Is it hard for you to keep track of your bloodsugar and eating at proper times while working at the same time?
I am a teacher, and have been very fortunate. My administration has been very supportive and do whatever they can to make sure my needs are being met. I am fortunate to stay so busy at work, that I really don’t have time to snack. I have made time to eat my small snacks between meals, but that’s usually between classes, so even then, I don’t have a lot of time. One thing that I can say about my job is, my bosses have made it easy for those of us with special needs. When they create the master schedule, they do everything in their power to make sure the schedule gives us time to test, eat, and even sit down and rest for a few minutes. I can’t speak for all educators, but I am very fortunate and I thank my lucky stars nightly!!!
Renee,
Please be encouraged. Even people with type 1 diabetes on insulin pumps may be police officers. Tell your son to work hard on getting good blood sugar control and he can do and be anything he wants. It just takes a little extra preparation and work.
I am a registered nurse and started working 12 hour shifts. It was difficult but my co workers were always very concerned and accommodating to whatever my needs are. No I am the inpatient diabetes educator at the hospital known by all the staff and pretty much set my own schedule. I really thank God for using my diabetes to be able to help others.
No, it isn’t a problem at all…I’m a fitness trainer and exercise coach who works mostly with people who have diabetes. So when my clients run a test during a workout, I test as well. And even among my clients who don’t have diabetes, they’re all still very accepting, if I need to test and treat a low or high blood sugar.
Before I became a fitness trainer, my employers always gave me time to test and eat as necessary. Sometimes I had to let them know about my diabetes and also that I would need to test and/or eat at certain times, but they never seemed to mind. About 10 years ago, I worked in a library and I recall the assistant manager making it very clear during a staff meeting that lunchtime for me was a non-negotiable. It wasn’t uncommon for various library staff members to switch assignments for certain hours of the day. So she basically told them never to ask me to switch assignments between 11 and 12 noon, because that was when I absolutely needed to eat.
My work requires travel and when i am not travelling I work from my home office. I am lucky in that I have a lot of control over my diet, exercise and blood checks. No problem with my test kit when going through security at airports. I do have a challege sometimes with food in airports so I always carry nuts and raisins.
Jim
I’m not working right now, but I’m a lawyer and sometimes work long, stressful hours with frequent meetings and deadlines to meet. I can’t say whether my job suits diabetes, but rather, it contributed to it because of the sedentary office lifestyle. Which makes me wonder, do you think stress from your job (or family or finance, etc) contributed to developing T2?
I am a nurse who works 12 hr shifts plus call which sometimes turns into 16 hr shift. We get lunch somewhere between 12 and 2pm. Anything after that is pure luck. We are only assured one meal break. I often don’t eat until I get home, somewhere between 8p to 11p. You can grab something quick. This is one reason why my pump works better for me than long acting insulin. If I don’t get to eat, I just go on basil. Eating late makes my evening sugars high and puts on pounds also
I work from home as a CCS for DirecTV satellite service.
My schedule is pretty normal most of the time except in our “busy season”
they do know I need breaks and such to check my blood sugar and to find sugar or glucose tabs to raise it if needed.
I’m a pumper so I don’t always eat at the same times.
Hi Kat,
My doc told me stress, genes, weight, and a lack of exercise are some of the factors that may lead to T2. I know when I was taken ill and was tested I had my own stress factory going strong. During that time both of my kids were just becoming self supporting adults and I was worried sick about their future, etc. It is a parent thing! Type As( stress producers like me) often create internal stress when there is no outside or objective sources. I do it to myself.
With the genes I have and the streess my T2 surfaced. I have always been physically active( runner and biking), none drinker, none smoker,but i have been stocky from my addiction to carbs. It seems my body does not use sugars as well as othera might. That explains my stocky build even through I worked out a lot.
to conclude, there is no one thing.
Jim
I do light programming with AT&T, and am more likely then not stuck behind a desk for eight hours a day. My co-workers and managers are all aware that I’m diabetic and have no problem with me testing, dosing and eating when I need to.
I’m a restaurant manager. Testing and treating is not my problem but the food is. Friday & Saturday nights we have samples of the specials so that the servers can better describe and sell them. It’s hard when new desserts come in or the chef makes a new pasta dish! I have many food police around me that truly keep me in line, my favorite is this one girl who just looks at me and if I’m ready to eat something I really shouldn’t she truly makes me feel guilty and I stop. Some of the others are real obnoxious about it.
I’m a lawyer and spend most of my day sitting at a desk, often with my various supplies strewn about. I have no problems with testing, getting my glucose or even changing my pump infusion sets – all I need to do is close the door. I consider myself very lucky in this respect.
I am a self-employed CPA, do a lot of tax returns in late Jan-mid April. and during that time my meal times tend to vary, as well as my work hours. Not unusual for me to be at work for 13-14 hours a day during tax season. I do have the ability to sneak a snack whenever I need it, though.
Also a Southern Baptist minister. Means that I spend a lot of time in and around hospitals with people having surgery and other needs. Biggest issue with that is when I get invited to somebodies house for a meal or invited to go out to lunch or after church and picking the right foods to eat.
Checking blood sugar, though, thank goodness, is not a major issue. I can do that whenever I need to.
I work in catering, it can be a hectic schedule and there aren’t really any meal breaks, we usually stop and eat after an event ends. but my supervisors know i’m diabetic, and one of my supervisors is diabetic, so they make sure i eat and take bgs when i need to
yes. I’m a dancer/choreographer. It’s extremely difficult for me to monitor my blood sugar while working. But I do my best.
I work in utlization review. My job is great and I don’t have any problems testing my bg’s. I have been BLESSED because every job I’ve had is related to the health care industry some way:)
Not at all…and I work in medicine. I go to various facilities to work. This is all I can find right now, as tech jobs are very tight. Not hundreds of jobs for us like nurses.
They schedule me very heavy, because the site wants their money’s worth. I start at 7am and go sometimes to 5pm or 6pm without a break. A patient is scheduled every half hour, nonstop.
I have been keeping big bottles of water and things to eat FAST such as peanuts (no sugar), salmon or tuna in pop top cans, canned green beans in pop top cans, walnuts, almonds. I eat while I do the paperwork or waiting for the computer to load images and I multitask, and eating now is one of them. I simply cannot go from 5:30am when I leave the house till 6pm or later when I get home.
Like others here, it feels crunchy to have to do this and I have had jobs where I had to fight for my lunch. And to all the people who say it’s against the law for an employer not to give you lunch, balderdash…they do it all the time, and if you want to complain, in this tight economy, they will let you go, since most states are “at will” and do not require a reason to fire you, and find someone else.
Kat, I think stress contributes to the manifestation of many diseases, diabetes included.
Good for you! I know exactly what you are talking about. We can work our proverbial butts off for them, but when we need to take a medication or a break, we are treated like bad children.
It is all BS that employers care about the health of their workers. They care about the money.
And this is why we need to write to our elected representatives and tell them that TAXPAYING AMERICAN WORKERS are not represented and have no protection on the job.
We are human beings, for pete’s sake, not robots. Or as one bean counter put it “human capital”…makes me ill.