My friends T1

[grg1]

Hi guys
I have a bit of a problem with a friend at work who was diagnosed with T1 last November.I have no issues with people with diabetes, my Dad has T2,so let me give you a brief history on my friend.

He is 31,single, works on the night-shift and has no family connection with diabetes apart from a cousin 2 or 3 time removed

Pre-November he was smoking 30-35 cigerettes a day, drinking AT LEAST 4 litres of sugary Coke a day, binge drinking, eating processed foods and takeaways and starving himself for the rest of the month because he had spent all of hes money on the above within 2-3 weeks of getting paid. I know T1 is not related to lifestyle but looking at what he put hes body through,.....? :?:

Last November we noticed that he wasnt well, was tired all the time and was drinking more cola than usual. Being the First aider on site, i told him that he should go to the Docs as it looked as though he Diabetes and had better check it out as all the signs were there(tiredness,thirsty,weeing alot and blurry eyesight).Hes Doctor told him to buy some Iron tablets"That should do the trick"!!!!!!!Needless to say he done what the Doctor told him then ended up in the A&E 4 days later after hes Mum found him on the floor having a Hypo!

He is still smoking 30 a day,eating sandwiches out of packets and microwave meals that look like dog vomit and still borrowing money to buy food as he has spent all of hes after week2. We are only a small team of 4 on the shift which means we have an extra 25% extra work load sometimes as he is always in a "Hypo" or "Hyper" and has to eat or rest for hours at a time. We also pick him up pick him up or drop him off so he can get into work costing us an extra 25 miles each time and cannot even charge him for petrol as hes never got any money! A classic example was last night when he had only been at work for 30 minutes when he had a "Hypo", he at a microwave meal,slept for 3 hours then woke up and checked hes levels which were 2.4 so he had to take off another hour to eat and wait until hes levels went above 5. Thats 4 hours out of a 8 hour shift that we had to do hes work for him.
i know i look like im moaning but its getting to the point where the other lads are getting exsausted and finding it hard to keep on paying for him and covering hes work load when he blames hes Diabetes or says "My Bad" when he keeps cocking up. The company recently made 750 people redundent and are looking at our shift to make further cuts. We all have families.
He says he visits the Docs but does not seem to be coping.
Any advice would be great
Thanks

 

[sweetLea]

I am not sure what you are asking us. I'm a bit confused. Are you asking if you should send him to hospital next time he has a hypo and then sleeps for 5 hours? Or are you asking if there is anything you can do to help him? Or if you should sack him?
Could you clarify a bit please? We can try and help you a bit more then.

 

[Tricki]

To help him you really need to make sure he tests regularly to help prevent blood sugars going too low.

Its possible the amounts of insulin he is taking may need adjusting, or that he might be overcompensating for highs which is easy to do when you are new to it. (and even after) There are a lot of things that can make your blood sugars go up and down, including your own body, so mistakes are frequent till you get the hang of it. His lifestyle is probably making it more difficult for him, but its not all his fault, it is often hard to get control even at the best of times.

He doesn't need to worry too much about going a little high, as long as it doesn't make him feel ill, and he doesn't have ketones in his system, he can work on lowering them carefully when it is a better time, such as less stress or work that could drop him too low.

It is possible that the hypos could be making him weak, dizzy or confused etc, - 2.4 is defiantly the sort of level that could do that, and he might take a while to recover. But unless there is some other reason why he needs extra time, several hours seems a little much to me, he might be OK without such a long time if kept an eye on and he keeps an eye on his blood sugar levels. You didn't say what kind of work you do, but if it is using machinery or anything else that requires attention then he is probably somewhat justified, as confusion and lack of concentration are often a problem, but a doctor would be better to advise.

As long as he takes enough fast acting sugar to get his blood sugars up to safe levels, then has something to eat that will help keep his levels up and tests after to make sure he has taken enough to stop dropping further he should be OK. I'd probably test every couple of hours if I were in that situation, its better to suffer a few more pinpricks than needed than going into an hypo. And in his case, the less chance of him losing his job because of it.

4 months isn't a long time to get used to having such a complicated and life threatening disease - its not surprising he's having it tough. He may need to learn more about it and how he can better manage it, and then practice what he has learned. The anxiety about going to high or too low can cause you to over do things as well, so he might need to slow down a little and be conservative over correcting his blood sugars. Even if he is talking to his Diabetic team, its always a good idea to learn a little bit about it yourself, as their time is limited, and you can learn at your own pace, so you could point him to this site, or the library if he hasn't enough cash to go on-line at home. Hope he gets over his rough patch.

You sound like a nice bunch of people to help him out as much as you have, I hope it gets better for you as well.