Me, Me, it was me. Sorry, but I've been away fro the forum for a bit, work, holidays, life, running etc.
Yes, I work offshore for occaisional visits as an HS&E auditor and yes I'm T1.
Diagnosed June 2013, aged 39.
The rules are, essentially;
- stable for 6 months before you can go back offshore
- you only get a one year medical as routine (which I'm going to argue about at tomorrow's renewal)
- you need to have a named platform (in my case named platforms for all of my clients), company doctors need to approve
- medic needs to be informed on the installations and needs to be happy and capable of dealing with hypo and DKA
There may also be specific conditions imposed, such as need to have BG>5.0 when outside of the accomodation. Advisory to also have glucagon with you and also carry more insulin than you expect to need. In my case I carry extra for the pump, also back up basal/bolus and needles, spare meter with ketone capability, good supply of boiled sweets, although there's always the bond as well.
I've had three offshroe visits since I got my medical back last August, with a fair few more lined up, all North Sea so far. A few things I've worked out to make it easier/less stressful.
Remember that you can ask to hand-carry your insulin in the chopper, just in case, for temperature management - I carry pen injectors, spare basal/bolus, spare pump carts, needles, just in case. I also put my BG meter/pump controller in the flight suit pocket along with some boiled sweets
So far, all the medics have been happy where I've gone, and I've had no probs, with the pump attracting some interest.
T2s, I dont think have as hard a time of it in terms of conditions or getting through the medical.