[x.Rachael.x]

Hello I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes about 5 months ago. My GP referred me to a course called DAFNE . What is it? (Dose Adjustment for normal eating) The course was 5 days long and led by a Dietitian and Diabetes Specialist Nurse. I can pretty much sum up that DAFNE is a course where it encourages Type 1 diabetics to eat what they like as long as you accuratley calculate the Carbohydrate portion in each meal and snack you have in the day. The course opens your eyes to how many units you need for your average portion size, it also helps you understand how to treat your hypo's/hyper's. There is extensive discussions on how to adjust your insulin when you exercise, are ill and they provide food every day for the group so that your new skills can be put to the test with assistance from them. I cannot describe how much this course has helped me and others to control my blood glucose levels, and most of them including myself hadn't even heard of DAFNE untill recently. So If your a type 1 diabetic and struggling to deal with controlling your levels or you just need someone to talk to, I strongly reccomend this course for you

 

[Shalynne]

Hello I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes about 5 months ago. My GP referred me to a course called DAFNE . What is it? (Dose Adjustment for normal eating) The course was 5 days long and led by a Dietitian and Diabetes Specialist Nurse. I can pretty much sum up that DAFNE is a course where it encourages Type 1 diabetics to eat what they like as long as you accuratley calculate the Carbohydrate portion in each meal and snack you have in the day. The course opens your eyes to how many units you need for your average portion size, it also helps you understand how to treat your hypo's/hyper's. There is extensive discussions on how to adjust your insulin when you exercise, are ill and they provide food every day for the group so that your new skills can be put to the test with assistance from them. I cannot describe how much this course has helped me and others to control my blood glucose levels, and most of them including myself hadn't even heard of DAFNE untill recently. So If your a type 1 diabetic and struggling to deal with controlling your levels or you just need someone to talk to, I strongly reccomend this course for you

Hmmmm ... does not appear to be available in the U.S. Looks intriguing, though!

 

[Adjitater]

There are a lot of programs in the states that do the same thing just not called DAFNE. I have been doing it for years. All pumpers and MDI users that I know use the same type of program.

 

[Shalynne]

The ones I know (in real life, that is) don't seem to use any program at all. What are you using?

I'm looking for a dosing strategy that works with some reliability for the extreme carb-sensitive, insulin-resistant, math-challenged diabetic.

(Possession of diabetes oughta be illegal for us math-challenged folk!)

 

[Adjitater]

I can't help you. Basic math is needed in all diabetes dosing plans.
You need to know your insulin to carb ratios, for different times of day and your correction factors.

 

[Shalynne]

I can't help you. Basic math is needed in all diabetes dosing plans.
You need to know your insulin to carb ratios, for different times of day and your correction factors.

That's OK! Just wondered if a packaged program existed. For me, apparently not.

Just got John Walsh, et al's Using Insulin in the mail. Am starting to slog through it now.

It starts off with the "500 Rule," the "1800 Rule" and such, but those don't seem to apply. I'm overweight by a goodly, but not huge amount, and need to account more for insulin resistance than weight. Just found the section where we can calculate based on our own experience with carbs, spikes and lows. Thank the stars it walks me through the calcs!

Now to see if those calcs work reliably ...

 

[solostar]

Hello I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes about 5 months ago. My GP referred me to a course called DAFNE . What is it? (Dose Adjustment for normal eating) The course was 5 days long and led by a Dietitian and Diabetes Specialist Nurse. I can pretty much sum up that DAFNE is a course where it encourages Type 1 diabetics to eat what they like as long as you accuratley calculate the Carbohydrate portion in each meal and snack you have in the day. The course opens your eyes to how many units you need for your average portion size, it also helps you understand how to treat your hypo's/hyper's. There is extensive discussions on how to adjust your insulin when you exercise, are ill and they provide food every day for the group so that your new skills can be put to the test with assistance from them. I cannot describe how much this course has helped me and others to control my blood glucose levels, and most of them including myself hadn't even heard of DAFNE untill recently. So If your a type 1 diabetic and struggling to deal with controlling your levels or you just need someone to talk to, I strongly reccomend this course for you

Hey Rachael, I did the Dafne course here in Australia 9 months ago. You're SO lucky to have gotten to do it so early on in your diagnosis. In Aus, you have to have T 1 for 12 months before applying for Dafne because of the "Honeymoon period" (you know what I mean) so I struggled for that time & without the knowledge of carb/insulin ratios, sick day rules etc. Living with BGLs mostly above 15.0 mmols for that time was a nightmare! Now my BGLs are down around the 4.5 to 8.5 mmols.
Hope you're settling in with the CPs, QA, BI & your BGLs are steady.
All the best for your bright future, thanks to DAFNE.

 

[solostar]

That's OK! Just wondered if a packaged program existed. For me, apparently not.

Just got John Walsh, et al's Using Insulin in the mail. Am starting to slog through it now.

It starts off with the "500 Rule," the "1800 Rule" and such, but those don't seem to apply. I'm overweight by a goodly, but not huge amount, and need to account more for insulin resistance than weight. Just found the section where we can calculate based on our own experience with carbs, spikes and lows. Thank the stars it walks me through the calcs!

Now to see if those calcs work reliably ...[/QUO

Sorry Shalynne, Dafne doesn't come in a package. It's held in a group setting with diabetes educators there to teach the wide range of info you require to stay in control. If you get confused, they can do one on one. Dafne didn't make sense to me until the 4th day because it's so intense & so much to learn & remember over 5 days from 9 am to 5 pm but well worth it. It saved my life!
Best of luck with your quest.

 

[Shalynne]

Sorry Shalynne, Dafne doesn't come in a package. It's held in a group setting with diabetes educators there to teach the wide range of info you require to stay in control. If you get confused, they can do one on one. Dafne didn't make sense to me until the 4th day because it's so intense & so much to learn & remember over 5 days from 9 am to 5 pm but well worth it. It saved my life!
Best of luck with your quest.

Don't be sorry ... I shoulda typed "program!" Group instruction in personalizing my regime is precisely what I seek.

Can't find anything like that out here. Thus far, the only course I have access to will only "teach" techniques that have failed me already. (Then, of course, there are the outright scams.)

My control's not awful. Still, I keep getting "random" spikes that most likely aren't random at all.

Also, I'd prefer to take a few days' intensive course with follow-up so I can focus better on the non-diabetic parts of my life.

(Though that 12-month wait you endured sounds like pure torture. Sorry you had to deal with that!)

Ahhhh, well ... back to the books.

 

[Richard157]

I threw the 1500 and 800 rules out the window and used trial and error to find my ratios and correction factors. The numbers that work for me are not even close to those given by those rules. I think too many people depend on the rules and then have unnecessary highs and lows. They may give rough estimates that work to some extent for some people, but I believe those estimates should be refined and perfected by trial and error.

Other than that, the DAFNE course is very popular and very valuable to insulin dependent diabetics.

 

[Shalynne]

Thank you, Richard! You're right.

Yep, Rules don't work for me one bit. (One of the few times I almost wish they did!)

There are also 1700 and 1800 Rules, and so on, to choose from. Equally useless.

So, by taking a little bit from Book A, a little from Book B and mixing in a huge dollop of my experiences thus far, I've devised a testing procedure for my basal doses and schedule that shouldn't get me in too much trouble.

Bolus doses may be OK, but I'll test 'em afterward.

I'm trying to hunt down the roving 135-140 spike that hits at least once a day, no matter what I eat. You'd think I'm chain-snarfing Twinkies ...

Anyway, what interested me in DAFNE was the opportunity to test doses right in class, with actual foods, and tweak as needed. Nice, but since its unavailable, it'd better not be necessary.