Recent Posts - DAFNE Online

May 19, 2009

Lizzie 87 posts

I would advise you to speak to a doctor, nurse or dietitian. They can talk with you and find a diet that's right for you. Every person is different and I don't think a generalised diet sheet would be much help.

May 19, 2009

Claire Hough 12 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Dieting

Hi guys, Weight Watchers is brilliant and fits in really well with DAFNE. I followed it online where you get an online diary to record everything you eat, or you can go to meetings for additional support. It's good because you are weighing most of your food anyway for DAFNE so doesn't take too much extra work. I lost a stone last year! Claire

May 18, 2009

Lizzie 87 posts

Topic: General Discussion / "Diabetes set off course" Balance letter

I am insulin resistant and for me DAFNE was a lifeline. Yes it was hard and I did feel isolated. But in fifteen years, nobody had ever told me how to adjust my own insulin, treat a hypo or deal with illness. I had never met another diabetic. I don't even know if my doctors were aware of my insulin resistance before I found out my ratio on DAFNE - they certainly never mentioned it to me.

May 18, 2009

John 6 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Eye photos

Marke, the eye infirmary is literally that, a hospital that does nothing but eyes. I have no criticism of the eye infirmary whatsoever and if anyone gets the chance to have their eye care at such a hospital I can fully recommend it.
I am not concerned, other than to have wasted my time and NHS money getting the photos at the optician.

May 17, 2009

Simon Heller 46 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Eye photos

I am pretty sure that any eye photos requested by the PCT and taken by local opticians are supervised by the eye specialists as this is govt policy. However the point about the lack of explanations and the anxiety raised by 'slight changes' is important and should be dealt with. In Sheffield the local specialist teams can access both the photos and the report and discuss them at a clinic visit. I would ask the people at the Diabetic clinic to try and get hold of these so you can have a proper explanation. Ideally you should be able to look at the photos together and have them explained.
Simon H

May 17, 2009

marke 686 posts

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Useful link for looking up CPs

The answer I'm afraid is your own experiences. Both are guidelines and are not set in stone since there are a number of factors involved.
I'm afraid you can only use them as a guideline and then see what happens. I would also recommend the following books:

food and diet counter - Dr Wynnie Chan - ISBN: 978-0-600-60709-0
Carb Counter - Collins Gem - ISBN: 0-00-717601-5

Both have lots of carb values in, they suggest that orange juice has 22g of carb for 250ml and apples has 24.8 of carb for 250ml. Hopes this helps.

May 17, 2009

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Introductions

Richard,
I'm glad you are finding the website useful as you say the more graduates we get signed up the better ! All views are welcome both positive and negative. Making all sides aware of issues can only improve DAFNE as a whole and help ensure that those who control it are aware of issues and can hopefully do something about them.

Welcome on board !

May 17, 2009

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / "Diabetes set off course" Balance letter

Jenny,
There was another topic discussing the 'suitability' of Type 2's and insulin resistant diabetics for DAFNE and to degree your and
Paul's experience seem to back it up. I think we all agree that every diabetic is different and no solution fits all, however it seems that
people that are insulin resistant find it a lot harder to follow DAFNE 'rules'. Recently I have had to take steriods and they have been
making me insulin resistant and screwed up my Blood sugars so I can empathise with your experiences.
I don't think this makes DAFNE not a good course, I think it underlines that HCP's need to think very carefully about including people
who are insulin resistant. I'm not suggesting they are excluded, merely that both sides understand the additional complications for
following the course for people who are insulin resistant.
Its still intereesting to hear your experiences and like I said to Paul, if you don't feel happy about DAFNE you have just as much right to express this view as we do to praise it. The course can only improve if all points of view are taken into account.

May 17, 2009

Bex 1 post

Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Useful link for looking up CPs

i've only just completed a DAFNE course and i'm finding the book and my food lables are telling me contrary ideas - which should I follow?

plus, the book only has orange juice, are all other juices the same CP values - i prefer apple juice and my local bottles have no nutritional values on them!?!

May 17, 2009

marke 686 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Eye photos

John,
What do you mean by the eye infirmary ? Are they linked to your diabetes clinic ? It sounds like the local trust is doing its own independent standalone system that as your say sounds VERY badly run. A letter saying you have slight changes is totally unacceptable without any details of what this means and a chance to disuss it with someone. I wouldn't be happy with an optician checking my eyes either.

In kent we have a very good eye service provided to the PCT by the local Diabetes Charity. It is staffed by Diabetic Eye specialists and has a number of mobile eye screening vans that visit GP's. When ever I have my eyes done, I have a chat with the person doing it and they show me the pictures on screen and explain what they are seeing. The pictures are still checked back at base and I get a letter about it, but I
do get chance to understand what the pictures mean. I am lucky I guess.

I would suggest that if you are concerned you call the Diabetes UK Careline. We had a presentation last week from Diabetes UK on what
care to expect and I know this is an area they are concerned about and will be interested to hear about the 'service' you are receiving.

May 15, 2009

richard_g 14 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Introductions

Hi,

I've also just signed up after the Northumbria NHS refesher course. The refresher course was a useful reminder and it has encouraged me to get out the diary again. DAFNE's great as it gives you much more control and freedom and the website is a great addition. Particularly as the latest course notes are now on line. Having had a quick flick through the forums I'm somewhat suprised at some of the news and views being expressed but if the site can bring issues to everyone's attention it can only be a good thing. Hopefully we will get more contributions as more Dafne graduates are made aware of the Website.

Richard

May 15, 2009

Simon 578 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / BG Diary at Clinic

Hi John,

Agree with your points above. It would be good to get a view from your dietician of whether or not they could access such a feature.

HCP = Healthcare Professional, a catch-all term for DAFNE Doctors, Specialist Nurses and Dieticians (apologies if I've missed anyone out of that list). If you look to the left of the forums you can see whether a user is a HCP, or in your case, a DAFNE Graduate.

Thanks,

Simon

May 15, 2009

John 6 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / BG Diary at Clinic

Thanks Simon
Printing out goes against saving the planet.
3. is definitely a big no, it's just too private. I'll talk to my dietician about her access at the next clinic.
She does have very sophisticated computer access so I'd guess it's on the interweb as well.
John
Ps what is HCP and have I got one?

May 14, 2009

Simon 578 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / BG Diary at Clinic

Hi John,

We don't actually have any Dieticians/Nurses in the online team per se - myself and MarkE are both DAFNE Graduates and take care of the running and development of the site. We also have support from DAFNE Central up in Northumbria. I agree that it would be nice to share your diary with dieticians/nurses at reviews. There are a number options here:

1. There is already a print layout defined so you can print out your results and take them on paper. See the "Printable view of currently displayed results" link above the diary display on this site.
2. We can set it up so you can allow specific users to view your diary. You would have to know the username/email of your HCP to do this.
3. You could share the diary via the foirums for all users to see and comment on, in a similar way to you do don the actual course using the overhead projector.

Options 2 and 3 don't exist yet so we'd have to assess feasibility/time needed to do them if there was enough demand. One question to the community though: Do HCP's have internet access during reviews/clinics?

EDIT: Also, would HCPs be comfortable doing something like this?

Thanks,

Simon

May 14, 2009

John 6 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / BG Diary at Clinic

Do any of the dieticians, nurses etc in the online team know if the (great) online BG Diary can be used in review sessions at clinic? I think it would be great if my specialist dietician at clinic could look through this online diary and discuss it with me.
Also what about the same person viewing it, with permission, when I'm not there - say in response to a problem I've telephoned about?

I'm new(today) to this so don't have many results (or red BGs) to show, but it's so easy I can see it being very useful

May 14, 2009

John 6 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Dieting

Hey, what is a diet sheet? I could do with losing a few kilos, so if anyone finds something useful maybe it could be posted here? Never heard of diet sheets though.

May 14, 2009

John 6 posts

Topic: Questions for HCPs / Eye photos

Hi Lizzie, I've just had photos done at the request of the local healthcare trust. However it seems unrelated to the Eye Infirmary consultant I see every year, nor my GP, nor my diabetic clinic.
Furthermore the feedback letter from the local healthcare trust says some slight 'changes' were detected, but not if good or bad, and what is most shocking is that this was the first time they have done such photos, so how on earth do they detect any changes. I found it upsetting and prefer to talk to the consultant at my eye infirmary who tells me there and then what he has seen.
My local healthcare trust relies on local opticians having the right equipment to take the photos but to be honest I don't trust local opticians, especially when it's not my own, to get it right. Why can't the diabetic clinic have this equipment and talk to me at the clinic about the photo they could take there and then?

May 14, 2009

John 6 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Introductions

Hi
Just signed up to Online DAFNE after completing an evening refresher course at Northumbria NHS just last night. It was good to catch up on some mistakes I was making and which healthcare folk had advised wrongly on - or the advice has changed. I think the online diary and course handbook are magic. My original course was a full week at the Wansbeck General Hospital in Northumberland and I'd say i felt very empowered afterwards. It was over 4 years ago so since things have moved on and I've got rusty the evening refresher was a real bonus.

Now I can see my out of target BG in bright red in the online diary I'm sure I'll try harder and last night's refresher will help me understand better how to fix it.
Thanks to the online team for setting it up
John
14 May 2009

May 14, 2009

Jenny 27 posts

Topic: General Discussion / "Diabetes set off course" Balance letter

Wow! Thanks Paul. I have just logged on to agree with your letter in balance about how DAFNE is not all it is cracked up to be. I too have an under-active Thyroid due to auto-immune anti bodies. I also find that my QA insulin takes up to 3 hours to have any affect. It stays high for ages and then suddenly drops. It gets me really depressed. I used to feel in control of my diabetes but now it is definitely in control of me. When I have been to my check ups the Doctors are not that bothered about my daily readings because my HbA1c is good (although I think it is going up). I weigh my food at most meals simply because i need to know if i have miscalculated it when i get the highs and lows later. I did the course 2 years ago and am still waiting to feel positive about it.

I am going to e-mail my diabetes nurse and copy your post in.

Thank you.

May 13, 2009

Caroline M 2 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Dafne Course in Ireland?

Thanks a mill for your response. Would you have a contact in St. Lukes Kilkenny? That would be the nearest location and might be worth contacting them.

May 13, 2009

digth 19 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Dafne Course in Ireland?

Hi

DAFNE is delivered in the following services in Southern Ireland.

St Columcilleâ€™s, Loughlinstown, Dublin
St Vincentâ€™s Dublin
University College Hospital, Galway
Beaumont Hospital, Dublin
St Lukeâ€™s Kilkenny
Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath

Unfortunatley nothing in Co Cork as yet.

May 12, 2009

Caroline M 2 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Dafne Course in Ireland?

Hi, I found this site mentioned in Balance Magazine and decided to look it up and its just what I have been looking for. I live in Southern Ireland (Co. Cork), and wondered it there are any DAFNE courses run in Ireland? I would be very keen to attend one and learn more.

May 10, 2009

Nicole 3 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Does Dafne work?

|Thanks to all the responses to my original question namely Does Dafne Work? I doubt I will have the chance to attend a proper DAFNE course in the short to medium term and in some ways I wish I had the intensive version that you have benefited from. I did wonder why my course could not provide any follow up material online and now I understand why! I like the CHO counter plus BG diary and will keep an eye on the forums for interesting topics.
IF anyone is able to refer me to other publications online or on paper to supplement my knowledge (our course covered insulin dose/CHO ratio, sick days, dose adjustment, exercise and alcohol) then I would be grateful as I am wondering if I missed something!
We also briefly covered psychological aspects of managing a chronic disease and I wondered if anyone's read anything useful on that recently? g.g. strategies to counter the guilt caused by not being a perfect diabetic!

May 9, 2009

Simon Heller 46 posts

Topic: General Discussion / "Diabetes set off course" Balance letter

Paul's frustration in struggling to implement DAFNE in the first few months after the course is I think quite common. None of the 'rules' seem to work, some people have a lot more mild hypos and it takes a lot of effort and commitment to keep this going on your own after the support of others during the week. I have seen people get really low and depressed and I sometimes regret having persuaded them to do the course. What is encouraging is that most come through this and realise that the DAFNE course gives them extra knowledge and skills to work out an approach that works for them. By 9 months post course most people are really positive although quite a few stop doing quite so many blood tests. Others have said openly that this is "Diabetes in your face" and in the end prefer to go back to 2 injections of pre-mixed insulin a day which is fine as well. I guess the problem is that until you have been on the course and tried DAFNE you can't really know what it is all about. Simon H

May 8, 2009

marke 686 posts

Topic: General Discussion / Meeting up after the course

Lizzie,
Thanks for the tip about GATTO, as simon said we have plans to have regional areas on the site in the future to help 'local' DAFNE graduates keep in touch. The problem with this at the moment is we have only 53 graduates registered on the site out of 288 users. In addition 37 of the 288 are HCP's. This probably means the message about the site has not got to graduates yet. Once we have more graduates, there is a potential membership of 5000+, regional areas of the site will make more sense. We just need to boost the graduate
membership !

Lastly I totally agree that meeting other diabetics was one of the great things about the course. Spending a week with 7 other people who were like me and had the same experiences was a brilliant. At the moment my DAFNE meet-ups involve the same people I did the course with, but as more people do the course it may be necessary for me to do the same as you. I'm not sure that your PCT is meeting DAFNE guidelines if they don't give you follow up meetings and you keep missing out on them.

May 19, 2009 Lizzie 87 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Dieting I would advise you to speak to a doctor, nurse or dietitian. They can talk with you and find a diet that's right for you. Every person is different and I don't think a generalised diet sheet would be much help.

May 19, 2009 Claire Hough 12 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Dieting Hi guys, Weight Watchers is brilliant and fits in really well with DAFNE. I followed it online where you get an online diary to record everything you eat, or you can go to meetings for additional support. It's good because you are weighing most of your food anyway for DAFNE so doesn't take too much extra work. I lost a stone last year! Claire

May 18, 2009 Lizzie 87 posts	Topic: General Discussion / "Diabetes set off course" Balance letter I am insulin resistant and for me DAFNE was a lifeline. Yes it was hard and I did feel isolated. But in fifteen years, nobody had ever told me how to adjust my own insulin, treat a hypo or deal with illness. I had never met another diabetic. I don't even know if my doctors were aware of my insulin resistance before I found out my ratio on DAFNE - they certainly never mentioned it to me.

May 18, 2009 John 6 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Eye photos Marke, the eye infirmary is literally that, a hospital that does nothing but eyes. I have no criticism of the eye infirmary whatsoever and if anyone gets the chance to have their eye care at such a hospital I can fully recommend it. I am not concerned, other than to have wasted my time and NHS money getting the photos at the optician.

May 17, 2009 Simon Heller 46 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Eye photos I am pretty sure that any eye photos requested by the PCT and taken by local opticians are supervised by the eye specialists as this is govt policy. However the point about the lack of explanations and the anxiety raised by 'slight changes' is important and should be dealt with. In Sheffield the local specialist teams can access both the photos and the report and discuss them at a clinic visit. I would ask the people at the Diabetic clinic to try and get hold of these so you can have a proper explanation. Ideally you should be able to look at the photos together and have them explained. Simon H

May 17, 2009 marke 686 posts	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Useful link for looking up CPs The answer I'm afraid is your own experiences. Both are guidelines and are not set in stone since there are a number of factors involved. I'm afraid you can only use them as a guideline and then see what happens. I would also recommend the following books: food and diet counter - Dr Wynnie Chan - ISBN: 978-0-600-60709-0 Carb Counter - Collins Gem - ISBN: 0-00-717601-5 Both have lots of carb values in, they suggest that orange juice has 22g of carb for 250ml and apples has 24.8 of carb for 250ml. Hopes this helps.

May 17, 2009 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Introductions Richard, I'm glad you are finding the website useful as you say the more graduates we get signed up the better ! All views are welcome both positive and negative. Making all sides aware of issues can only improve DAFNE as a whole and help ensure that those who control it are aware of issues and can hopefully do something about them. Welcome on board !

May 17, 2009 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / "Diabetes set off course" Balance letter Jenny, There was another topic discussing the 'suitability' of Type 2's and insulin resistant diabetics for DAFNE and to degree your and Paul's experience seem to back it up. I think we all agree that every diabetic is different and no solution fits all, however it seems that people that are insulin resistant find it a lot harder to follow DAFNE 'rules'. Recently I have had to take steriods and they have been making me insulin resistant and screwed up my Blood sugars so I can empathise with your experiences. I don't think this makes DAFNE not a good course, I think it underlines that HCP's need to think very carefully about including people who are insulin resistant. I'm not suggesting they are excluded, merely that both sides understand the additional complications for following the course for people who are insulin resistant. Its still intereesting to hear your experiences and like I said to Paul, if you don't feel happy about DAFNE you have just as much right to express this view as we do to praise it. The course can only improve if all points of view are taken into account.

May 17, 2009 Bex 1 post	Topic: Carbohydrate Counting / Useful link for looking up CPs i've only just completed a DAFNE course and i'm finding the book and my food lables are telling me contrary ideas - which should I follow? plus, the book only has orange juice, are all other juices the same CP values - i prefer apple juice and my local bottles have no nutritional values on them!?!

May 17, 2009 marke 686 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Eye photos John, What do you mean by the eye infirmary ? Are they linked to your diabetes clinic ? It sounds like the local trust is doing its own independent standalone system that as your say sounds VERY badly run. A letter saying you have slight changes is totally unacceptable without any details of what this means and a chance to disuss it with someone. I wouldn't be happy with an optician checking my eyes either. In kent we have a very good eye service provided to the PCT by the local Diabetes Charity. It is staffed by Diabetic Eye specialists and has a number of mobile eye screening vans that visit GP's. When ever I have my eyes done, I have a chat with the person doing it and they show me the pictures on screen and explain what they are seeing. The pictures are still checked back at base and I get a letter about it, but I do get chance to understand what the pictures mean. I am lucky I guess. I would suggest that if you are concerned you call the Diabetes UK Careline. We had a presentation last week from Diabetes UK on what care to expect and I know this is an area they are concerned about and will be interested to hear about the 'service' you are receiving.

May 15, 2009 richard_g 14 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Introductions Hi, I've also just signed up after the Northumbria NHS refesher course. The refresher course was a useful reminder and it has encouraged me to get out the diary again. DAFNE's great as it gives you much more control and freedom and the website is a great addition. Particularly as the latest course notes are now on line. Having had a quick flick through the forums I'm somewhat suprised at some of the news and views being expressed but if the site can bring issues to everyone's attention it can only be a good thing. Hopefully we will get more contributions as more Dafne graduates are made aware of the Website. Richard

May 15, 2009 Simon 578 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / BG Diary at Clinic Hi John, Agree with your points above. It would be good to get a view from your dietician of whether or not they could access such a feature. HCP = Healthcare Professional, a catch-all term for DAFNE Doctors, Specialist Nurses and Dieticians (apologies if I've missed anyone out of that list). If you look to the left of the forums you can see whether a user is a HCP, or in your case, a DAFNE Graduate. Thanks, Simon

May 15, 2009 John 6 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / BG Diary at Clinic Thanks Simon Printing out goes against saving the planet. 3. is definitely a big no, it's just too private. I'll talk to my dietician about her access at the next clinic. She does have very sophisticated computer access so I'd guess it's on the interweb as well. John Ps what is HCP and have I got one?

May 14, 2009 Simon 578 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / BG Diary at Clinic Hi John, We don't actually have any Dieticians/Nurses in the online team per se - myself and MarkE are both DAFNE Graduates and take care of the running and development of the site. We also have support from DAFNE Central up in Northumbria. I agree that it would be nice to share your diary with dieticians/nurses at reviews. There are a number options here: 1. There is already a print layout defined so you can print out your results and take them on paper. See the "Printable view of currently displayed results" link above the diary display on this site. 2. We can set it up so you can allow specific users to view your diary. You would have to know the username/email of your HCP to do this. 3. You could share the diary via the foirums for all users to see and comment on, in a similar way to you do don the actual course using the overhead projector. Options 2 and 3 don't exist yet so we'd have to assess feasibility/time needed to do them if there was enough demand. One question to the community though: Do HCP's have internet access during reviews/clinics? EDIT: Also, would HCPs be comfortable doing something like this? Thanks, Simon

May 14, 2009 John 6 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / BG Diary at Clinic Do any of the dieticians, nurses etc in the online team know if the (great) online BG Diary can be used in review sessions at clinic? I think it would be great if my specialist dietician at clinic could look through this online diary and discuss it with me. Also what about the same person viewing it, with permission, when I'm not there - say in response to a problem I've telephoned about? I'm new(today) to this so don't have many results (or red BGs) to show, but it's so easy I can see it being very useful

May 14, 2009 John 6 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Dieting Hey, what is a diet sheet? I could do with losing a few kilos, so if anyone finds something useful maybe it could be posted here? Never heard of diet sheets though.

May 14, 2009 John 6 posts	Topic: Questions for HCPs / Eye photos Hi Lizzie, I've just had photos done at the request of the local healthcare trust. However it seems unrelated to the Eye Infirmary consultant I see every year, nor my GP, nor my diabetic clinic. Furthermore the feedback letter from the local healthcare trust says some slight 'changes' were detected, but not if good or bad, and what is most shocking is that this was the first time they have done such photos, so how on earth do they detect any changes. I found it upsetting and prefer to talk to the consultant at my eye infirmary who tells me there and then what he has seen. My local healthcare trust relies on local opticians having the right equipment to take the photos but to be honest I don't trust local opticians, especially when it's not my own, to get it right. Why can't the diabetic clinic have this equipment and talk to me at the clinic about the photo they could take there and then?

May 14, 2009 John 6 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Introductions Hi Just signed up to Online DAFNE after completing an evening refresher course at Northumbria NHS just last night. It was good to catch up on some mistakes I was making and which healthcare folk had advised wrongly on - or the advice has changed. I think the online diary and course handbook are magic. My original course was a full week at the Wansbeck General Hospital in Northumberland and I'd say i felt very empowered afterwards. It was over 4 years ago so since things have moved on and I've got rusty the evening refresher was a real bonus. Now I can see my out of target BG in bright red in the online diary I'm sure I'll try harder and last night's refresher will help me understand better how to fix it. Thanks to the online team for setting it up John 14 May 2009

May 14, 2009 Jenny 27 posts	Topic: General Discussion / "Diabetes set off course" Balance letter Wow! Thanks Paul. I have just logged on to agree with your letter in balance about how DAFNE is not all it is cracked up to be. I too have an under-active Thyroid due to auto-immune anti bodies. I also find that my QA insulin takes up to 3 hours to have any affect. It stays high for ages and then suddenly drops. It gets me really depressed. I used to feel in control of my diabetes but now it is definitely in control of me. When I have been to my check ups the Doctors are not that bothered about my daily readings because my HbA1c is good (although I think it is going up). I weigh my food at most meals simply because i need to know if i have miscalculated it when i get the highs and lows later. I did the course 2 years ago and am still waiting to feel positive about it. I am going to e-mail my diabetes nurse and copy your post in. Thank you.

May 13, 2009 Caroline M 2 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Dafne Course in Ireland? Thanks a mill for your response. Would you have a contact in St. Lukes Kilkenny? That would be the nearest location and might be worth contacting them.

May 13, 2009 digth 19 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Dafne Course in Ireland? Hi DAFNE is delivered in the following services in Southern Ireland. St Columcilleâ€™s, Loughlinstown, Dublin St Vincentâ€™s Dublin University College Hospital, Galway Beaumont Hospital, Dublin St Lukeâ€™s Kilkenny Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath Unfortunatley nothing in Co Cork as yet.

May 12, 2009 Caroline M 2 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Dafne Course in Ireland? Hi, I found this site mentioned in Balance Magazine and decided to look it up and its just what I have been looking for. I live in Southern Ireland (Co. Cork), and wondered it there are any DAFNE courses run in Ireland? I would be very keen to attend one and learn more.

May 10, 2009 Nicole 3 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Does Dafne work? \|Thanks to all the responses to my original question namely Does Dafne Work? I doubt I will have the chance to attend a proper DAFNE course in the short to medium term and in some ways I wish I had the intensive version that you have benefited from. I did wonder why my course could not provide any follow up material online and now I understand why! I like the CHO counter plus BG diary and will keep an eye on the forums for interesting topics. IF anyone is able to refer me to other publications online or on paper to supplement my knowledge (our course covered insulin dose/CHO ratio, sick days, dose adjustment, exercise and alcohol) then I would be grateful as I am wondering if I missed something! We also briefly covered psychological aspects of managing a chronic disease and I wondered if anyone's read anything useful on that recently? g.g. strategies to counter the guilt caused by not being a perfect diabetic!

May 9, 2009 Simon Heller 46 posts	Topic: General Discussion / "Diabetes set off course" Balance letter Paul's frustration in struggling to implement DAFNE in the first few months after the course is I think quite common. None of the 'rules' seem to work, some people have a lot more mild hypos and it takes a lot of effort and commitment to keep this going on your own after the support of others during the week. I have seen people get really low and depressed and I sometimes regret having persuaded them to do the course. What is encouraging is that most come through this and realise that the DAFNE course gives them extra knowledge and skills to work out an approach that works for them. By 9 months post course most people are really positive although quite a few stop doing quite so many blood tests. Others have said openly that this is "Diabetes in your face" and in the end prefer to go back to 2 injections of pre-mixed insulin a day which is fine as well. I guess the problem is that until you have been on the course and tried DAFNE you can't really know what it is all about. Simon H

May 8, 2009 marke 686 posts	Topic: General Discussion / Meeting up after the course Lizzie, Thanks for the tip about GATTO, as simon said we have plans to have regional areas on the site in the future to help 'local' DAFNE graduates keep in touch. The problem with this at the moment is we have only 53 graduates registered on the site out of 288 users. In addition 37 of the 288 are HCP's. This probably means the message about the site has not got to graduates yet. Once we have more graduates, there is a potential membership of 5000+, regional areas of the site will make more sense. We just need to boost the graduate membership ! Lastly I totally agree that meeting other diabetics was one of the great things about the course. Spending a week with 7 other people who were like me and had the same experiences was a brilliant. At the moment my DAFNE meet-ups involve the same people I did the course with, but as more people do the course it may be necessary for me to do the same as you. I'm not sure that your PCT is meeting DAFNE guidelines if they don't give you follow up meetings and you keep missing out on them.