Lost Control

[StephersJones]

I have had Type 1 diabetes (Lada) for 4 years.. I had fantastic control of my blood sugars until I started back to work 1 year ago. I lost all routine, stopped eating well, stopped exercising and and my general mental health decreased. I don't know how to get back to where I was.. any tips are helpful.. I'm fed up with noone understanding

 

[Knikki]

First off have a hug.

OK Work can be a pain, however you own the diabetes not the other way around.

You have been in a good place once before so there is no reason why you can't get there again

First off:
Why did everything go to pot when you returned to work?
Does work not understand about diabetes?
Exercise could be as simple as walking up and down stairs (assuming your in a building that has them, go out for a walk round the block at lunch time, house work (not meant to be sexist in anyway as others have pointed out that vacuuming, cleaning the house, windows etc can bring down BSL)
Food, what foods are you eating, home made, bought from shop?
Do you see your DSN?

Apologies for the spelling mistakes and not sure if the above helps but might be something to think about

OOPS Also forgot Welcome to the Forum

 

[Juicyj]

Hi @StephersJones Welcome to the forum

When things slip it's best to go back to basics, start with keeping a diary or recording your results each day so record bg level, carbs eaten and insulin taken at which time.

By keeping a diary you can start to see some patterns with your daily control which will help with adjustments. It can be hard at times trying to juggle many balls with control, work, exercise etc, so focus on your testing, take it one day at a time, don't judge yourself on the past, if you can try and fit in a walk or some exercise then this will be an instant help mentally.

 

[StephersJones]

Everything went to pot because I literally have no time. Up at 6.30 get kids up and out to Crèche then travel to work. Then not back home to 6.30. so instead of cooking it's ready meals or fast food. I used to attend a slimming club which helped me control my food as I like to have something to keep me on track, but again with work I can't go to classes. Yea I have started to record everything again as I had just ignored it for so long. I wasn't even checking my blood sugars and just taking what I thought was enough insulin

 

[EllieM]

OK, lots of virtual hugs. The first thing to know is that you are not alone. Many/most of us T1s have been where you are at some point in their lives. It's very easy to fall off the diabetic wagon but you have to remember that it's a marathon and not a sprint (oops, sorry for the tacky metaphors) and there's absolutely no point in agonising about poor control and possible long term complications when the most important thing is to get back in control of your diabetes and your life. (Sorry, you haven't said you're worried about complications but I know that's the first thing that comes to mind for me when I worry about T1 and less than stellar blood sugars.) As @Knikki said, you've done it before so you know it's possible to manage your diabetes.

1) Do you have any friends/family/other T1s that you can talk to in real life. (I was lucky in that my mother was T1 so my family were always very understanding).
2) Getting back on that wagon. Some of the things that people do when things go wrong is miss injections/stop testing/stop going to clinic/ stop caring about matching insulin to carbs. (When I was a school age teen I used to spend Wednesday evenings in the library and have a milkshake and a doughnut before going in - this was pre glucometers but I am 100% sure that my blood sugar went sky high after that "snack" and I just didn't think about it.) So, make an appointment with your DN and take in your food/insulin/activity diary as suggested by @Juicyj. I'm hoping you've been taught to modify your insulin doses but if not then now is a good time to ask for help (everyone seems to swear by DAPHNE courses).
3) Work. Is there anyone you can talk to at work about your diabetes? Or are you hiding it? I personally found it very helpful for everyone to know about my T1 (in one job with a small company one of my colleagues was also a T1!), just so that they knew about hypos.

Good luck. You can do it. As your blood sugars improve so should your mental health.

 

[EllieM]

Everything went to pot because I literally have no time. Up at 6.30 get kids up and out to Crèche then travel to work. Then not back home to 6.30. so instead of cooking it's ready meals or fast food. I used to attend a slimming club which helped me control my food as I like to have something to keep me on track, but again with work I can't go to classes. Yea I have started to record everything again as I had just ignored it for so long. I wasn't even checking my blood sugars and just taking what I thought was enough insulin

Could you afford to self fund a libre? That would take a lot of time stress out of testing.

 

[StephersJones]

Unfortunately I am the only person in my family with type 1. At work everyone knows. I am very open with telling people as I don't think I should have to hide it although I think they don't see it as a serious condition. i will have to get in contact with my DN as that bit of support might be what I need. I have been offered DAFNE course twice and couldn't get time off work and have regretted not going since. Hopefully will get on one soon.

 

[leahkian]

Have you not got a partner to help out with the children or maybe a family member who could watch the children for a couple of hours so you could do swimming? Did you tell the people at work that you wanted the time off to go on a diabetic course as by law not letting you go they are stopping you getting the help you need that would also benefit them as well. You will find that people who do not have or someone close to them has diabetes have the impression that diabetes is where you are not allowed sugar or you are fat, due to the papers and the news always showing people who are over weight. When you contact your DNS ask her if she has any information that you could take to work even if it is what to do if you have a hypo, no diabetic should have to hide diabetes from anyone but i do know from personal experience that if you have time off due to your diabetes and they need to cut jobs diabetics are normally high on the list. I was working for a company for 3 years and was trained to do more jobs than anyone else but when the cuts came round my name was on the list, so i told them that i was taking them to court. I got 6 months more work then was let go but they called me back 6 months later to ask if i would go back. As far as losing control i think most diabetics do the same at some point as you try to make every thing work and diabetes says you can not and getting back into good habits is hard. You need to go back to basics maybe get up 15 minutes early have breakfast do your blood, lunch time have something healthy and a bit of a walk and what i do being a single dad off 2 is when i make curry or soup is i make twice as much as i need and freeze the rest. I also got some exercise from my GP through the well being program and all can be done with a chair and take about 15 mins to do but you can do more if you want. I suffer from depression, low mood and anxiety and have done since i was 18 so 24 years now, you have a very busy life and diabetes and sometimes you will get depressed. You need to give yourself a break and see where there is a chance of changing your day just a little bit so you have time for yourself, it is all well and good working, being a mother and coping with everything else but if you keep trying to live this way something will give in the end. I do hope you get the help you need and deserve as i admire the way you are trying to keep everything in check but sometimes a little help can go a long way.

 

[Knikki]

Hi @StephersJones as a stop gap to the DAFNE course have a look at "bertie online" it is guide to carb counting and there is a list that can be downloaded to help.

I am newish to carb counting (they don't do DAFNE in my area at the moment) but have found bertie online rather interesting and useful.

Something else that might help is many of use an app called MySugr, it is away of recording insulin, carbs and many other things. It is free, there is a paid bit which I think gets more info and a website where things are uploaded to.

It is rather fun to use and an interesting way to track things.