The Learning Diabetes programme contains information for newly diagnosed diabetes patients, presented in a variety of ways to make learning fun and more effective.

Each section contains video clips of real people talking about how they cope, bite size chunks of information and fun interactive activities.

Newly diagnosed:

• How did you feel when you first found out you had diabetes?
• How did you cope during the first few months after diagnosis?
• First Questions
• Why me?
• Am I going to die?
• Will diabetes go away? Can I work?
• Will my children get it?

First skills:

• Blood Testing
• What can I eat?
• Injecting Insulin
• Thinking ahead
• First Problems
• Insulin Injections
• Testing Anxiety
• Telling People
• Insurance
• Food
• What was your first hypo like?
• The first hypo
• Are hypo's a bad thing?

Young people and Diabetes:

• How did you cope with starting work or college?
• Setting out alone
• Who's in control?
• Relationships
• How do you cope with going out and parties?
• Alcohol
  

Coping with illness

• Is it difficult to control your diabetes when you are ill?
• Problems during illness
• Preventing problems
• How would you cope with illness.
• cold or flu
• food poisoning
• sudden high blood sugars
• ketone tests
• lack of appetite

Controlling Diabetes: day to day control:

• Do you find it difficult to control your diabetes?

• How often do you test your blood?
• How to do a blood test
• Using test results

Deciding what to do as a result of blood test readings is a vital part of controlling diabetes. Choose what you
would do if you had these results. (Interactive Activity)

Food and drink

• How does diabetes affect what you eat?
• Eating foods I like
• Let's Shop - (Interactive Activity)

Let's Shop activity (above) : This activity allows you to browse supermarket shelves and choose items to put in your trolley. When you have finished your shopping, go to the checkout to find out more about the nutritional content of your trolley.

• How do you cope with special circumstances and eating out?
• Alcohol
• What can you drink?
• How much should you drink?
• Special Side Effects
• Choosing from a menu - which foods are best (interactive activity)
• Eating healthy foods -In the kitchen - (Interactive Activity)

In the kitchen activity (above): Learn which foods support your well-being by using this interactive activity.

Taking insulin

• How do to an injection (with pen and syringe)
• Where should I inject?
• How many injections?
• Storing Insulin
• High blood sugars
• 1n which circumstances do your blood sugar levels go up?
• What is high blood sugar?
• What are the symptoms?
• Why do high blood sugars matter?
• Can you tell when your blood sugar levels go up and does it worry you?

Reducing high blood sugar levels

• How would you cope? Choose what you would do in the following situations:
  
  Special occasion | Cold and Sore Throat | Missing Exercise | Taking Exercise | Rising test results (Interactive Activity)

   

• What does it feel like when you have a hypo?
• What are the symptoms?
• Are you frightened of hypos?
• Common causes of hypos
• Some common triggers and choose what you would do in these circumstances:
  
  playing with children | alcohol | exercise | missing a snack/meal | sex | too much insulin (Interactive Activity)
  

   

How do you cope with hypos?

• What should you eat?
• Minimising problems with hypos:
• Identification & glucose
• Social events
• Sports
• Driving
• Dangerous Jobs
• What do you tell others to do if you have a hypo?
• What others should do
• What is it like being with someone who is having a hypo?
• Glucagon
• Night-time hypos - What should you do?
• Do you have hypos without any warning signs?
• Temporary loss of symptoms
• Longer term problems
• Consider new strategies for dealing with hypos.
  

Complications

• Are you worried about getting complications later on?
• What are diabetes complications?
• Eyes
• Lungs
• Digestive system
• Kidneys
• Sexual organs
• Circulation
• Nervous System
• Feet
• Muscles Skin
• Joints Brain
• Heart & Blood pressure
• Bladder
• What can go wrong? What can I do?
• Available medical care and treatment

Information about aspects of living with diabetes

• Exercise and Sport
• Dentist
• Hospital
• Jobs
• Parties
• Family life
• Insurance
• Driving
• Alcohol
• Take-away Food
• ID cards
• Holidays, Travel

Diabetes and Pregnancy

• Was it difficult to control your diabetes during pregnancy? - Video Clips of other's experience
• Planning a Pregnancy
• What contraception can I use?
• Can I have children?
• Will it take me longer to get pregnant?
• Why should I plan a pregnancy?
• Will I have more hypos and will they harm the baby?
• During Pregnancy - The birth and the first few weeks
• Will I have a normal birth?
• What will happen to my diabetes during the birth?
• Can I breast feed my baby?

Cost of each programme: £19