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Anxious at work
- Thread starter Niamh1
- Start Date
Marie 2
Well-Known Member
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- Type of diabetes
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It's possible that you have a diabetic team you can contact for help or a Diabetic educator that can give you guidance.
A CGM really helps.I wished I had aimed to get one when I was working.
But in case this helps..........
I am retired now so I can have a lot more control now than when I was working. When I was newer to insulin at first and working I felt better aiming for higher numbers. I had had very little guidance as I was misdiagnosed and still trying to figure out what I needed and when. I wasn't even warned about lows. As time went on I got better at it. That's the thing, when you are newer to type 1, you still make some insulin for a while and it can be erratic. And you haven't always figured out yet what activity does that you need to allow for. But getting more comfortable with knowing what dosing you need will give you piece of mind to what levels you need to be at. Eating too much to stay too high will mean you won't ever figure it out well and probably will stay anxious and keep eating too much.
So what I did is pick a larger range that's okay to be in at work and aimed to be in that range. Probably higher than what you aim for at home. After you get better at it, you can start to narrow that range or lower it, the first trick is just learning to stay in that range.. So at the beginning you can aim for a higher and wider range, if you stay higher than that, make a small adjustment to lower it a little more, always make small adjustments. If you are dropping too much, make an adjustment with less insulin. Keep in mind it's better when you are learning to trend higher than trend too low, especially at work. Plus your activity level at work can play a part in what dosing and levels you need to be at. Construction work means you will burn more carbs and need less insulin than sitting at a desk.
Always carry a hypo treatment. ***** bears are 2 carbs each. Glucose tabs range about 2 carbs I think too. I carried a vegan candy bar (peanuts and caramel) to take bites (4-8 carbs) if I was having a persistent trending lower as it was better at the longer lasting boost.
A CGM really helps.I wished I had aimed to get one when I was working.
But in case this helps..........
I am retired now so I can have a lot more control now than when I was working. When I was newer to insulin at first and working I felt better aiming for higher numbers. I had had very little guidance as I was misdiagnosed and still trying to figure out what I needed and when. I wasn't even warned about lows. As time went on I got better at it. That's the thing, when you are newer to type 1, you still make some insulin for a while and it can be erratic. And you haven't always figured out yet what activity does that you need to allow for. But getting more comfortable with knowing what dosing you need will give you piece of mind to what levels you need to be at. Eating too much to stay too high will mean you won't ever figure it out well and probably will stay anxious and keep eating too much.
So what I did is pick a larger range that's okay to be in at work and aimed to be in that range. Probably higher than what you aim for at home. After you get better at it, you can start to narrow that range or lower it, the first trick is just learning to stay in that range.. So at the beginning you can aim for a higher and wider range, if you stay higher than that, make a small adjustment to lower it a little more, always make small adjustments. If you are dropping too much, make an adjustment with less insulin. Keep in mind it's better when you are learning to trend higher than trend too low, especially at work. Plus your activity level at work can play a part in what dosing and levels you need to be at. Construction work means you will burn more carbs and need less insulin than sitting at a desk.
Always carry a hypo treatment. ***** bears are 2 carbs each. Glucose tabs range about 2 carbs I think too. I carried a vegan candy bar (peanuts and caramel) to take bites (4-8 carbs) if I was having a persistent trending lower as it was better at the longer lasting boost.
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Hi @Niamh I'm sorry you suffer from hypo anxiety.
I second @Marie 2 's suggestion that you ask your team for a cgm.
Assuming you are in the UK you should qualify for a libre, which I believe can be set to give you alarms if you go to a certain level, so that should ease your anxiety a lot. (My dexcom goes off at 4.4 so I can take glucose before I go hypo.)
Good luck
I second @Marie 2 's suggestion that you ask your team for a cgm.
Assuming you are in the UK you should qualify for a libre, which I believe can be set to give you alarms if you go to a certain level, so that should ease your anxiety a lot. (My dexcom goes off at 4.4 so I can take glucose before I go hypo.)
Good luck
