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Diabetes Education and Awareness for Life

H

happycat

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I have diabetes diagnosed in September. As I am an adult I assume it is type 2. Asked the Dr who said could be 2 or 1.5 but treatment is the same so it does not matter. Not at all impressed with what the surgery have done so far. Dr did not know why I was there and when I said no to medication he lost interest. I am being offered a place on a DEAL Course (Diabetes Education and Awareness for Life). Has anyone been on one of these? If so what can I expect? Will I get the same diet information as I have had so far, a booklet and told that I can have chocolate or cake once a week if I want to and 55% of a meal should be carbohydrate, which when you are trying to control blood glucose does not make sense. Any information on what to expect would be appreciated. Thank you :)
 
I'll just let my happycat in & then reply. She can stay out for hours & complain bitterly if I don't open the door teh moment she wants to come in.... (Szalej - Polish for crazy - she is a Pole-cat from Gdansk.)
 
I've never come across DEAL (I'm studying diabetes education). I wonder if it is a very local programme just in your area?
The programmes for Type 2 that have been reasonably well evaluated are XPERT, as IanD mentioned, and also DESMOND - http://www.desmond-project.org.uk/programmes-271.html.

In your position I think I'd go back and ask to go on one of those programmes rather than a local unproven one.
 
I asked about the other courses that I had heard about and was told no this is the one we use. There is a big diabetes clinic at the hospital around the corner from where I live. I asked about that and they said we have enough expertise here we don't use them. Nurse admitted that her training was over 10 years ago, might be adequate but things move quickly in medicine. Thank you both for your replies. I'll post when I have been at the end of November. :)
 
I know what ur saying about facilitators not always understanding what they are preaching about; as a type 1 diabetic diagnosed at the age of 13, I went down the wrong path after rejecting the well meant advice healthcare professionals gave me, and when I wanted to enrol on an education course later in life, the NHS was unable to offer me one due to my postcode. I have since trained as a nurse myself and developed my own education programme, which I run online and over the telephone, alongside my blog intended to give other diabetics medical advice from someone who has been through the mill themselves - and continues to do so. Check me out on: www.sugarbalance.co.uk and let me know what you think.
 
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