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Poll: Which diabetes course(s) have you attended?

Which of the following structured diabetes education courses have you attended?

  • DAFNE

    Votes: 122 18.8%

  • DESMOND

    Votes: 122 18.8%

  • X-PERT

    Votes: 70 10.8%

  • ASPIRE

    Votes: 3 0.5%

  • Freedom4Life

    Votes: 2 0.3%

  • Other (Please state in a post)

    Votes: 67 10.3%

  • Never attended one

    Votes: 291 44.8%
  • Total voters
    650

I remember thinking just the same in the X-PERT course I went on! But interestingly, I was the only one in my group who hadn't got there by car or taxi. I either went by bike or walked - and the walk took an hour.

But despite starting off thinking it wasn't going to teach me anything new, I did go to all the sessions and am glad I did. It was good to chat with other people grappling with the same problems. Of all the people in the room, I was the most recently diagnosed, so I learnt from people who'd already experimented a lot with different diet and exercise things, and I came away with a better appreciation of what it means to have this life-long condition.

I also think the courses vary a lot, and that we had a very good person presenting ours - though she also said at the end that we'd been one of her best groups ever. We got on well, joined in with everything, felt relaxed enough to challenge her - and each other - and work out how best to tackle our own situations.
 
I went on the XPERT course about 10 years after diagnosis, after I went low carb and restored my health. Two years later I went on a refresher course, and the organizer dietitian suggested I write to Xperthealth with my experience. Now they recommend LCHF.

Last month I went on the 1-day Desmond course with a newly diagnosed friend. I learned that butter MUST be avoided as it clogs the cell receptors, so aggravating our condition. Never heard THAT before!

I was able to chat with the leader, and she accepted the Public Health Collaboration report. She refused the XPERT guide book.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
IanD said:
... Last month I went on the 1-day Desmond course with a newly diagnosed friend. I learned that butter MUST be avoided as it clogs the cell receptors, so aggravating our condition. Never heard THAT before! ...Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Click to expand...

When I read that I did a bit of a search online for some details and couldn't find a thing. Did you ever try and check it out?
 
JenniferW said:
When I read that I did a bit of a search online for some details and couldn't find a thing. Did you ever try and check it out?
Click to expand...

I didn't consider it as possibly valid. If the T2 problem is sat fat blocking of the cell "keyholes" (sic) then excess carbs will be the cause, NOT butter.

I did report to PHC, but no comment.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
IanD said:
I didn't consider it as possibly valid. If the T2 problem is sat fat blocking of the cell "keyholes" (sic) then excess carbs will be the cause, NOT butter.

I did report to PHC, but no comment.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Click to expand...

I wondered if you were being told a garbled version of some research. It's alarming to think someone in a position of educational responsibility would be going round repeating something with no validity.
 
I did one day of Desmond and didn't enjoy it one bit. So much so I didn't back for the second day. It was a few years ago now, so maybe it has changed? But playing with sugar cubes seemed childish.
 
I attended DESMOND and it was actually better than expected. I did a full review with all the highs and lows on this forum
 
I am half way through the X-PERT course. Although they are far more accepting of the LCHF approach nowadays, they still are a long way from advocating it fully.

It is interesting to observe the other members attitudes and (generally speaking) complete lack of understanding of their condition. On the first day, one chap walked into the room, took his seat and proceeded to drain a bottle of Lucozade

Because of the starting time I have a small snack/lunch 5 minutes before it starts and naturally test my BG before eating. Not a single one of the 11 others in the group new what I was doing or why. Not ONE!? I then went into full on LCHF preacher mode and explained the basics of my diet which the DN supported - she then proceeded to do a complete u-turn once the course started

Anyway, I gave out this forum's details along with my user name and told them all to join as long as they remember to 'like' all of my posts.

I now have 11 disciples and am looking for a 12th for a full set. All applications via private message please.
 
andyfh said:
It is interesting to observe the other members attitudes and (generally speaking) complete lack of understanding of their condition. On the first day, one chap walked into the room, took his seat and proceeded to drain a bottle of Lucozade
Click to expand...
Could he have been a Type 1 having a hypo?
 
I asked him between gulps and he was diagnosed type 2 a couple of months prior. The look on the DN's face was priceless. I think she would have slapped him if he wasn't 6'6" and built like brick outhouse lol
 
 
I did the x-pert diabetic course a couple of years ago and then did the insulin course this year. By taking the basic course I was able question what a nurse told me to do in hospital, without the course I would have done as they told me to do and quadruple my insulin.

I recommend everyone to do a course or two, it could save your life. Lets get rid of the age old myths that are linked to diabetes!
 
I attended a "Good to go" course which I was offered by my GP It was a group setting and I found it quite informative
 
eunice61 said:
I didn't know there were any diabetes courses!
Click to expand...

I get the impression they were introduced only a few years back - when it was found that increasing our knowledge about the condition actually made a difference! So anyone who's been diabetic for years may well have missed out - and it's obvious the provision is very patchy across the country, with long waiting lists in some places.
People on my X-PERT course last year were a mixture - a few like me who'd recently been diagnosed, but also people diagnosed years and years ago, but who'd gone through some sort of change, for example in medication, or in the development of their condition. So it's not just there for the newly-diagnosed.
 
I attended the Expert course at my local village hall, I found it very patronizing being asked match up photos of food labels, being shown how to read food labels??? The course is more suitable for young children and not adults. Also during a discussion a fellow member of the course asked if anyone knew of any food to bulk out a meal instead of potatoes, I suggested mashed swede as it has 2g of carbs per 100g, only to have diabetic nurse warn him to be careful because mashing it would make it quick release??? I had read up on the subject as soon as I was diagnosed (14.7mml) and had adopted a low carb low fat diet so by the time I was on the course my home testing levels were averaging 6.7 now by continuing my own way my average reading is down to 5.6mml. My doctor has said that if my results are still the same in February she will take me off medication altogether.
 
Ian_Laye said:
I attended the Expert course at my local village hall, I found it very patronizing being asked match up photos of food labels, being shown how to read food labels??... .
Click to expand...

I started off with some of the same feelings in my EXPERT course, but doing the activities in small groups, was amazed to find out how little some people knew about all and any of this. So I didn't feel patronised - I thought it just had to be a course which would cater for all and everyone and then realised it was up to me to get the most out of it that I could. For me, the biggest plus point was the contact with the others in the group. Some - like me - were recently diagnosed, but there were also people in the group who'd been T2 for many, many years and were there because of the development of their condition, several of them now with big problems despite years of doing 'the right thing', and some of them having to deal with combinations of conditions and medications. Chatting with those people really opened my eyes.
 
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