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Bad hypo at work...

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Garthion

Garthion

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Right, first off I'll tell you that I've calmed down somewhat, you'll have to read on to see why I've put that 😉

My working day starts at half six(ish) and usually finishes at 1pm, though not today as I worked an hour over, all fine normally, but only if I have enough carbs during my 15 min break.

Today I thought I'd had more than enough carbs, a sausage and bacon bap, packet of crisps and one creme egg (bad I know, but I like them too much) and injected 12 units of novorapid. Anyhow it seems that I miscalculated a bit (or a lot!) and at half 1 my BG fell rapidly, I did a check which showed 2.7, my reaction was to go and have a sweet tea (no gluco tabs with me stupidly :( ) the only problem was that I was "forced" to cover on the till by one of my colleagues before I could have any sugar, I quite litteraly hit the roof but was still forced to go on the till, I was stuck there for nearly 15 minutes with my BG getting ever lower, and my adreal gland working overtime making adrenalin just to keep me conscious, this was making my temper much worse to the point that I started swearing on the till about the other member of staff, espescially after she had come to the till to serve a few people and I'd asked if I could go and have some sugar and she'd just walked off ignoring me. I ended up getting the assistant manager to make her stay on the till so I could have the tea, but no sooner had I made it than she called me back, to say I was fuming is an understatement. By the time I eventually managed to get off of the till again and check my BG it had fallen to 1.2, how I managed to stay conscious is probably due to the adrenaline in me. I drank my cup of tea (3 spoonfuls of sugar) with one of the staff from our food to go department near me, she made sure I was OK before she went back to work. I started feeling better quuite quickly (by five to two) and sat down, as I did so my adrenaline ebbed and I put my head in my hands and cried. It is the first time a hypo has caused this reaction, and deffinately the lowest I have gone while still remaining conscious. It took me the entire walk home (30 mins) to calm down (I finished at 2) but I still felt drained emotionally at 5, and only now am I feeling like I won't cry again, also have one serios headache.

I did explain to my colleague that if my BG goes low that it could prove potentially fatal, and that in that kind of instance MY health comes first, not someone's insistence that I do something else. She didn't care! Luckily I'm still here but I'm getting ever closer to quitting that job, I feel it is making me ill again :( and not for the first time either!
 
Poor you..

I think that you do need to discuss this with your manager, to ensure that there isn't a repeat performance, when you say I'm hypo you go and sort it out...

Don't let it get to you as her behaviour was disgusting..

If it ever happens again, just walk off to treat your hypo leave her to it if necessary an empty till.. Know she complain to your manager but you will have in your hands your BG meter to prove you were hypo! Guess who will get into trouble she will...

If the manager suggest that sacking might happen, just tell him try it and I have you for unfair dismissal!
 
Hi Dale that sounds like an awful experience.

First your employer is responsible for your health and safety at work - and making you work whilst badly hypo is ridiculous - and they would have been responsible if something happened to you or the customers because of your hypo. Do you have a HR department that you can speak to? Is there an company Dr or nurse who could speak to these people and explain. If not get in touch with your DSN and ask them to write a letter on hospital headed paper - to explain what could have happened - make copies and get your company to read it. I think that is what I would do - but hopefully one of the members who work in HR can give you advice grounded in the law.
 
Take this matter up with your manager or company personnel department, failing that complain to head office to make sure this doesn't happen again. Under the circumstances you should have ignored the request to go on the till and treated your hypo immediately, once you felt fine you could then explain to your colleague why you turn down their request. As long as the company are aware of your diabetes and understand that you need to eat when necessary then I can't see a problem why your colleague shouldn't be reprimanded for their behaviour.
 
what a bad day must have been for you and i will report the collegue that force you to stay on the till
 
How awful is that ? No-one should ever have that happen. Do they know you are Diabetic, and did you make it clear when you started that this might happen. in any case any normal person would know that a hypo needs treating NOW, not in half an hour!!! I would write a letter of complaint to your Personnel dept, it's them who are in the wrong - not you!!! Oh I'd be angry too, quite rightly so, and the tears? well... that's just human nature.
 
Sounds awful. Glad you made it through OK. Might have changed your colleagues outlook if you had collapsed or begun to fit (perfectly possible with the numbers you are talking about).

Has your DSN ever recommended that you always keep some fast acting carbs with you? It was suggested to me at DX and I've had a little tin in my pocket ever since. Just big enough to fit in 4 cafe style sachets of sugar. You should certainly have been allowed to go and sort yourself out, but the ability to sort myself out any time any where I've begun to feel my levels dropping has got me out of a hole more than once.

Good luck with whoever you take this to. It needs sorting.
 
Dale, I'm very sorry this happened to you. It shows just how good a worker you are that despite everything you tried to carry on - but you should never have had to! How diificult would it have been to allow you a couple of minutes to just get some sugar down you? Would they have made you stay at the till if you were pouring blood from a gaping wound? No, they wouldn't. This is outrageous and it needs to be made very clear to this person just how much danger they were placing your life in. Thankfully, you managed to hold it together and treat yourself eventually, but what if you had lost the ability to reason? Would they have known what to do?

A dreadful experience, I'm just very thankful that you got through it and have recovered - hope the headache goes soon. Take care 🙂
 
Oh, that is just horrible. the problem is, you have no reserves to fight arguments, or make a good reason, and it's so much easier just to do what you are told when that low.

Is this shop a small one, or is there someone 'over' these two who you can make a statement to? I think you have BIG grounds for complaint - as said above, you could have come to harm, fallen and hit your head, anything.

I feel quite angry on your behalf!
 
You poor thing, that's unacceptable and needs to be fully discussed with whoever is in charge to say that if ever this happens again you will be treating the hypo and that's that. I cried in the street today cos of a 2nd hypo, imagine this, sitting on a bench eating jelly babies and Thorntons clearance chocolates and crying! Not a good thing really. But you're not on your own.xx
 
Ellie Jones said:
Poor you..

I think that you do need to discuss this with your manager, to ensure that there isn't a repeat performance, when you say I'm hypo you go and sort it out...

Don't let it get to you as her behaviour was disgusting..

If it ever happens again, just walk off to treat your hypo leave her to it if necessary an empty till.. Know she complain to your manager but you will have in your hands your BG meter to prove you were hypo! Guess who will get into trouble she will...

If the manager suggest that sacking might happen, just tell him try it and I have you for unfair dismissal!
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. Your health is of the utmost importance, never mind covering a till. I trust you have one or more first aiders in your workplace who know how to treat a hypo.

If your manager suggests that you be sacked, it's not just unfair dismissal. It's DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION which is illegal.
 
Hi Dale,

So sorry to here of your troubles here.

First of can I suggest you contact your HR department and report the incident, explain everything to them exactly how things happened. It might be easier to go speak to them, but have a written report ready of events. They should respond and ask what action you want to take and give you options.

1. Informal greavance - This will probably be a face to face meeting with the person who has caused you the problem.
2. Formal Greavence - HR will investigate and get written statements all necessary people involved and witnesses. (if you want more info on this I can send you an email in private - PM me)

Take which ever you feel comfortable with. But also I would suggest that your HR department go one step further with your permission and issue a memo to all staff on Diabetes and what can or cant happen and how you should be treated and helped etc - I'd go so far as to write the report yourself, be as open as you feel comfortable with in it. I have done this for myself and everyone who works with me knows how to treat me should I have a hypo at work, were the orange juice is stored and glucostabs are stored. Even go so far as giving your first aiders on site your glucotabs etc.

I know somethimes as diabetics we dont want everyone knowing our business, but I think this approach keeps everyone well informed and helps to keep us safe in the work place.

If I can help you any more, like I said before pm. No one should feel like they have to give up work because of some people who dont think or dont know or understand.

Hope this helps

Di x
 
Dale - WOW! 1.2 was seriously low (my lowest ever was 1.4 and I felt dreadful at the time) so quite how you kept going is beyond me.
As everybody else has said, you have to take appropriate action if you feel that you are going low - sitting at a till would not have been an option for me - but then I'm older and far more beligerent than you, by the sounds of things. 😱

Agree with all previous posts, with regard to what you ought to do when you are back at work - you must not be put in that position again.
I think Northey's point about what would have happened if you were gushing blood would be a good analogy to use with your manager/supervisor. Would they seriouisly prefer to deal with a colleague in a diabetic coma? I think not.

Take care of yourself. 😉
 
To all of you guys, and gals 😉

Thank you,

I work for a certain multi national fifty something year old convinience retail company and have a good working relationship with both our area and regional manager, I am going to speak with the store manager on Monday (she has been off this week) at which point I will inform her that I'm making it a formal complaint due to the fact it could have had very severe consequences. If I get reprimanded for the use of expletives while I was on the till during the hypo I will explain what was happening and why I had no mental control of my temper.

Can anyone tell me how many first aiders there should be in a work place? And also what do you do if the ONLY first aider is the casualty (as that is in fact ME) what makes this so bad is one of the members of staff who had a go (the one who was on the till but wanted her break) has a tendency to tell me how to manage my diabetes, saying things about diet and excercise that are not even suitable for T2 let alone T1 and constantly tells me I can not eat ANY sugar what so ever, she is a fair bit older than me and doesn't listen when I say that I know my own body better than she does. I'm going to include that in my formal complaint too as it is a form of discrimination as well as bullying.

My head has stopped pounding now, just a dull ache that I have never been able to get rid of.

I will say this, I came within a hair's breadth of walking out today, if it hadn't been for my Assistant Manager and the food to go assistant, I would have, and then only gone back to speak with the Store manager on Monday about it. I've got tomorrow off so I'm going to chill out but I'll also write my complaint down so there is written proof of my complaint. This one will not be dropped.
 
chrismbee said:
Dale - WOW! 1.2 was seriously low (my lowest ever was 1.4 and I felt dreadful at the time) so quite how you kept going is beyond me.
As everybody else has said, you have to take appropriate action if you feel that you are going low - sitting at a till would not have been an option for me - but then I'm older and far more beligerent than you, by the sounds of things. 😱

Agree with all previous posts, with regard to what you ought to do when you are back at work - you must not be put in that position again.
I think Northey's point about what would have happened if you were gushing blood would be a good analogy to use with your manager/supervisor. Would they seriouisly prefer to deal with a colleague in a diabetic coma? I think not.

Take care of yourself. 😉
Click to expand...

I've had a spurting nose bleed and been denied permission to sort it from one supervisor (now gone) before and quite simply just walked out of the shop floor to the toilets and dealt with it, she started having a go until I pointed out the hygiene aspects involved.
 
Hi Dale - take Di up on her offer she works in HR and may be able to help.
 
This is terrible and poor you! As a T2 I get so sick of people treating diabetes as unimportant....and don't get me started on people who haven't a clue thinking they are experts. 😡

I was at a bit of a party about a year ago when a 'friend' was trying to get me to eat a 2nd piece of a very nice cheesecake. I politely declined but she persistantly pushed it under my nose. I reminded her that I'm diabetic and a 2nd portion would push my BG up too high....her reply astounded me. She said she didn't get all the fuss because all we have to do if we get too high is go for a jog, and if we get too low we should suck a Polo mint. Sorted! 😱 Through gritted teeth I told her that the NHS should employ her as diabetes guru as she could save them millions! I still struggle with that particular friendship.

I hope you feel better now and shame on the people concerned. Good luck on Monday. Let us know how you get on. The others have said everything else. 🙂 XXXXX
 
First-aiders is either 1 per 15 or 20 (might be more). I cannot remember exact number of top of my head. Will look later for u. I am one of my companies 2 first-aiders. (we have 20 staff)

How many staff are in the work place at one time ? You probably need to suggest when you are working, there is at least one other first aider.

Good luck with speaking to your manager, putting in a complaint to is a good start. Make sure it is followed up properly.
 
Sorry to hear you had problems Garthion. Potential missed or delayed breaks or unexpected physical exercise is why I always keep sweets in my pockets - sitting here in work uniform, pockets ready for a day running round a country park preparing for orienttering sessions tomorrow, as I type. Although all rangers have first aid training, I'm better able to deal with any hypos than them, usually without them even noticing me eating a few jelly sweets.
As you said "no gluco tabs with me stupidly".
 
HI Garthion,

Sorry for how your work are treating you and so pleased you are taking action. I do believe it is bullying which your management should take very seriously.

Regarding first aiders, there isn't really a hard and fast rule. It all depends on the risk assessment for your company. I understand you work in a shop, so that would be low risk, which probably means less than 25 employees 1 first aider, more than 25 1 first aider but I believe they should have taken the Emergency First Aid at Work course too.

First aid cover should also take into consideration, when that first aider wouldn't be available. eg I am a first aider, but work from home on a Friday, so another first aider takes over then.

Hope this helps.
 
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