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

I'm also a graduate of BERTIE, which I attended in 2010. Having not been 'trained' in diabetes since diagnosis in 1985, I found the course extremely useful and I have found my HbA1c has improved considerably since, although I still have spells when my control waivers a touch (but that's very much my fault).

The whole concept of ratios and adjusting doses was new to me - I'd effectively guesstimated these for myself previously, with predictably variable consequences! The BERTIE course put some science behind it all and has informed my diabetic control for the better.

I have been on varying doses of steroids for the past few years for another medical condition, and that of course makes for some challenges to my ratio calculations, and reintroduces an element of guessing but things generally settle down after each change in dosage.

I would definitely recommend these courses, the only issue being that I do recall some people on my cohort having immense difficulty with the maths involved!

The Type 2 Diabetic Course I attended run by the NHS Primary Care Trust - 'Life & Health with Diabetes' two hr sessions over four wks.
Covering Living with Diabetes, Diet, LIfestyle, Meds and Footcare. The course was very informative, relaxed atmosphere, questions were encouraged.
The course was interesting and leaflets with all the info: discussed given to each person attending the course, we had little tests during the sessions that would help clarify areas for all.
I believe anyone with Diabetes can gain from the courses and if the opportunity arises well worth going along.

I'm type 2 was having sugars in the 20s. My mental health support worker had one of her patients do a DESMOND course, with brilliant results, and suggested I enquire about it. I asked my dietician, but she said because I'd been diagnosed longer than 9 months and the only course she could put me on was for one afternoon and would only tell me what I already knew. So I asked about carb counting instead (I love carbs, but was getting desperate). Her reply was that carb counting was for type 1s and I shouldn't worry about it. I didn't bother making another appointment. Low-carbing is the only thing that works for me.

grum said:

The Type 2 Diabetic Course I attended run by the NHS Primary Care Trust - 'Life & Health with Diabetes' two hr sessions over four wks.
Covering Living with Diabetes, Diet, LIfestyle, Meds and Footcare. The course was very informative, relaxed atmosphere, questions were encouraged.
The course was interesting and leaflets with all the info: discussed given to each person attending the course, we had little tests during the sessions that would help clarify areas for all.
I believe anyone with Diabetes can gain from the courses and if the opportunity arises well worth going along.

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I guess that depends on the area you live in !

I'm a type 1 variant. I had to fight to get on a DAPHNE course in 2004 because it was thought not suitable for me. I found it extremely helpful. I would strongly recommend it. I still see, on a six monthly basis, the lady who ran the course which has allowed me to ask questions after the course and as I have got older. I have had extremely negative reactions from my GP practice. One GP said I was wasting my time. I told him that after a walk with my children, we can enjoy an ice cream or tea and cake which I was previously denied as it was thought to be 'naughty'. I told him it benefited my children as they saw me doing normal things with them. Another doctor complained of the extra cost of blood strips and two different types of insulin. I was also told it would make me fat! I ignored the GPs and have refused to have diabetic care through them. I go straight to the consultant clinic. I think this deprives them of income as they do not offer diabetic services. Ha ha ha!

Actaeon70 said:

I'm type 2 was having sugars in the 20s. My mental health support worker had one of her patients do a DESMOND course, with brilliant results, and suggested I enquire about it. I asked my dietician, but she said because I'd been diagnosed longer than 9 months and the only course she could put me on was for one afternoon and would only tell me what I already knew. So I asked about carb counting instead (I love carbs, but was getting desperate). Her reply was that carb counting was for type 1s and I shouldn't worry about it. I didn't bother making another appointment. Low-carbing is the only thing that works for me.

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You can always self-refer. That is what I have done as prediabetic. The waiting list is long, but we have to live with it forever, so even having to wait 8 months is ok for me.

I attended a DESMOND course and to be honest I didn't really learn anything new.

I am going on the Stockport SOCCER course in July this year, from reading all the above, I cannot wait!!!

I attended X-Pert 6 week course run at a local community hospital in the evenings for 6 weeks. The nutritionist who ran it was very patronising and treated all there the same. The room was mostly full of diet controlled diabetes only, I was on Gliclazide at the time and she did not mention about how carbs affected those on insulin increasing meds.

It literally was a class for children or stupid people. Pictures or empty wrappers of food on a table, put it into groups, and she wouldn't agree with anyone who mentioned Low Carb. I didn't complete the 6 weeks, after 5 I was so fed up and bored and couldn't be bothered, I didn't think the final week was really going to be much of an eye opener.

She gave us all jelly blobs of fat and told us this is what fat feels like, and to lose some would be good.

Also gave a basic but slightly interesting demonstration of how our own body being fat, means our blood cells are fat so our insulin 'keys' don't work any more. I would have preferred a slightly more scientific and accurate explanation.

Classed as not attending or refusing to attend on my GP notes as I did not stay for the final week.

Perhaps some help on how to take insulin without bruising my stomach course would be a good one to go on.

@Sallybear
I too attended a Xpert course that was mismatched (I was on Insulin and the educator could/would only talk about D&E and Tabs)
However I learned a lot in those 6 weeks:
1)Learn how to fend for yourself
2)Learn their paradigm (came top in their quiz)
3)Make contacts

net result; cut carbs, Ditched insulin then tabs, dropped HbA1c.

Have found that courses & props have to be aimed at the lowest common denominators so often the only thing you get is a tick in the box, a pointer to the next step, and some contacts. If you can find an instructor who can work beyond the course rubric, you are onto a winner (pointers & contacts)
Bear in mind that for some of the "educators" they do this as an "add on" to thir main job and do not understand how to teach multi ability classes and forget about "extension tasks" to stretch the "brighter" pupils

Had Week 3 (Carbohydrates Awareness) at X-Pert today. We were served home baked cakes (at 20 carbs a piece)..... Need I say more?

charliepup9 said:

I hav never been offered any courses in fact all I was told was take these tablets daily and don not eat sweet things, that was 30 years ago and have not been told anything since then. I still struggle every day with my sugar levels, and even when In hospital once my sugar levels stayed around 10 to 15 and I was on a diabetic ward.

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The problem is, 30 years on the advice hasn't improved. My DN says don't eat sweet things also. She said Weetabix is A good food to eat but then I pointed out that there's less sugar in a Ferrero Rocher than in a Weetabix. She replied the NHS would say to avoid chocolate. The DN's tell us to read food labels, but they can't be doing it. The term "sweet things" should be avoided as it's misleading. They should use "total carbohydrate content" instead.

When I was diagnosed I rang other country's diabetes associations, USA, Australia etc, their advice contradicts ours.

I as diagnosed May 2014 and referred for the EXPERT course, I was told there was a 6 month waiting list so decided to 'self help' whilst waiting. I found this forum and started following recipes and collecting information, I learned so much that by the time I began the course last November I had lost over a stone in weight, lowered my cholesterol and all my diabetic bloods had come down. I still followed the course but soon realised that what I learned here was more beneficial than what we were being taught. Like Gudrun, we were served cake, biscuits or malt loaf with our tea/coffee. Now EXPERT are changing their mind about their teaching so all in all it was a waste of time.

NB: Total weight loss to date 2st 3lb

andylamb said:

I am going on the Stockport SOCCER course in July this year, from reading all the above, I cannot wait!!!

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You are in my neck of the woods but I've not heard of that course how does it differ from Expert which was the only one mentioned to me

Trudi Deakin wrote the X-Pert course I am on, but when I commented on the change in Trudi Deakin's approach (away from recommending starchy carbs with every meal and eating low carb / high fat) I was told it was just a fad and as all fads they come and go but should not be taken seriously.

Oh, and another thing... Diabetes UK recommends we ought to keep below 8.5 a couple of hours after a meal. Apparently, the Leeds target is 10. I queried why it was higher than the national average and was told that it is more realistic.

I just take exception to the fact that we are told there is no problem with eating sweet and carby things and we can include puddings with our meals (and just have a little bit less rice or potatoes if we do).

A little less marmalade?

I attended a DESMOND course about three months after diagnosis. It was well organised and well attended, but uninspiring.

When asked how we had responded to our diagnosis, one of our group reported that she now spread the marmalade on her toast more thinly. Nothing communicated that day would inspire her to respond much more decisively to her condition. The course had very low expectations of what people can understand or do about diabetes, so its effectiveness is likely to be very limited.

There were two obvious problems from my perspective.

First, type 2 diabetes was attributed to excess fat - not a very convincing explanation if (like me) you have never been overweight - and no other possibilities were considered. Second, advice followed the standard NHS low fat diet - not very useful if (like me) you were already on that diet when you got diabetes.

Underlying both problems was the promulgation of an ‘official’ line and a reluctance to trust people to make up their own minds.

Education is about openiing up ideas and options. I think DESMOND could be more engaging if it acknowledged our ignorance and explored controversies about the nature of the disease. And it could be much more inspiring if it challenged folk to consider changing their habits more dramatically rather than merely adjust them at the margins.

Been referred to 'desmond' but have now been told they have stopped doing it.

I started a six week X-Pert course of which I completed four weeks. I found the information useful, far better than anything the GP offered. BUT the course seemed to lack structure, the presenter was poor and condescending, and was late for all four of the mornings I attended.

The course ran on a weekday morning so was difficult to attend for anyone that had a job, I run my own business and the last two weeks came up to Christmas which is my busiest period so I had to drop out.

Good information poorly delivered

Gudrun said:

Trudi Deakin wrote the X-Pert course I am on, but when I commented on the change in Trudi Deakin's approach (away from recommending starchy carbs with every meal and eating low carb / high fat) I was told it was just a fad and as all fads they come and go but should not be taken seriously.

Oh, and another thing... Diabetes UK recommends we ought to keep below 8.5 a couple of hours after a meal. Apparently, the Leeds target is 10. I queried why it was higher than the national average and was told that it is more realistic.

I just take exception to the fact that we are told there is no problem with eating sweet and carby things and we can include puddings with our meals (and just have a little bit less rice or potatoes if we do).

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FAD!? The ignorance of the so called experts is unbelievable. Anybody who thinks that low carbohydrate diets are a fad and I don't even have to say whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, had better look at William Banting December 1796 – 16 March 1878, his physician Dr William Harvey (not the 16th Century one) and Claude Bernard, a physiologist who did research into diabetes in the early 19th century.
FAD indeed, my blood is boiling, and they're so sure of themselves as well. God help us, or in god's absence, the forum.

graj0 said:

FAD!? The ignorance of the so called experts is unbelievable. Anybody who thinks that low carbohydrate diets are a fad and I don't even have to say whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, had better look at William Banting December 1796 – 16 March 1878, his physician Dr William Harvey (not the 16th Century one) and Claude Bernard, a physiologist who did research into diabetes in the early 19th century.
FAD indeed, my blood is boiling, and they're so sure of themselves as well. God help us, or in god's absence, the forum.

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It is very frustrating indeed. The course is obviously orientated towards people who know nothing about diabetes and (for whatever reason) have not tried to find out for themselves. I fear they lap it all up as a gospel and don't look elsewhere. Although, last week the numbers had reduced from 13 in the first week to 4 (it did snow, though).
Wednesday we will cover how to read food labels, but I shall not attend that meeting. I know how to do that.