T1 New Diagnosis :O

Hi and welcome to the forum @evj95

In answer to your question, to throw caution to the wind I'd have a small carby snack before setting off on your walk to work, in time you'll get to know if the snack is needed or not.

Hope all goes well.

Welcome to our forum ebj95 though sorry to hear about your diagnosis.

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Welcome xxx

Hi, @evj95 , welcome aboard!

It's always difficult to give definite advice when someone has been so recently dx'd and we know little about your insulin regime, general sugar levels, whether you're in the honeymoon period yet etc. etc.

But, looking at this longer term, once you've got a bit of experience under your belt and you've got a better idea of how insulin and food and exercise work together, I think it's highly likely that you'd be able to carry on with your normal routine of not eating till the break at 8, if that's what you prefer.

I've never been a fan of breakfast (mainly because I prefer an extra half hour in my kip!), so my routine is kinda similar to yours, get up, go to work, and not have anything till 3 hours later. It's never really caused any problems for me, although I'm at a sit-down job instead of a walking around one, so that's maybe a difference you'll have to think about.

I assume you'll be on a basal/bolus regime, slow acting insulin for background needs and fast acting insulin for meals. One of the things you'll learn about is how to get the amount of basal background slow acting insulin right. It might not be that easy in these early days, because you might have a thing called the honeymoon period come along which can makes things unpredictable.

But if you get the basal background insulin sorted out ok, you've got quite a lot of flexibility to delay meals till later so saving breakfast till your break should be fine once you're more familiar with things.

Just to give an example, I had a day at work recently where we unexpectedly had to get some stuff sorted out to meet deadlines, so I'd gotten up, no breakfast, worked through without lunch, didn't eat till 6pm. So that was basically a whole day without food, but because my basal was ok, it was do-able.

But, like I say, you'll learn that sort of stuff over time. Before you go back to work, it might be an idea to have a practice run by getting up and more or less pretending you're at work and seeing how you get by for four hours without food to get some clues as to how it pans out.

Remember to keep hypo treatments close by when you're at work, preferably in your pockets or at a nearby desk or counter or whatever. You'd be surprised at the number of newbies who carefully take lucozade, glucojuice, glucotabs, jelly babies to work, then leave them in the staff room locker two floors down! You don't want to find yourself having to hunt down fast sugar if you're levels are dropping.

Best of luck!

Hi @evj95

I'd ask to carry glucose tablets on me. If you can't leave the shop floor to test, you might also want a place to keep your meter so you can test during your shift if necessary.

evj95 said:

Cheers for the advice. Going to have to do some rooting around the shops to see what I would like to snack on in mornings before returning to throw caution to the wind!

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Fruits good, how about an apple or banana, or perhaps an oat-bar.

evj95 said:

As I work in a major supermarket brand, we aren't supposed to have any personal items on us on the shop floor, as management think that we picked it up off the shelves and are attempting to steal. I suppose I could always carry change around in my pockets so I could grab something quickly off the floor when hypo'ing. But I think the best thing to do is to speak to management about this as we are suspect to random searches during shift.

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Speak with HR or the Store Manager and explain that you need to carry fast-acting glucose on you at all times, a responsible employer will understand and should allow you to carry some around with you, Glucotabs and Glucojuice are good and work fast.
.

Hi @evj95. Welcome to the forum. You've got some great advice from everyone.
Now I'm not certain what I'm going to say is still correct, things change, but I was told on my DAFNE course that they will only put you on the course after a set period of time. 2 yrs after diagnosis so that it was more likely you won't be in the honeymoon period. This may have changed but you may just want to check.
Good luck with everything.

therower said:

Hi @evj95. Welcome to the forum. You've got some great advice from everyone.
Now I'm not certain what I'm going to say is still correct, things change, but I was told on my DAFNE course that they will only put you on the course after a set period of time. 2 yrs after diagnosis so that it was more likely you won't be in the honeymoon period. This may have changed but you may just want to check.
Good luck with everything.

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This is still true in my experience - at my last appointment it was mentioned they wanted me to have been diagnosed at least a year before DAFNE. The BERTIE online course gets a few mentions on the forum as being good so may be a viable alternative before being eligible?

Hi there @evj95
as an employer they need to make "reasonable adjustment" to allow for you in the work environment.
carrying glucose with you at all times ( as all of us type 1's do -- or should do ) is that exact sort of circumstance.

and HI !! welcome to the forum too !!

all the best !!
x

evj95 said:

It is the other department managers that I feel may be a problem as any manager is allowed to do the staff searches and some can be right up their own bums about the no personal items rule. Once got told off as I came off my break and forgot to put my phone back in my locker! Honestly don't feel like having to tell them all constantly that I need to have it close by, not the opposite end of the shop in a locker when I'm shaking like mad because I'm so low.

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Hi @evj95 ,

Welcome to the forum..!

OK? The subject of security searches.. If you wear a belt? Use one of those belt clip camera sized little bags. (Preferably colour coordinated with your uniform.?)
This will contain your meter & hypo treatment..
Following security "protocol" when going on the shop floor, aproach the duty manager & show em the bag & say "this is what I'm entering the shop floor with. It's for my diabetes."
They may be interested at first to get a grasp on what the little bag contains.. But the novelty will soon wear off for em come turn out...!

Good luck.

Hi @evj95. That's it - just wanted to say hi. Hi.

evj95 said:

Sorry, forgot to add my regime in. Yes I am on a basal/bolus regime. Taking at the moment 7 units of Novorapid for meal times as waiting for a referral to the local DAFNE course to start getting my head around the carb counting stuff then will be able to adjust for what I'm eating, and taking 15 units of Lantus at night for the long acting insulin. I also presume that I am in the honeymoon period.

With this I am seeing that I am rarely seeing above 9 mmol/l at all during the day and rarely having hypo's at the moment, lowest one was 1.7 mmol/l and scared the **** out of me. But on a normal day I wouldn't drop below 4.3 mmol/l. So I think I have a good handle at the moment, but that will all change I bet.

As I work in a major supermarket brand, we aren't supposed to have any personal items on us on the shop floor, as management think that we picked it up off the shelves and are attempting to steal. I suppose I could always carry change around in my pockets so I could grab something quickly off the floor when hypo'ing. But I think the best thing to do is to speak to management about this as we are suspect to random searches during shift.

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Hello evj95

I also work for one of the major supermarkets, but in the distribution depot. They have been spot on with me and they have to make reasonable adjustments for our condition. It's all in a disability act or something. I was diagnosed mid June and im still on a phased return, until next week when I go back full time.

I am allowed to go for my breaks a little earlier to test myself etc. Allowed to keep any food stuff or drinks near by, but I just carry these on me. Im also not allowed to work alone as the depot is quite big so I cannot be on my own too far from anyone.

I have everything in writing, I won't even have any action against me if im off sick, as the occupational health nurse has put in his report about my immune system etc.

If I was you I would ask to see the HR dept and see if you can see the companies nurse. They cannot stop you from carrying potential life saving products.

Good luck.

evj95 said:

I have a stash of the gluco tablets in my day to day bag already - Never opened one and tried them yet! but they may be the best thing to just keep in my jacket pocket for work as they are smaller, more compact than a bag of sweets.

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The good thing about Glucotabs is the container that they come in, the tube is quite sturdy so the tabs don't end up crumbling in your pockets or bag, some other fast-acting glucose just come in paper wrappers and are destroyed in no time.

evj95 said:

It is the other department managers that I feel may be a problem as any manager is allowed to do the staff searches and some can be right up their own bums about the no personal items rule.

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Don't worry about that, it's the responsibility of HR and the General Manager to inform all Dept Managers that you have a medical need that requires you to carry some glucose, so when you see either of them ask if they'll inform all relevant personnel.

evj95 said:

@noblehead The packaging of the Glucotabs was one of the main reasons I decided to pick three tubes up rather than some other products, easier to carry around in a bag full of medical stuff that could easily rip and squash the others and I don't want to be having to clean out my bag every five minutes because of that.

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When the Glucotabs run low just purchase them again but buy the 50 tab container, it works out a lot cheaper than buying the 10 tabs individually and you can just refill your current 10 tab tube, that's what I do and it saves a pound or two