# My X-Pert Insulin Programme



## mum2westiesGill (Mar 28, 2013)

My course starts next week on Thursday

I had to hand in a form at my drs surgery to be filled and to take with me to the course with up to date results of -:
- full lipid profile
- blood glucose
- cholesterol
- triglycerides
- HbA1c

Week 1 - diabetes, insulin and healthy living

Week 2 - all about insulin

Week 3 - know your carbs

Week 4 - inspiration for insulin

Week 5 - match it - taking control

Week 6 - are you an insulin xpert


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## Steff (Mar 28, 2013)

Hi Whiskeymum good luck with the course .


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## Northerner (Mar 28, 2013)

Great! Go with an open mind and don't be afraid to ask questions!


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## Flutterby (Mar 28, 2013)

I thoroughly enjoyed the course when I did it last year - I hope you do too.


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## mum2westiesGill (Mar 28, 2013)

One slight problem is that the course is from 2pm - 4pm & 2pm - 2.30pm ish is right on my lunchtime when I would normally be having a sandwich etc


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## trophywench (Mar 28, 2013)

You're on MDI Gill.  That means you can eat when you want to or not at all -  so just eat lunch early!


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## mum2westiesGill (Apr 6, 2013)

So I went last week to week 1 of my 6 week X-Pert insulin course

http://www.xperthealth.org.uk/about-us/developments.html

This is the one I'm on
The X -PERT Insulin Programme

Week 1:
Diabetes, insulin and healthy living
What is diabetes, the role of insulin and the diabetes health profile
Healthy living: eatwell plate and physical activity
What I am eating

plus brief introductions which was what types we are and what treatment we're on.

Including myself there were 7 of us, should've been 10 i think. All the people seemed to be middle aged/older than myself. One person (middle aged has been D for 30 years so makes my 21 years seem nothing) Running this course are the lady who is the contact person etc for the course, a community DSN (who also runs my local drop in centre) & a dietician.

 "homework"  this week is a blank picture of the eatwell plate where we have to fill in either for 1 day or 3/4 days or 1 week what we eat in each section.


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## mum2westiesGill (Apr 12, 2013)

Week 2 of my 6 week X-Pert insulin course

Week 2:
All about insulin
Insulin specific challenges with self managing diabetes
Hypoglycaemia / hyperglycaemia - Ketoacidosis (DKA) & HONK
Exploring insulin - onset, peak and duration, regimens and devices
My insulin injection technique

One of the people didn't turn up but had phoned to say the x-pert diabetes course would probably be better for her rather than the x-pert insulin - she's type 2 on tablets only - the other type 2's are on tablets and insulin. A new person joined us who  had been on the same course but could only do the first week. so is now completing the rest of the course.

With the DSN:

On the board at the front of the room we went through the types of insulin, matching which insulins went where ie along with whatever the onset, peak & durations are.

It's good listening to each others different D stories/situations.

We were given an x-pert insulin programme handbook - very interesting indeed.

Next the DSN had brought in all her demo insulin devices with her which we looked at/played around with. Lots of things to consider when choosing an insulin pen ie size/weight, how easy it is to insert cartridges/needles, whether the dial-up dose button is easy to use ie people suffering with arthritis may find it difficult on some pens, whether you want a re-useable pen or a disposable pen etc etc.

Short break and cup of tea/coffee

With the dietician:

We did a bit of a continuation with what we did last week re the the eat well plate (homework) which will takes us to next week all about carbohydrate counting.


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## novorapidboi26 (Apr 12, 2013)

I hope you enjoy the course.........

Taking in as much information as you can is what its all about......


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## Caroline (Apr 12, 2013)

I did the Xpert Diabetes course for type 2s and found it quite usefull. The least that will happen is you will meet others in a similar position to you. You can get quite  alot of information from these courses so go with an open mind and enjoy.


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## mum2westiesGill (Apr 22, 2013)

Week 3 of my 6 week X-Pert insulin course

Week 3:
Know your carbs
Identification of carbohydrate foods and drink
Carbohydrate counting ? estimation, calculation and reading food labels
Self-monitoring blood glucose, meters, frequency of testing technique and safe sharps disposal
My ?what should I do?? scenarios

With the dietician

She brought in & set out on the table lots of plastic food portions - so estimating food portions
We each had a cardboard copy of a food packaging label and had to read out the carb amounts on them - the carb amouts should be rounded down/up to the nearest 5 so 17.5g cho would be 20g also = 2 cps
We were each given a laminated picture of a meal on a plate - mine was a full english breakfast (only carbs in this really are in the bread) and we were all identyfying the carbs in the meals/desserts etc

Short break and cup of tea/coffee

With the DSN

We briefly spoke about how we dispose of sharps (lancets & pen needles) and were told of a couple of places locally to dispose of them
We spoke about frequency of testing - briefly mentioned how often we each test - when some testing times should be ie fasting/morning BG, before meals/after meals, bedtime, feeling unwell, before & during driving etc etc
Testing technique - we were shown which fingers are the best ones to test on - the sides of middle, ring & small fingers. Sides of fingers are usually less painful than the centre of  finger pads. Avoid the thumb and forefinger because these are tougher from greater use.
When you've pricked your finger for testing don't squeeze straight away, allow a few seconds for bleeding to start, to allow a sufficient drop of blood to form then very gently squeeze.

Meters - we saw each others meters (those who had them with them)
The DSN brought in 2 meters:
- FreeStyle InsuLinx Blood Glucose Monitoring System -  the currently faulty one - this one has a touch screen, so it depends if you like touch screens on a BG meter
- Aviva Expert - this one has buttons instead of touch screen and has one or two more features on than the previous meter. It has to be set up with a one to one appointment with your DSN, they (DSN) has to put in a code then together you work out all your set up details of what to enter into the meter. It gives you bolus advice - very undecided about this meter - in my current BG meter Bayer Contour Next USB you can also enter carbs & insulin dosage but obviously no bolus advice - it's whether you trust things like this  

"homework" for this week is  to fill in on a worksheet for one day or the week or whatever you choose to do a list of meals - breakfast, lunch, evening meal, snacks, supper - note down all the carbohydrates in the meal either in grams or cps - note down the total grms/cps for the day - also how much insulin has been taken

I think this leads us onto next week - MATCH IT ? taking control


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## mum2westiesGill (May 10, 2013)

Week 4 & 5 of my 6 week X-Pert insulin course

Week 4
Inspiration for Insulin
Troubleshooting: strategies to take control
"Inspiration" the exciting game for insulin X-Pert's: travel, holidays, driving and work legislation, in sickness and in health, insulin technique and sharps disposal
Care planning: lifestyle experiment - which troubleshooters may work for me?
Exploring the MATCH IT diary

Needles - the DSN brought in 2 or 3 different sizes/lengths of needles and used a small demo model to demonstrate on
Inspiration Game - (The game "Inspiration" focuses on special considerations that arise for people who take insulin, such as driving, working, travel and holidays, sick day rules, insulin storage, injection technique and sharps disposal)
- with the DSN moving the markers on the board & the dietician asking the questions from the cards
- 2 groups - just where we were sitting round/at the table so basically 3 poeple (the men) on one team & myself, 2 other ladies & the other man on the other team. My team were the green team & had a giant green dice & the other team were the red team & had a giant red dice. The other team won and each person was given a diabetic wallet - (sanofi aventis)
- homework for this week - we were each given 2/3 copies of a blank X-Pert Match It diary to fill in for next week

although I already fill a daily BG diary in on the DAFNE website I do like the X-Pert Match It diary because it's all refering to the type of structure we've been doing on the X-Pert course


Week 5
MATCH IT - taking control
MATCH IT: my diary, my diabetes "A day in the life of....."
A chance to learn and share
Care planning: lifestyle experiment to apply troubleshooters to MATCH IT challenges

These are self-management cards for people who require insulin to regulate blood glucose. The pack includes 20 "What should I do?"  cards and 20 "Troubleshooter" cards.

This week was reallty the DSN & the dietician working together
Those of us (me being one) who had done 1 or 2 copies of our Match It diaries shared them with the rest of the group - interesting
We then played another game - Match It 24/7 - happy to say that my team (with a little bit of cheating here & there) won - same prize as last week

- The DSN is away on holiday for Week 6 so there was a small group discussion  - because of the type of group we were we covered things which we were doing the following week on the previous week so it was decided to end the course this week
- We were each given a letter with: 
- our names on
- a list of very useful contact numbers
- and in order to follow up on our progress we will be invited to a coffee morning in 6 month's time where we will be asked to take in the form (like week 1) to be filled in with weight, BMI, blood pressure & up to date blood results (HbA1c) for comparison. We will get a letter nearer the time to let us know of the exact date and venue for the review - I'm hoping that there are enough members of the group going for this to go ahead.

In the meantime I know now that even though my diabetic care is done with the practice nurse at my GP surgery If I have any problems with my D I can always go to the local drop in centre on any Thursday to see the  community DSN (who was the one doing the X-Pert course)

Week 6
Are you an insulin X-Pert
Game: MATCH IT 24/7 to challenge real "living with diabetes on insulin" situations!
What did I learn from troubleshooting the MATCH IT challenges?
Have the self-management challenges been addressed?
Programme evaluation and planning the way forward.......


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## mum2westiesGill (Oct 7, 2014)

mum2westiesGill said:


> Week 2 of my 6 week X-Pert insulin courseWe were given an x-pert insulin programme handbook - very interesting indeed.




Seems ages ago now that I was given my x-pert programme handbook - version 1.


I had an email yesterday from Trudi to say my updated handbook was being posted out to me & this morning as promised I received my x-pert programme handbook version 2 
Now what I have to do is take a good look at it then email Trudi to say what I think of it.


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## Steff (Oct 8, 2014)

Ill have to see about getting version 2


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## mum2westiesGill (Oct 8, 2014)

Hi Steff,
You should get it. I emailed Trudi at X-Pert health & gave details of when & where I was on the course & obviously asked about the updated version of the handbook & they sent it me free. It's the blue handbook I've got not the orange one. At first glances it looks very good & obviously more updated than the previous one. Good luck x


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