Wanted to share my news

[meisonlyme]

I just wanted to share my news with some people who will understand!

I have been diagnosed as diabetic for 6yrs I think it is now, and my control hasn't necessarily been all that great in that time. However at the end of last year I went on a carb counting course, which was the best thing I could of ever done.

My Hba1c when starting the course was 12.6, three months after it was 9.2. Today 6months post course finishing my Hba1c was 7.4!!! That's the lowest it has ever been and I'm so proud that I've taken back control

I know it might not be perfect but I'm very proud to of seen a result of 7.4 and hope that when my Hba1c is measured again in 6months it will be slightly lower again

 

[pollyr]

Hi there, really well done you Which course have you been on. I dont know anything about calorie counting other than I have just started on a low GI diet as my BS has been hovering about 8 to 12 and quite eratic. I bought some new scales today for weighing food.

Good luck and keep up the good work.

Polly

 

[meisonlyme]

It was one my hospital runs called EDWARD (Eating in Diabetes Without A Restricted Diet). I believe it operates in much the same way that the DAFNE courses run. It teaches you how to carb count, your insulin ratio to carbs and also lots of other things about diabetes so you have alot more knowledge about it and what you should do in different situations like excercise and when your unwell.

 

[theblokefromstoke]

Fantastic news. well done

PS - nice dog in your pic

Carl

 

[Sid Bonkers]

I know it might not be perfect but I'm very proud to of seen a result of 7.4

And so you should be Meis, the 5 point drop from 12.6 is has got to be impressive by anyone's standards, congratulations

 

[Ka-Mon]

It was one my hospital runs called EDWARD (Eating in Diabetes Without A Restricted Diet). I believe it operates in much the same way that the DAFNE courses run. It teaches you how to carb count, your insulin ratio to carbs and also lots of other things about diabetes so you have alot more knowledge about it and what you should do in different situations like excercise and when your unwell.

Hi meis, very well done on your A1c, you can be proud of yourself.

Can you please tell me more about theis "EDWARD" course, is it any good for T2 diabetics or is there a link to a website where I can read more about it? Thanks

 

[badmedisin]

Congratulations!

I did the dafne course in January, and 3 months later my HbA1c was 7.4 as well. So I got all excited cos that's the best it's ever been, but the main response I got was "er, what's that mean?" :lol: So I was very pleased when I had my dafne follow up appointment, as the nurse and dietician were really pleased with my results.

I'm really proud of myself for managing to get a decent result at last, and I hope you are too. You're obviously doing really well, so keep up the good work!

 

[cugila]

Can you please tell me more about theis "EDWARD" course, is it any good for T2 diabetics or is there a link to a website where I can read more about it? Thanks

The only information I can find about an 'EDWARD' course is from Nottingham NHS. Here is the link, however the extract doesn't give a great deal ofinformation but it appears to be only for Type 1's.

http://www.nottinghamdiabetes.nhs.uk/bi ... betes.html

Type 1 structured education programme

Edward (Education for Diabetes Without A restrictive Diet). This is a training course for people with Type 1 diabetes to help you learn how to manage and feel in control of your own diabetes. Edward is held one day a week (either Wednesday or Thursday) for four weeks. There are follow up sessions held 3 monthly.

Hope that helps in the absence of the OP.

Ken

 

[jopar]

Well done indeed what an improvement, you deserve to be well chuffed with yourself..

Ka-Mone

The Ewdard course as with the DAFNE course will be T1 specific (but T2's who have to take insulin may sneek onto the course)

DESMOND is the T2's version of DAFNE, most who hospitals who offer their own version of carb counting for T1's will also provide a similar course for T2's...

T2's courses are very good if you don't quite understand carbs that well, giving guidence where they can be found etc and a lot of background information to T2 diabetes..

But do ask your diabetic team what your local hospital offer in the respect of T2 diabetes.

 

[meisonlyme]

The EDWARD course is specific to the hospital I attend, as one of the other posters has already said which is in Nottingham.

It is designed primarily for type 1 diabetics and you have to be following a certain insulin regime to be on it (Injecting fast-acting insulin at meal times with long-acting insulin either in a morning or evening or both!). I don't know what that type of regime is called but I was already on it before I started the course. However if they think the course might be beneficial to you, they will also consider changing your insulin regime accordingly.

The course runs for a month and you go once a week for the whole day (9am-4pm was the timings roughly). It's a small group of no more than 8people and it's designed so you work together and learn from each other. It gave you a sense of belonging and knowing that you weren't on your own. We were set some kind of homework each week along with a food/insulin diary so they could see how you are getting on with carb counting and whether your carb/insulin ratio need tweaking at all.

The following topics were covered on the course- what is diabetes?, nutrition, insulin/carb ratios, correction doses, action of insulin, hypoglycemia, reading food labels correctly, difficult to measure foods, exercise, hyperglycemia and ketoacidosis, eating out, takeaways, alcohol, long term complications of diabetes, travelling and smoking! It was alot of information but at no time did it ever feel overwhelming because of how it was broken down and alot easier to take it in. Some of it I had been told before but I had never taken it on board before because it was overwhelming when sat in an appointment. It just seemed different on a course in a room with others who could understand better what it is you are going through with diabetes.

badmedisin- congratulations to you too on your HBA1c!