Diabetes and college deadlines

[katelynnmcbeth]

Hi I'm Kate, totally new here... Enjoying roaming around picking up wee tips and tricks.
Just wanted to see if anyone else is in my boat, cause I'm stressed to the max... I'm struggling with a lot of my college work at the moment, I am being given task after task, which given the college timetable, these must be done at home... My lecturer refuses to believe the stress I am under because of the workload + diabetes.
I've been diabetic near 5 years now and have struggled since day one, it's only now that I am starting to get to grips (it's been one year since my last dka wooo)
Anyway, I struggle to stay awake or concentrate on work at home after a long day as my bloods are not the greatest, a few times now I've fallen asleep without eating correctly and missing my injections! Thus missing deadlines.
I know the best cure for this is to sort out my bloods (Rome wasn't built in a day, I'm trying) but I just wanted to know surly I'm not the only one? X

 

[urbanracer]

Welcome to the forums @katelynnmcbeth , you're not the only one and don't call me Shirley. (Sorry, couldn't resist).

 

[Scott-C]

don't call me Shirley. (Sorry, couldn't resist)

An old one, but still a good one! Youngsters will be scratching their heads (until they google it).

 

[EllsKBells]

@katelynnmcbeth hi and welcome to the forum you are a long way from the only one, I am in absolutely the same boat at the moment. Third year of university, loads of deadlines looming, and my pancreas and I are at war. Have you at any point sat down with your lecturer, as in actually arranged a meeting to talk about what having diabetes involves? Or, have you asked someone from your diabetes team to write a letter to the aforementioned muppet to educate them on just how much hard work living with this can be?

Be kind to yourself. I know it feels like you are drowning in work, but working so hard that you end up falling asleep without eating/doing your injections just means that you setting yourself up into a vicious cycle.

 

[Freema]

welcome here katelynnmcbeth

 

[katelynnmcbeth]

@katelynnmcbeth hi and welcome to the forum you are a long way from the only one, I am in absolutely the same boat at the moment. Third year of university, loads of deadlines looming, and my pancreas and I are at war. Have you at any point sat down with your lecturer, as in actually arranged a meeting to talk about what having diabetes involves? Or, have you asked someone from your diabetes team to write a letter to the aforementioned muppet to educate them on just how much hard work living with this can be?

Be kind to yourself. I know it feels like you are drowning in work, but working so hard that you end up falling asleep without eating/doing your injections just means that you setting yourself up into a vicious cycle.

Hi ellskbells, thank you! I've had a casual sit down with my lecturer and tried to explain however she didn't seem to understand no matter how much I explained, I get the feeling they just think I'm incredibly lazy and try get off doing the work (not the case at all) but I am hesitant to take it much further as I was told "if it is too much to handle then I'd advise you to leave" and yes I can see her point in saying that but I refuse to let diabetes run my life! X

 

[BrianTheElder]

Welcome to the forums @katelynnmcbeth , you're not the only one and don't call me Shirley. (Sorry, couldn't resist).

I think she called you surly!

 

[urbanracer]

I think she called you surly!

......well, when my blood sugars are high, I can't help it!

 

[Diakat]

It's a long time since I was at uni but I recall deadlines bein a week or two from assignment, not 24hrs so I would think that even if you are having a rough time blood wise you still have time to complete them.
If your numbers are playing up then the sleepiness is natural and you need to work on injecting and testing.
This is your future both educationally and health wise.

 

[Pipp]

The university or college will have a support service. Any student with a disability or long term health condition can have their needs assessed, and if necessary a statement of needs drawn up, which could include extra time for exams, and concessions on assignment deadlines. Without this, lecturers won't know students' individual needs. They do tend to get a lot of students trying to get extra time for other reasons, so not really fair to blame them if you haven't taken responsibility to ensure you have been assessed by student support service, and have a support agreement in place. I would contact student support and ask advice, rather than fall out with teaching staff.

 

[JamesC1]

Hello, welcome to the forum. It's a shame that your lecturer doesn't really understand, in all fairness they probably get quite a few people trying to get extra time or some form of special treatment. As Pipp said, you should probably speak to your college's support service or someone that's in charge of medical related stuff.

I hope you get it all sorted quickly.

 

[Scott-C]

Hi I'm Kate, totally new here... Enjoying roaming around picking up wee tips and tricks.
Just wanted to see if anyone else is in my boat, cause I'm stressed to the max... I'm struggling with a lot of my college work at the moment, I am being given task after task, which given the college timetable, these must be done at home... My lecturer refuses to believe the stress I am under because of the workload + diabetes.
I've been diabetic near 5 years now and have struggled since day one, it's only now that I am starting to get to grips (it's been one year since my last dka wooo)
Anyway, I struggle to stay awake or concentrate on work at home after a long day as my bloods are not the greatest, a few times now I've fallen asleep without eating correctly and missing my injections! Thus missing deadlines.
I know the best cure for this is to sort out my bloods (Rome wasn't built in a day, I'm trying) but I just wanted to know surly I'm not the only one? X

@katelynnmcbeth , your profile says you're from Falkirk. I really can't help you with you with the horror of living in Falkirk! I've got a few memories of a bad split-up in the Hole in the Wall bar there. Is it still open?

I'm just taking the ****, I'm Scottish too, just along the road in Edinburgh, so it's required by law. I'm going to tag in @GrantGam seeing as he's Scottish as well, and gives good practical advice to people, and we'll see if we can figure out a way to sort your problem.

You've more or less said that your BS are out of control. That isn't the college's problem (but see below where I qualify that). It's a self treated condition where you need to learn the rules. But the problem is that the docs have probably just skimmed over the rules. You're a T1: your doctors should have told you that, generally, 1u lowers by 2 to 3, and 10 g raises by 2 to 3. Tell them that you want you to go on a DAFNE course. There's a long waiting list, but it told me a lot, even after almost 30 years of T1.

The Equality Act 2010 requires adjustments to be made for conditions like T1. If your lecturer isn't listening, step it up a bit and take it to their boss, and then to the HR department, who'll generally be more clued up about being sued in court about this sort of thing.

You look young in your avatar pic. This might sound harsh but it is true: if you f*** around with T1 and don't pay any attention to levels and run your bloods too high for too long, there's a fair chance you'll end up blind. Seeing stories about young T1s who went blind after 5 years was a huge motivating factor for me when I was first dx'd. Sure, it's a constant hassle but it's do-able if you take the time. Almost 30 years in, I've no eye problems, and I'd like you to pitch in here in 30 years time on a very old thread and say the same.

 

[GrantGam]

Thanks for the tag @Scott-C, there's not really much more I can add mind you - you've done a pretty good job covering most of the stuff

@katelynnmcbeth, welcome to the forum

You've been a diabetic for 5 years now and it's always been poorly controlled. Why do you think that is? It's critical that you answer this question honestly, as the reasoning for your poor diabetes control over the past half decade is what we need to sort out - and unless you answer that truthfully - we can't sort it...

I'd get this book, and when I say I would get this book - I mean you really NEED to get it. You will learn so much between this forum and this one little book that literally costs a few quid:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B06XCDTPP1/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

There's a whole host of techniques, procedures, routines and regimes out there that you can adopt and adapt to get rock solid control. I think it's of little use writing a massive post talking about the more advanced methods to tighten control, when you're yet to get the basic foundations built... What I would do in your position, is arrange an appointment with your DSN - go and see him/her with 4-6 weeks worth of BG logs and a food diary. With the assistance of your DSN, you can start laying down the foundations for tight control and start your improvement from there.

Once you've got all the walls built, then we can start building you a roof like the one on the Sistine Chapel

 

[desidiabulum]

Speaking from the perspective of the lecturer (albeit with diabetes of my own), I always mentally group my T1 students along with those who are also talented musicians or sportspeople -- that is, you all need to be much more mature and in control of your lives than other students, planning time, anticipating deadlines, giving yourselves time to recover. That can be difficult if you are attracted by the supposed student lifestyle of disorganized excess, but no successful students really live like that. The more you plan your time at university, the more you get out of it. If you explain to your tutor the extra planning that has to go into all of your days - and that you have to build in time to recover from hypos and hypers which all T1s will suffer no matter how good their control - and the disproportionate impact that stress has on diabetics, then they should show understanding, and extensions should be granted under 'exceptional circumstances' as necessary. Talk to the university support services by all means, but my advice would be to use the extra demands of university life as your wake-up call to try to take more effective personal control of your diabetes. That would be one of the best things that you could take away from your time at university. Good luck!