D.A.F.N.E course

[Amity Island]

Hi Everyone, I thought some people may like to know about the D.A.F.N.E (dose adjustment for normal eating) course. I know it's been running for many years, but I attended the course recently and there are lots of type 1 diabetics yet to do the course.
The course is about a lot more than what the title says. The course can now be attended as a one week course or as five one day courses over 5 weeks. I did it 1 day a week so it didn't interrupt work schedule too much. You will get a certificate after completing the course.
What I really liked about it was it was the first chance I'd had to speak with other type 1 diabetics. The course is ran informally in a small room with at least 6 people attending. Very easy going, relaxed and helpful. It starts by covering the basics, what is diabetes, types of diabetes, your own goals. We each had to fill in a record of our blood glucose, carbs, timings, ketone records so we can all review and try and work out how to make adjustments and improvements. Insulin types were covered. Treating hypos and hypers, illness. Exercise. A lot of time was spent guessing carb quantity in various foods, which was really useful. We could ask questions along the way, and the DSN were quite good. We also got to ask questions to a consultant on last day of course. I did learn a lot on the course and I think the aim is really to get you to self manage and look after yourself, with the aim of keeping you out of emergency hospital visits. Any questions feel free to ask.

 

[Amberzak]

I love the DAFNE course. Did it quite a few years ago. That's where I learnt about the dangers of insulin stacking and that that was what I was doing.

 

[Sprogladite]

I'd love to do a DAFNE course and have been on a waiting list for 3 years now - my local hospital does offer the course, but demand seems to be ridiculously high. Every time I ask about it again I get told there's about a year's waiting list - but for the last 3 years I've heard the same thing so I'm not holding my breath. I have done an alternative carb counting course but I didn't feel it was very useful. I have also been told I can't go on a pump until I've done DAFNE, which I am really starting to think I need to do given all of the issues I've been having with basal insulin recently. Very frustrating!

 

[Amity Island]

I'd love to do a DAFNE course and have been on a waiting list for 3 years now - my local hospital does offer the course, but demand seems to be ridiculously high. Every time I ask about it again I get told there's about a year's waiting list - but for the last 3 years I've heard the same thing so I'm not holding my breath. I have done an alternative carb counting course but I didn't feel it was very useful. I have also been told I can't go on a pump until I've done DAFNE, which I am really starting to think I need to do given all of the issues I've been having with basal insulin recently. Very frustrating!

Hi, that's such a shame you can't get on a course. The last course I went on only 3 people attended. It was touch and go whether they were going to run it or not. Obvioulsy the demand isn't the same in all parts of the country.

 

[Ljc]

I'd love to do a DAFNE course and have been on a waiting list for 3 years now - my local hospital does offer the course, but demand seems to be ridiculously high. Every time I ask about it again I get told there's about a year's waiting list - but for the last 3 years I've heard the same thing so I'm not holding my breath. I have done an alternative carb counting course but I didn't feel it was very useful. I have also been told I can't go on a pump until I've done DAFNE, which I am really starting to think I need to do given all of the issues I've been having with basal insulin recently. Very frustrating!

I was wondering if their was an online DAPHNE course.

 

[Ljc]

Just remembered there is a BERTIE online course, not sure if this is suitable for you though
https://www.bertieonline.org.uk/admLogin.asp?M=ZZ

 

[Sprogladite]

Just remembered there is a BERTIE online course, not sure if this is suitable for you though
https://www.bertieonline.org.uk/admLogin.asp?M=ZZ

Yes I've looked that over several times, it's what actually got me started off carb counting initially. I've asked if there is an online version for DAFNE but apparently there isn't. Would definitely make life a lot easier if there was!

 

[Sally71]

I have also been told I can't go on a pump until I've done DAFNE, which I am really starting to think I need to do given all of the issues I've been having with basal insulin recently. Very frustrating!

That's daft, there is absolutely no similar course for parents who are looking after their young child's diabetes, and when my daughter got her pump she had only been diagnosed a week (we were lucky, there was a trial going on at the time comparing pumps with MDI in newly diagnosed children). We did the first two pump refills/cannula changes under supervision from our diabetes nurse and the pump rep, had a half hour crash course on carb counting with a dietician and were given a free copy of the carbs and cals book, and then were pretty much left to get on with it. Given that we'd barely had time to get over the diagnosis in the first place, we were completely in the deep end and at times probably lost the ability to think clearly at all, but we got through it and have never looked back. OK we were in and out of hospital quite a lot for the first couple of months anyway, and our diabetes team are great, you can ring or page them almost any time and they will help if they can, so we weren't completely on our own, but nobody checked first whether we were capable of using a pump, they just assumed we were and we had to learn by doing!

 

[Sprogladite]

That's daft, there is absolutely no similar course for parents who are looking after their young child's diabetes, and when my daughter got her pump she had only been diagnosed a week (we were lucky, there was a trial going on at the time comparing pumps with MDI in newly diagnosed children). We did the first two pump refills/cannula changes under supervision from our diabetes nurse and the pump rep, had a half hour crash course on carb counting with a dietician and were given a free copy of the carbs and cals book, and then were pretty much left to get on with it. Given that we'd barely had time to get over the diagnosis in the first place, we were completely in the deep end and at times probably lost the ability to think clearly at all, but we got through it and have never looked back. OK we were in and out of hospital quite a lot for the first couple of months anyway, and our diabetes team are great, you can ring or page them almost any time and they will help if they can, so we weren't completely on our own, but nobody checked first whether we were capable of using a pump, they just assumed we were and we had to learn by doing!

Couldn't agree more, given I've been diabetic for 23 years I have a pretty good grasp on how to adjust my dosages etc, nevermind the fact I'm already carb counting and have done an NHS carb counting course anyway, it just wasn't the DAFNE one. I'm off on holiday for two weeks from Saturday so I'm gonna get through that and then start kicking and screaming once I'm back. Considering I've been on 3 different basals since February they can't say I haven't been compliant in doing as they suggest, and enough is enough!

 

[Amity Island]

I was wondering if their was an online DAPHNE course.

That is fantastic idea! They do have a workbook which has pretty much everything in it covered in the course, but they only give this to people who have completed the course.