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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
never been offered a course I see my Diabetic Nurse who gives me one lot of info followed by my Dr who offers totally different info followed recently by a visit to the diabetic clinic at the hospital where I got even more info that I had not been given before
 
Valanne said:
I'm in Ireland. Currently doing the Xpert course with a community dietician. Despite the usual advice re carbs we are being encouraged to monitor our blood glucose to learmn how our bodies react to foods and they are not prescriptive about the routes people should take to health. The emphasis is on understanding what has gone wrong and what pushes up glucose. I waited 8 months but now have 6 two and a half hour sessions and a follow up in 6 months. I count myself lucky.
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Hi
I’m registered for this course to commence end of January.
I’m really looking forward to it.
As my BS is higher this week than it was over Christmas!!
Don’t know where I’m going wrong.....
 
I was offered a place on the X Pert course - 6 x 2½hour sessions - by my Dr/NHS. Really good, a bit of an eye opener.

It appears that some us are offered these but others not. I am guessing it is all down to which area you live in (Postcode lottery) as my father has T2 and tells me he has not been offered any courses and he lives over 200 miles away.
 
I was diagnosed in November and am booked on Xpert at the end of Feb. My mother was diagnosed in April and lives five minutes away has never been offered. I am allowed to take her with me on my course tho
 
A couple of years ago roughly I attended a 6 week course from my GP and was put on lixisenatide , I lost about 5 stone and it was brilliant for me. I am holding steady at 14 stone.
 
I asked to go on a Desmond course an was told they don't exist. I went on a course with a dozen or so others with a dietician ,I think called the diabetes road map conversation. Designed to help you lose weight by showing the plate, explaining food labels, demonstrating portions etc It was 6 afternoons. It was simplistic but interesting. The discussions were probably the most xxx t useful part of it.t
 
Went on the expert course, was diagnosed in 2012, only when I changed doctors did I get a DSN, a consultant and got a place on the expert course, going on a three hour carb awareness course next week. I’m having lots of hypos so I have got to see my DSN about change of insulin. Just got a self funded CGM, now looking into self funding an insulin pump.
 
2Much_SugarShan said:
I was pressed to attend a DESMOND course by my GP - less than a month after formal diagnosis. I felt that the information as presented was a little “simple” at times, and was still coming to terms with being diabetic, but nonetheless learnt quite a lot. The staff wanted me back for follow-up attendance the following May (2017), but haven't heard from them since.

However, their (NHS dietary) recommendations didn't help me, and was confused for some time until I read up on LCHF diets and step changes earlier this year.
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I also found this course a waste of time and very patronising
 
When I was in the hospital they ran me through a course for 4 days and I was done it was to much all at once and I don't lick hospitals so i never went back after I finished
 
Diagnosed in June 2017 by my GP following my annual bllod test. I saw the Diabetic Nurse in July and was booked on the
X Pert course for Sept - which i could not make. I did move it to Nov/Dec.

V.Good course - it helped open my eyes to what Ishould be eating and doing as opposed t te "generic" advice all type 2's seem to get.
 
I did the DESMOND course recently and regarding diet it was surprisingly up to date. However, they said an HBA1C over 53 was diabetic and under 53 prediabetic. They even wrote this on the white board so I didnt imagine it. Everyone except me had been put on Metformin at diagnosis and they couldnt understand why I wasnt. I didnt own up to saying no thanks. Most were men in their 70s who just wanted to take the pills enjoy their takeaways and booze but avoid nasty things like amputations!
 
I have never been offered to go on a course. The only information I was given was to follow the NHS diet, which I did and hey ho put on loads of weight. I came across the low carb diet by accident and have lost a lot of weight. Just grateful I found it.
 
I went to this course offered by my clinic that said we should eat at minimum 165 carbs per day and 240 carbs per day max. When I saw that I asked "Doesn't carbs raise our blood sugar" and was quickly met with that "you need carbs for energy so your brain can develop"
 
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