hi there, returned to work on friday, quite a physical job for 4 hours. i was diagnosed as late onset type 1 in jan having presented at casualty with dka,i am a 46 year old woman, have seen similar pattern on a lot of the topics on here.I was discharged with very little knowledge and novomix 30, i take 24 morning,20 evening.i got up at 5am on fri,have to start work at 7.00 finish at 11 and on this occasion i took my insulin after i had finished work, but i have a feeling this is not good.i was scared to take it as even the normal housework i do at home brings my sugar down to 3s and 4s which i feel lousy at.even a quick walk for 10 mins does the same and i find myself having to keep eating to compensate.so friday i was terrified to take my insulin before work as i envisage having to sneak off to the loo and chomp on glucose tablets for 4 hours. i have been really down the last month and for two weeks i just went down the route of not giving a **** and feeling ill as i just ate what i wanted.sugar levels high!!, pulled myself out of the doldrums, realizing killing myself and i feel powerless because i dont know enough to change what i am doing.i was told my insulin from the evening before were for morning, so is it ok to take my insulin after work? i have dropped 2 units morning and evening, i dont know enough to drop anymore and fear sets in,monday morning looms and what i should be looking forward to is turning into a nightmare, any comments or advice would help, i feel im finished for good as will it always be hit or miss with this illness,, ps nurse at diabetic hosp never rang back :!:
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back to work worried
- Thread starter tabatha63
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hi there, returned to work on friday, quite a physical job for 4 hours. i was diagnosed as late onset type 1 in jan having presented at casualty with dka,i am a 46 year old woman, have seen similar pattern on a lot of the topics on here.I was discharged with very little knowledge and novomix 30, i take 24 morning,20 evening.i got up at 5am on fri,have to start work at 7.00 finish at 11 and on this occasion i took my insulin after i had finished work, but i have a feeling this is not good.i was scared to take it as even the normal housework i do at home brings my sugar down to 3s and 4s which i feel lousy at.even a quick walk for 10 mins does the same and i find myself having to keep eating to compensate.so friday i was terrified to take my insulin before work as i envisage having to sneak off to the loo and chomp on glucose tablets for 4 hours. i have been really down the last month and for two weeks i just went down the route of not giving a **** and feeling ill as i just ate what i wanted.sugar levels high!!, pulled myself out of the doldrums, realizing killing myself and i feel powerless because i dont know enough to change what i am doing.i was told my insulin from the evening before were for morning, so is it ok to take my insulin after work? i have dropped 2 units morning and evening, i dont know enough to drop anymore and fear sets in,monday morning looms and what i should be looking forward to is turning into a nightmare, any comments or advice would help, i feel im finished for good as will it always be hit or miss with this illness,, ps nurse at diabetic hosp never rang back :!:Hello there and welcome to this forum 
I appreciate your concern over going hypo at work and being worried about using insulin but unfortunately you do need to inject twice daily insulin before you go to work or directly when you get to work. If you dont and leave doing the injection until mid morning when you get home, your bg levels will be fairly high as you have found out.
As you say that you go low fairly quickly, it does sort of sound that you either giving yourself a bit too much insulin in the morning or you are not eating enough carbohydrate. With biphasic insulins (twice a day stuff) you do need to remember to eat some carb every 2 - 2.5hrs in order for it to balance up your bg levels, but how much you need to eat can only be determined by doing bg tests with your meter. Really, and truely, a DSN or dietitian should have explained all this to you before you left hospital.
Do you know at all what target bg levels you should be aiming for?
I appreciate your concern over going hypo at work and being worried about using insulin but unfortunately you do need to inject twice daily insulin before you go to work or directly when you get to work. If you dont and leave doing the injection until mid morning when you get home, your bg levels will be fairly high as you have found out.
As you say that you go low fairly quickly, it does sort of sound that you either giving yourself a bit too much insulin in the morning or you are not eating enough carbohydrate. With biphasic insulins (twice a day stuff) you do need to remember to eat some carb every 2 - 2.5hrs in order for it to balance up your bg levels, but how much you need to eat can only be determined by doing bg tests with your meter. Really, and truely, a DSN or dietitian should have explained all this to you before you left hospital.
Do you know at all what target bg levels you should be aiming for?
hanadr
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I would have said you need to reduce your insulin dose. Topping up the carbs to keep up with insulin is likely to lead to the weight gain spiral. Discuss this with your care team , remind them you have a physical job. If you work odd hours, you might ask them to consider Basal/bolus or MDI for you. Your insulin regime wouldn't then be dominating your days.
thanks so much for replies,this site has been so helpful and have learned a lot just reading the other posts and replies. will go directly to diabetic clinic to discuss reducing insulin, and as advised i will take insulin pre work on monday morning. havnt really been told anything, didnt know my insulin was "biphasic" and it would be good to eat small amount of carb every 2/3 hrs,thank you hanahdr and iHs,will try and top up with carb whilst at work, the easy way would be to take it mid morning but probably be causing more harm than good in the long run. my bs levels should be 5/8 morning and two hours after eating but as i said before if i do hoovering and bits of housework or walk to my bus stop,get on bus and get off and walk to shops, im then 4s and 3s and find myself heading to nearest shop to get sugar based something or stopping housework to eat, and i have been eating before i start and or leave out. been getting very down and frustrated.I dont think the hospitals give enough in depth info to people and are giving info that just skimms the surface of a very deep and complex pool. this site is more informative!!!
will go directly to diabetic clinic to discuss reducing insulin, and as advised i will take insulin pre work on monday morning. havnt really been told anything, didnt know my insulin was "biphasic" and it would be good to eat small amount of carb every 2/3 hrs,thank you hanahdr and iHs,will try and top up with carb whilst at work, the easy way would be to take it mid morning but probably be causing more harm than good in the long run. my bs levels should be 5/8 morning and two hours after eating but as i said before if i do hoovering and bits of housework or walk to my bus stop,get on bus and get off and walk to shops, im then 4s and 3s and find myself heading to nearest shop to get sugar based something or stopping housework to eat, and i have been eating before i start and or leave out. been getting very down and frustrated.I dont think the hospitals give enough in depth info to people and are giving info that just skimms the surface of a very deep and complex pool. this site is more informative!!!lilibet
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Hi
Your insulin doses are clearly too high for you. If you find it difficult to eat at work and have more carbs then I suggest you do keep cutting your doses or what you might find (im sorry to say) is that with the constant eating and snacking, plus hypo snacking, that you might start to put weight on, as well as feeling rubbish in general with the rollercoaster.Im on premixed insulin, biphasic,and do ok on it but am just waiting for my pancreas to go fully t**s up before I move to a different regime
In essence the two phases of your insulin cover first meal of the day (bfast) and then lunch
Tea time injection covers tea time (you will most likely need to eat supper) and then overnight needs when you are sleeping
Try to take it at the same time, dont every skip doses and dont take it too late as you will need to get an idea of what is going on overnight. I know its lots to take it in but you will feel better for it
It will take a bit of time to work out what it does for you/to you but as you learn you will prevent it from happening so if hypos occur just before lunch time, then make sure your mid morning snack helps prevent this and so on. Still, I would consider a reduction on insulin.
I agree with the others though, your care and treatment has been scandalous. No one should be left to deal on their own with insulin in the first wee while.
Hope things go ok
copepod
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Tabatha
You need more support / advice from your diabetes team, which is currently letting you down. Were you asked about your lifestyle before being prescribed Novomix 30? As you mention a physical job, which presumably means less physical activity on non-working days (?), you might find that the adaptability of a basal bolus regime (basal = long acting, usually at bedtime, but sometimes split into 1 dose at night & 1 in morning; bolus = short acting, with each meal, can be varied for time and content of meal) more convenient. One other point - as you body has got used to higher blood sugar levels, you will feel "hypo" when not actually too low - this will gradually right itself; in the meatime, best to test before eating.
You need more support / advice from your diabetes team, which is currently letting you down. Were you asked about your lifestyle before being prescribed Novomix 30? As you mention a physical job, which presumably means less physical activity on non-working days (?), you might find that the adaptability of a basal bolus regime (basal = long acting, usually at bedtime, but sometimes split into 1 dose at night & 1 in morning; bolus = short acting, with each meal, can be varied for time and content of meal) more convenient. One other point - as you body has got used to higher blood sugar levels, you will feel "hypo" when not actually too low - this will gradually right itself; in the meatime, best to test before eating.
