Stress at work

[Pipsqueak]

Hi,

I wanted to find out how stress at work affects other type 1s? I have been working as a project manager in the creative industry for 2 years or so. I'm 30, have a good hba1c of 7.0 but frequently get stressed at work which causes me to have high blood sugars around the mid teens, which insulin correction doses don't seem to effect.

My high blood sugars mean I can't focus, I forget things, can't prioritise etc. which unfortunately are the key points to my job. I've recently changed jobs and had a total disaster covering for a colleague on holiday, and am so upset about the issues I've caused. And even worse I just ant remember half of what happened!

Does anyone else have these kinds of issues, or idiot just me?

Hoping for some advice,

Thanks

[Mileana]

I don't have a very stressful job at the moment, freelancing and volunteering.

I do however on occasions have mood blips which can cause me significant discomfort (stress, anxiety etc) and those have similar effects on blood sugar. I'm bipolar, so once that takes a turn for the worse, I certainly have all odd hormones kicking around.

I can't entirely say what is the hen and the egg though when it comes to memory and cognitive functions - stress over a longer period of time has been known to have some of the same effects. Lacking ability to prioritize, memory fails, doing everything at the same time or nothing at all.

I think it is normally accepted that stress and illness have a negative effect on your insulin sensivity - that has to do with stress hormones etc, and to some degree I think you could think of it as a permanent state of dawn phenomena if you're familiar with that.

Good luck getting things straightened out again - always orrible when things get out of hand and you have to own up to it, figure it out and forgive yourself. That is something I am very familiar with, heh. Take care.

-M

[glucosegirl]

The hormones that you produce when you are stressed raise blood glucose and can also cause insulin resistance which may be why they don't come down after you have taken insulin. I have exactly the same problem when I am stressed.

[Elc1112]

Hiya,

I have quite a stressful job and it does have an impact on my sugar levels. Part of this is just the fact that stress causes my sugars to become a bit erratic, and part of it is because I just don't tend to eat properly when I am under a lot of stress.

It doesn't affect my memory or anything, but it can definitely cloud my judgement. Having erratic sugars then makes me tired, which makes me more stressed and then makes my sugars even more erratic etc.

I find that exercise, a hot bath and a good nights sleep help to destress me at least temporarily (until it's time to go back to work again lol).

It's definitely not just you. In fact, I'm kinda glad I am not the only one!

Em

[Pipsqueak]

Glad I'm not the only one too!

Obviously my job shouldn't affect my health, and my health shouldn't affect my job - but it's just not that simple to deal with.

They've said to me why didn't I ask for help, but with blood sugars of 16 or so, it's just not that clear to me at the time of what to do. It's difficult trying to explain it to people without becoming upset as well.

Thanks for your responses, it's really useful to have other type 1s views. I think I'm defiantly getting more of a build up of insulin resistance when stressed and during the mornings. As sometimes my blood sugars will crash as soon as I'm on the train home.

[noblehead]

They've said to me why didn't I ask for help

Take the help if you can get it Pips, stress does play havoc with bg control and whilst my work is not particularly stressful there are occasions when I see a considerable rise.......one of which is lately when teaching my son to drive!

Good luck and hope you get things sorted.