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

I've been on the Xpert Diabetes course in Wales. Absolutely excellent. 6 weeks 2.5hrs a week, I came away with a real understanding of how to manage my t2. Have started monitoring my carb intake very closely. The course covered diet, food labelling, medication, side effects, complications etc
It gave me back a sense of control. I'm very grateful the course was available because the doctor was useless, wittered on about not eating fruit (never mind the giant bars of chocolate I used to live on!). Also doctor said I would need to be on Medication for the rest of my life, whereas the diabetic nurse running the course said that weight loss and good diet control made it likely I could stop taking the medication at some point, she said doctors often say that you need to take the tablets forever but it's not true! She also said that the surgery will often encourage you to eat more if your blood glucose levels drop!
Bottom line is I feel more in control and well informed now and my goal is to lose enough weight to stop the metformin.

Is the expert similar to dafne

Not sure, there seem to be many different courses available. This is 6 weeks, 2.5hrs a week.

Diagnosed June 2013, attended DAFNE that December, some very useful bits, some very frustrating sections, particularly on nutrition as they simply refused to acknowledge let alone discuss any alternatives to their high carb eat everything and throw a bucket of insulin at it mode

Attended DESMOND 2011 and found it helpful as a starter course. Learned more being on DCUK and through experience.

DESMOND course next Thursday...

I was never offered one - unless you count Weight Watchers/Slimming World, which my DN suggested I try. I declined both of those, saying I'll lose the weight by myself - which I have!

But I found out about DESMONDS from a diabetic friend. It would have been nice to offer me (all diabetics, in fact) one of these courses.

They do seem to be abit of a hidden secret in nhs

DESMOND. It was life changing for me! So easy to understand type 2 after this course.

Just started the EXPERT course

I did a course when 1st diagnosed and couldn't take it then all about portion sizes and food, would love to do another re carb counting as trying to do this on my own and finding it a bit hard.

has anyone heard about the course Juggle!!,

Just came back from my DN nurse and asked me to try and get on this course, anyone been on it or heard of it

I no heard of that. Did she say anything about it?as would love to know more

melissa589 said:

Waiting to attend a DESMOND course.

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@melissa589 , I did the DESMOND course a few weeks ago and it was definitely aimed at Type 2s. I see you are a Type 1 so I don't know why you're not getting a DAFNE course instead.

Diagnosed Type 2 in mid-January 2015 and attended the 1 day DESMOND course 2 weeks ago. Due to the fact that I had already joined this forum and had learnt a lot about controlling my BG levels I didn't really learn anything new. The NHS booklet we were given called 'Getting To Grips With Type 2 Diabetes' actually mentions taking regular blood glucose level readings and says "Your doctor or nurse will explain how to obtain the equipment,together with detailed instructions on how to use it, should you agree together that it would be useful for you to blood test". The course made it plain that it was not local NHS policy to agree to personal BG monitoring for Type 2s. The booklet, as well as the 'food' talk put the emphasis on reducing the intake of fat although carbohydrates did get a mention - "having less sugary foods", "eating smaller portions of starchy carbohydrate" and "eat foods that break down into glucose more slowly".

As I had already lowered my BG from 53 to 42 using the advice from this forum, I didn't get any great insights from the course but I think a lot of others who had done little (or nothing) to make changes were better served.

P.S. I was the only participant (including the 2 nurses delivering the course) who didn't eat a 'carb-loaded' lunch or eat biscuits at break times!

Fayefaye1429 said:

I no heard of that. Did she say anything about it?as would love to know more

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i just had a call from someone who running the juggle course
it a 4 week course one morning or evening , it apparently split in yo the following

week one- about diabetes
week two diet and what food to eat
week three about the heart and it effect on people with diabetes
week four recap

hope it helps

Fayefaye1429 said:

I no heard of that. Did she say anything about it?as would love to know more

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this may help

http://www.nottinghamwestccg.nhs.uk/index.php/health-wellbeing/diabetes-juggle-diabetes-service

Hi diagnosed last week , got a letter today when i got home offering a place on desmond but not until november.

None. Followed the great advice on here and now my diabetes has resolved.

I was diagnosed exactly a year ago this week and found this forum a few weeks later, I followed a lot of the advice and recipes, cut my carb intake and lost two stone in as many months . My DN was amazed at how well I did. Then in November I did the Expert course and they told me to do the opposite of all I'd been doing, eat 5 to 15 portions of carbs a day, cut the cheese, use skimmed milk, eat as much fruit as I wished, increase my veg intake including potatoes and increase pasta meals yeh right
Then came the Expert turnaround advising low cab and Trudi Deakin admitting she got it wrong
Yesterday I had a letter inviting me to do a refresher course in July "when I will be given the chance to remind myself what I had learned on the Course and see how I am progressing, revisit the 7 lifestyle factors for better health and make some small changes with the help of new recipes"
Following my first experience I am undecided whether to go or not but it might be interesting to see just how they have adapted the course.( For better or worse) and whether they now know if what they are teaching is good for type 2 diabetics.....maybe just for curiosity