T2 and shiftwork

To be honest, Paul, if you're type 2 then it may pay you to not eat regularly. The more time your body spends with a lower circulating insulin concentration, the better. That's a generalisation of course, and I don't pretend to know what will suit you or your health best. I'm currently in a similar work situation where I can't easily come by any quality food during my work time, so I'm doing OMAD (one meal a day). Eating at ~19:00 without having eaten a morsel during the daytime. But I am in dietary ketosis through a virtually zero-carb diet, so I simply don't get hungry very often.

You can't do an insulin resistant liver any better favours than eating only once per day. But of course when you do eat, you have to choose foods that allow you to not eat without becoming hungry and miserable.

I keep an empty strip tub for used strips. To be honest I don't change my Lancet often so changing at home would be ok.

Eat then you get up and again when you get home - follow a low carb diet and the stress will seem far less - stressful, at least that is what I found.
You might like to take some coffee and cream with you for a few moments relaxation at some point, if that is possible, but I find eating more than twice a day is unnecessary.

Your profile says you are just on Metformin? Yes?
If that is the case, your tablets don’t need to be timed precisely, and their blood glucose impact is much longer term than affecting a single meal.

There is no necessity for type 2 diabetics to eat regularly, or top up with snacks between meals.

Just follow the instructions for taking Metformin that are on the Patient Information leaflet that came in the box (which says don’t take Metformin on an empty stomach)
Eat when/if hungry, and take on board that carbs => glucose in the blood, so reducing the carb intake will result in lower blood glucose.

If you change your lancet every test you'll be the first diabetic I know who actually does!

I do - but I test very rarely these days, and in happier times I play various musical instruments - I don't want to take even the slightest chance - trying to play at speed for dancing with an inflamed finger would not help at all.

Paul-H said:

Well, events have changed and I may not be returning to work.
My wife has severe COPD, has been identified as highly vulnerable and is therefore isolating for 12 weeks and we're having to observe the 'shielding' guidelines. At home are myself, my wife, my daughter who's 24 and her fiance who's 26.
My daughter is studying for her Masters degree and her uni (Coventry) shut down pretty quickly so she's at home 24/7 anyway. Her fiance works in the banking sector and works from home so he's also home 24/7 and my wife doesn't work.
My boss initially said that after the 14 day isolation period I need to return to work. However, I called NHS 111 to question if that was right and was told emphatically no. We must *all* isolate for 12 weeks and only go out for essentials like shopping and thats it.
My GP was really helpful and just referred me to the NHS website.
So, we're now self isolating until June or we're told otherwise.
My wifes health comes before any job.
My boss isn't happy but I told her we can discuss it when I return to work.

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Hi Paul, all I would say is get that advice/instruction in writing if you can because what you have described is not my interpretation of the govt guidelines (although I am no expert). The reason I say this is because your Employer may well be reading those same guidelines as we speak and may be wondering why you are not going into work.

Your wife is shielding (that's straightforward - at home for 12 weeks), the govt advice states that the family (living in the household) of those shielding do NOT have to shield but should follow the guidelines for 'social distancing' (which you would be doing as a diabetic anyway). The social distancing states only go out for certain reasons, such as food shopping/exercise and to 'work from home' IF you are able to. That's where the issue might arise with your work, IF they say you cannot work from home (ie it is impossible for whatever reason) then you are on a sticky wicket by simply saying 'I'm not coming in'. Obviously if you have decided not to go in due to looking after/protecting your wife, that is admirable.

The confusion seems to arise with what you have been told by your Boss about '14 days isolation', THAT is when you or your family are showing Covid symptoms - nothing to do with shielding/social distancing as such. As for the NHS helpline saying you must ALL 'self isolate' for 12 weeks, well that's not what is on the govt website, the website refers to social distancing and the bit about only going out for certain reasons, etc, yes 'shopping' is on the list but so is the 'work from home IF able' bit. Obviously you could argue that you as a diabetic must follow it stringently especially with a wife who is shielding but as I said be very careful about the 'not going to work' aspect because your work may not accept that and it could have a negative impact for you? What work do you do by the way?

These problems arise because none of the Professionals or work Employers or NHS etc, can get it right and keep saying different things and using different terms that mean different things! 'Isolation' means what you do when you have symptoms, 'social distancing' means only going out for certain reasons, 'shielding' means staying in at all times with a letter from your Dr. Hope this helps. x

Hi My husband is shielding and I had to show work his shielding letter, which meant that I work from home for 12 weeks. This started only last week. My own gp will not give a letter for me despite my HbA1c being 80 very recently and my being a keyworker. Other people have been at home for weeks with no underlying health issues and some with underlying such as diabetes. It is very hit and miss and quite dangerous so you have to look out for yourself.