How good is dafne

Hi all, just finished my dafne on friday and wondered if every1 else thinks its the best thing they ever did! I have also made some fab friends who actually know what im talking about, its great. I only went on it cus i want an insulin pump, but im so glad i did, thanks dafne. x

Hi Benji, I have to agree Dafne is amazing it's been a week since I completed my course with some fabulous people and educators. Although I've had some serious ups and down with the help of Dafne I've been able to look at my BG results and take the step-wise approach to getting some normality. And in the last 12hours I think I've cracked it My blood Glucose has been stable AND on target.
Thanks Dafne.

Sarah x

Hi, I completed my course in November 2009. Having had type1 for the best part of 30 years. DAFNE taught me to understand diabetes and how to cope with it. I learnt more in a week than I had in the past 30 years. But the main thing I took from the course, is that it is not a quick fix and requires a great deal of effort and patience also a willingness to conform and be brave. I do believe that a great number of people who are fortunate enough to be invited onto the course will unfortunately not see it through, and I guess that will be reflected on this message board. Those wanting to work will come on whilst others will not. 3 months on from the course, my control is a lot better but by no means sorted, I am struggling to get results in the green section but will keep on persevering.
Good luck to you. Vic.

Hi

Before DAFNE I used to suffer with bad night-time hypos. I didn't used to wake up and went unconscious. My husband used to have to bring me round with hypostop. Since DAFNE these are a thing of the past for which I'm so grateful. I still have highs and lows with my BG, but at least I can go to sleep at night now without worrying about debilitating hypos.

I think the fact that you are all on here, means you have benefited from DAFNE and want to continue to do so. We have seen very little negative feedback on the course although Vic is correct that maybe not everyone will continue to follow DAFNE principles.
However I would prefer to look at the positives, even if you don't follow DAFNE religously if you test your BG's more or even just take
your Diabetes more seriously then DAFNE has had a positive effect on you. I think too many people set themselves very high targets
and expect to be able to keep their BG's perfect using DAFNE. Sadly life is not that simple, as Vic correctly says it requires continued
effort and dedication and not everyone can manage that. Hopefully this site will help people with that by letting them talk to other graduates and get encouragement from others. But don't be discouraged if it all seems to go wrong, just keep at it, keep believing and ask others
if there are things you are struggling with. One of the great things for me about the course was to sit in a room with other Diabetics and realise my problems were the same as theirs, i wasn't unique or alone in my struggle with BG's others were exactly the same.

DAFNE is fantastic and hopefully one day all Diabetics will be able to benefit from it, once we convince PCT's that short term investment can provide long term savings in reduced treatment for Diabetics.

Hi all,

I completed my DAFNE course at the end of July 2009 after being type 1 for 28 years (29 years on Friday!). Like Vic said I learnt more about my condition during that week than I had picked up over the previous 28 years. DAFNE has totally turned my life around and I can't believe that I put off doing the course for a whole 12 months because I thought at the time that a week was too long a time to take out of my busy life. How wrong I was!!!

I am now, some 7 months later still sitting looking for patterns but just understanding the whys and hows has made life so much easier. I have lost just over 6 stones since doing DAFNE and my insulin requirements have reduced dramatically. I finally feel like I can live with diabetes and understand the fluctuations in BG levels. My last HBA1 was 6.7 so obviously I must be doing something right!! LOL!!

My fear was always that I would not be here to see my 2 lovely sons grow up and have families of their own but thanks to DAFNE and my weight loss I am now able to do many more things with them and hope to be around to be a doting grandma in many years to come!!!

I have learnt so much from these forums too. It is so nice to be able to discuss topics with other like minded diabetics.

Keep up the good work everyone!

Karen x

I've definitely found DAFNE to be good thing for me. I was doing something very similar before DAFNE... it was mostly minus the DAFNE CP/QA maths and so I'd regularly make mistakes and when it reached a point where I said to the doctor, "I really need help with this, my old routine doesn't work anymore." and DAFNE was suggested to me to try out considering it was new to the hospital. I pounced on it!

I have no intention to look back and it has been refreshing to meet others going through this as me considering I don't have any relatives that are diabetic and no diabetics I've met have ever become good friends with me. So good to know I'm not alone.

With this very positive experience, whenever I meet a new diabetic - Type 1 or 2 - I recommend DAFNE or DESMOND depending on what Type they are. :3

As I stated above, I think DAFNE is great and am determined to stick with it, however 4 months down the line and having followed the rules religiously, I feel terrible a lot of the time. I have had so many hypo's, sometimes three a day, and feel constantly listless and lacking any energy. I fall asleep watching television every night and this is while I am not into my busiest period at work, which is the summer months.
I may just be having a bad few days but I am not ill or depressed. Will stick at it though and keep trying to make adjustments and improvements.
Vic.

Hi Vic

What ratios do you use at mealtimes for your CP/QA and are these correct for you? If they are, try lowering your background insulin and see if this will help sort out the hypos for you. It may also be worth checking your BG 2 hours after a meal. Perhaps if it's low then, you may need to adjust your QA. It's trial and error but remember to adjust just one thing at once.

Keep us posted on how it's going!

Hi Fay,
Thanks for the reply.
My ratio's are mainly 1:1 and 20 units of Lantus at bed.
Have reduced the BI quite a bit and find on 20 I get high morning results but on 22 run the risk of waking hypo and that continuing through the day.
When taking breakfast dose this morning I was 11.3, two hrs later checked and was 14.1, by lunch was 6.2.
Was told on the course, we should only do four tests per day, there was no need to do more.
No hypo's today and that has to be good, feel so much better for it, although hate running high as well.
Regards.
Vic.