Work, Illness and Fatigue

[Dangoo87]

Hello Diabetes forum,

My name is Daniel, I am 25, my last Hba1c was 8.3 (not the best) and I was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic at the age of 21. I lost my job due to a company wide redundancy program in the same year and have been in and out of employment for the past 2 years because of my diabetes control, denial and severe depression. With the support of my parents I sorted myself out and I was seeing my diabetic nurse as frequently as possible to get my life back on track. In October 2011 I managed to get a job in the company I work for now and I have stated that I am a Type 1 diabetic even in my initial interview and have been honest of what it could involve from the get go.

My main concern is that work has started to comment on my time keeping and the time I have off sick.

I live on my own, I own my own property and I commute to work via the bus every day, it takes 2 buses to get there (1hrs 30mins) and usually 3 to get back (1hrs 30mins – 2hrs). This means on top of the 8-9 hours of work I do each day, I have a 3-3.5hour commute to work and back which leaves me with about 4 hours chill out time when I get home and get to bed by 10.30 before I have to be up by 5am the next morning to start this off again. By doing all this I get to work 30-15 minutes early every morning so I can rev-up for the days work but as you can imagine by the time Wednesday comes I am absolutely drained and it takes a toll on my patience, attitude and work.

I have also been put on a work related foundation degree which takes up a lot of time and energy, because of this I have had to cut out pretty much all clubs/activities I have had to manage which I don’t mind because I love my job and I really want this degree.

All of the stress and exhaustion I have been experiencing this past year of employment it has really taken a toll on my health. From past experience I have learnt that if I am ill I better just take the time off work to recover for 1 or 2 days because if I do go into work it will affect my work and it will take me much longer to recover and could lead onto something else (which is most cases it does). Also, if I do feel ill the night before work and I sleep at the usual time I have a tendency to wake up later feeling more exhausted than I did when I went to sleep. This means I miss my bus to work and I have to catch a taxi in which is where the “time keeping” aspect comes in (even if it is only 30 seconds late)

I don’t take a great deal of time off, no more than the average person, but I am the newest member of staff so I suppose it is more noticeable to my superiors.

I would also like to increase my energy levels and lower the chances of me being ill, I would like to think that I have a healthy diet. My normal day comprises of Cereals in the morning (5am) and two rounds of marmite on toast for elevenses (10:30), two pieces of fruit, cheese salad sandwich and crisps for lunch and I cook my own dinner for tea (usually a jacket potato, sausages and salad, some form of pasta or a cottage/shepherds pie). I do snack a bit between a meal which is usually a chocolate bar or a cake at work depending whose birthday it is at the time but I do take insulin to account for it. The diabetic nurse and I have agreed that we will try and get my hba1c down again and that I should try and do more exercise so I have just joined a martial arts club to do 3 hours of training on a Saturday afternoon, I read somewhere that if you do regular exercise it increases your recovery rate and you are healthier in general?

I am starting to feel aggravated about how ignorant my company is towards my type 1 diabetes and I would like to give them information that is easy to understand about and not gobbledygook to them.

I would also like to know if there is any action that I could take just in-case it goes any further as to put my job at risk?

And I would like to know if anyone else has had trouble with employers because of diabetic related incidents?

I really don’t like to hide behind my diabetes as an excuse and I would usually prefer to take the blunt end of the stick because of it. But I think enough is enough, on many occasions I have put MY job in front of MY health and MY health has suffered greatly because of it. This time I have put MY health above MY job and MY job is suffering because of it. Am I really losing an already lost battle against health vs. job? Is there any common ground health and job can agree on? Do I have to put my health on the line as a diabetic survive financially? Will I have to find a job every two years because the companies I work for don't appreciate the hardships I have to go through because of my diabetes?

Edit: I also feel like I am a nuisance to my company because of my diabetes.

Thanks for reading, am I just having a moan or is this actually an issue?

Daniel

 

[Tracey556]

Hi Daniel, I'm a newly diagnosed type 1 and I, like yourself have been putting my work before my health-resulting in my glucose readings have over past 2-3 months steadily rising to the point that over Xmas I was nauseas everyday, making eating a trial then actually vomiting most days! As it was Xmas (our busiest time @ RoyalMail) I felt a duty not to go sick and put pressure on others to do my shifts, so soldiered on until a colleague I was working closely with told me she could see the weight dropping off me everyday and I should see my GP! I admitted defeat and followed her advice and within 30 seconds of walking into GP office she was writing out a sicknote! I didn't realise how dreadful I looked but with the burden of work temp lifted I slept virtually round the clock for first week! Like you, my employers a ignorant of the issues surrounding type 1 diabetes which puts added stress on me which in turn causes my glucose levels to spike. I'm not a lazy person- I have worked since being 15-often with two jobs,but, I would have found it very beneficial(and good for my health!) if after diagnoses I could have taken 2-3 months out to educate myself, attend the 'desmond' and 'hati' courses then put into practice what I've learnt and got my BM readings in range and stable. I, like you would like to know if there are any rights or help for employed people living with a chronic illness??? Hope things improve for you, Daniel-I understand completely what your going thru!

 

[GraceK]

Hi Daniel ... I don't think you're 'hiding behind' your diabetes. It's a serious medical condition and it's about time we diabetics stopped having to pretend that it's a doddle to live with and cope with, especially at work. If we're not honest about how it affects us on an energetic level, others will never understand how it affects our lives on a daily basis. It can be disabling, especially if we're commuting for hours every day BEFORE we even start our working day. I know I would definitely run out of energy if I was bussing for 3 hours a day plus doing my 8 hours. I don't think we do ourselves any favours by trying to live and act and pretend as if diabetes isn't disabling in some way.

If we had a VISIBLE PHYSICAL DISABILITY we'd be helped and assisted to do our jobs. It's the INVISIBILITY of the condition (like depression) that leads us as well as others to MINIMISE it's true effects on our lives.