I have type 2.
I was diagnosed in 1999, 3 months after my father passed away. I was working shifts and looking after him whilst he slowly died of cancer. The doctor stated that it was most probably the cause of severe sleep deprivation and a massive amount of stress looking after my Dad for 6 months, who was at home.
although i have had a couple periods of serious illness (2 abscesses) I have been in the same job since diagnosed. I work shifts at a plastics factory, and yes its hard to control blood glucose levels working shift but if you put the effort in it is achievable.
@Hotlips, Information is the most difficult thing to come by now, not many practices have a diabetic nurse anymore. the main thing is to use the Internet, find out as much as you possible can about it, try different things, cutting stuff out, adding stuff in, never miss your medication and USE this forum.
Search for information on the glycemic index (GI Index) its a list of foods that keep you full for longer and breaks down more slowly in your system. for example if you were to eat 100gms of potato that almost instantly turns into energy or glucose, where as if you ate 100gms of brown pasta, this breaks down and is released as energy over a much longer period of time.
search the net for high, medium and low carb contents and use it to balance meals out, as a rule you can pretty much eat any vegetables but need to keep an eye on carbs like bread, potatoes, Pasta etc.
Its a very complex subject, not all things work the same for all of us because our metabolisms are all different.