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Type 1 and physical night shifts

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PeteM2020

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Afternoon all.

I have type 1 diabetes which I manage with split dose of Levemir for basal, and Novorapid for bolus. Work is very physical, lots of heavy lifting and lots of sweating.

Until now it has all been day work, however tomorrow night we are working 9pm to 6am on main road. We also have another 2 weeks of night works lined up on a motorway.

I use Freestyle Libre so can keep an eye on trends in glucose levels.

If anyone has any info on what to expect and advice on how to deal with this please let me know. I'm a little bit apprehensive!
 
Hi @PeteM2020 🙂

I’ve worked nights occasionally. It wasn’t a particularly physical job but I was expecting to go low (being more active than sleeping). However, I actually went high. I put this down to the stress on my body of being awake at night. I guess it put out hormones that raised my blood sugar.

So, assume nothing! Take plenty of snacks and hypo treatments, but also be prepared to run a little high. All you can do is watch your Libre and react. After the first night, you should have a better idea of how you’re going to react for the following nights.
 
Thank you Inka. I'll go with the flow and see how it goes. My work mate is aware of my diabetes and is good at prompting me if he thinks I need to eat so hopefully all will be good.
 
Most regular night shift workers say that most folk get an attack of the munchies in the early hours - which is medically, the time when most un diabetic folk have their natural lowest BG. Husband who was on permanent nights at the Jag (in Coventry) agrees with this completely although he didn't know why that happened until after he and I got together (both married to other people then)
 
Hi ,

I used to work into the night so used to eat a heavy carb meal before work to try to keep me tied over until the morning. I would suggest eating when you get breaks and check BG regularly to avoid any problems. Also tell the people around you. so they will have an understanding if you say you do not feel well.
 
Hope it goes well @PeteM2020

Might be worth reducing your evening Levemir dose so that you have less basal running overnight if you find you are having to eat lots of carbs to keep your BG up?

You could also reduce the dose of your evening meal - though that may not be needed depending on when your shift starts (and whether it is 4-5 hours after your last meal)
 
Thank you everybody for your advice. Everything went well. I hard a large low carb early evening mean and used a smaller than usual dose of Novorapid. Evening Levemir I kept the same as usual due to having reduced from 15 to 10 units a month ago.

I took a sandwich, some boerewors sausage, some fruit, some High5 glucose gels and a flask of coffee with me.

I made frequent use of Libre sensor. And I BG stayed between 5 and 7mmol/l for the whole night. Pretty happy with that and feel a lot more confident for next time.

It was a great job; we were drilling a borehole in the middle of the A21 at Hastings.
 
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