely not fair LOLOLOL.

AM1874 said:

Hi @Mbaker .. you are right, of course .. and I'm sure that this "sharing" and "communicating" stuff will be right for lots of people .. but it's not for me. Economies of scale or not, this brings a horrible vision to my mind of everybody sitting round in a circle saying "my name's ****** and I'm a diabetic"

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Good morning @AM1874, I attended a DESMOND course a few years ago. The takeaways for me was that one of the 2 teaches stated that it was not possible for me to reduce blood sugar numbers with exercise, as I had stated, I said my meter told a different story (tumble weed moment)

From a human perspective there was some my name is .... this was not altogether boring though as I learned a lot about how regular people with diabetes manage / miss-manage type 2. There were around 12 people on the course, none were diet and exercise only. Most were "normal" looking weight wise by modern standards i.e. in my assessment carrying maybe 5 to 10 kgs perhaps more than they would desire but not extreme; only 1 gentleman sitting next to me had the stereo typical big beer belly, and around 2 were what I would class as skinny. There were questions as to whether it was possible to get rid of type 2, which the 2 teaches made clear was a manageable condition with drugs and sensible eating / drinking. There were many questions about what foods and drink were within limits, beer came up a lot, and I remember fish and chips being asked about a few times.

The most fascinating and eye opening thing for me, was during the break and lunch-times which we had outside. Around a quarter were smokers and the contents of several lunch boxes included well known chocolate brands and white bread sandwiches, I think and hope this was just early diagnosis ignorance. None the less, in hindsight had the teachers brought alternative messages of realistic hope such as LCHF, Newcastle Diet, Intermittent Fasting, Exercise etc, many including me would have been at least interested; I base this on the range of questions. Of course the Eatwell plate was front and centre.

Anyway from an observational point of view you might not be bored, and certainly would be going in with more knowledge than I had at the time. If you do go please can you update this thread.

AM1874 said:

I was not knocking the AA or the wonderful work that they do at all

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I know, just wanted to mention their good work, hic (little joke). I us to enjoy a drink . . . . or two, what people call social drinking. Very controlled because I wouldn't drive for 12 hours after alcohol and it was that control that made me want to stop. I attended AA meetings and witnessing those who struggle is an eye opener. I use to attend a weekly meeting of 90 people, some of those people would attend a meeting every day. A very good organisation.

AM1874 said:

I am sorry that you have not been offered a course

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Not a problem, I was diagnosed 20 years ago. The endocrinologist at ?.?. General just said don't believe everything you read on the internet. He didn't actually give me any advice at all, I left his office and sat outside and a nurse sat next to me to comfort me, obviously thinking I was affected by the diagnosis (I'd waited 5 months from GP's diagnosis to see consultant and be prescribed Metformin, diagnosis not the problem). She seemed surprised when I said that it was his manner I found upsetting, not the diabetes. He's still there, but with a larger team so if need be, I wouldn't have to see him again. At least now I know more.

I find it interesting the way different parts of the UK seem to work slightly differently, even today. Even my surgery has improved the way in which my routine blood tests are done and discussed, for the better I feel.

@AM1874 you know what? By going to this Diabetes an You course you might actually save sombody's life by sharing your knowledge.