For someone who hasn't done the course to say it is setting us up for complications is utterly incorrect. It's giving people the tools to deal with the condition while also not limiting their options. It's quiet frankly freedom to live a normal life without the limits being imposed by this condition. That is a good thing and frankly something all of us should have access too, and without people complaining about how bad it is and what complications it will lead to when it is actually doing the exact opposite.
As for Bernstein he claims he invented the home BG meter in his Diabetes University videos, tape 1 actually. He claimed he invented basal/bolus in 1972 as well. He's said it a few times though, and a quote from and interview he did here he repeats them:
http://diabeteshealth.com/read/2013/06/05/7886/11th-qanda-with-dr--richard-bernstein/
"
He invented blood sugar self-monitoring and basal/bolus insulin dosing, when he was an engineer."
Which as we all know, is utter rubbish.
As for getting them available to patients that goes back to one of the early BG meters inventors Anton Clemens, the guy who got the patent for them anyhow. The University of New York in 1978 did studies on how it affected T1's if they had access to test equipment, and from that study Ames (who Clemens worked for, and then developed from) smaller and more compact meters. Bayer actually beat them to market though using data from the same study in 1981. While these devices where able to be used at home due to the small size, and could be acquired (am sure I have one of the early ones in a cupboard somewhere complete with it's red leather handbag) they never received certification by the FDA and CDC for home use in the US till 1986 (thankfully the NHS didn't care and were allowing us to have them a long time before that!). But this was after lobbying by the meter companies, Bernstein, and others.
So was he involved, a little bit yes. Did he invent it? No not at all.
I'm willing to forgive your anger and belligerence - is it sugar driven
However, to win an argument in an honest and helpful manner you should not misquote someone. My comment -
"By that thinking, the NHS is setting us all up for complications" - that you quoted out of context (and therefore dishonestly) was made not in reference to DAFNE itself but the post-prandial targets being communicated to patients, such as
@PepperTed mentioned.
As for Bernstein, is he a quack? Having only read 1/3rd of his book so far, in my 38 years of T1D I can honestly say that he has done more to enlighten about the interaction of insulin, etc., etc., than any health professional I've met through my diabetes 'care'. His theories, practices (as read so far) fit in well with those advocated by Gary Scheiner et al. If he's quack, then you're a fool; however, I sincerely doubt that you're a fool - you make valid points in some areas, but don't go down the road of name calling / libelling someone just because you don't happen to agree some / all of their sentiments / theories / statements...
My contention with DAFNE (and by the way, I have attended a cut-down version on 'Carb-Counting', which did enlighten me a to a variety of facts and figures concerning carb values of foods that I had long believed did not possess any carbs), is that it only covers an elementary level of education about living with Type 1 Diabetes.
As a result of such long standing programmes, HCPs and diabetics have often mislead themselves into thinking that Carb-counting and correct dose adjustment is all that is needed to gain good control when - as many online examples can testify - it is not, which then leads to the HCP 'accusation' towards the patient that they must be doing something to make it all go wrong.
In spite of making HUGE changes to the way I live with and treat my diabetes over the past 19 months, I still encounter spikes for all manner of reasons; I am finally getting tests for Coeliac, Thyroidism and will be meeting my GP today to discuss neurological tests owing to the possibility of gastroparesis (as a result of an incident last week that highlighted issues around my nervous system).
SDE needs to be comprehensive so that all-comers can learn about diabetes in the best way possible for them - Bernstein is a big advocate of 'personalised treatment plans', which the current (and past) NHS system and education does not provide.
And one final point, you said:
For someone who hasn't done the course to say it is setting us up for complications is utterly incorrect. It's giving people the tools to deal with the condition while also not limiting their options. It's quiet frankly freedom to live a normal life without the limits being imposed by this condition.".
Well, ever since comeencing our journey towards a lower-carb diet, my family's diet has been a revelation of meals and foods that we rarely ever engaged with owing to the 'convenience' (and addiction) of carbs - our plates are now full of colour, just like the world!
