Type 2, Occupational Health, and reasonable adjustments

[Amyfaith]

What actual blood sugar numbers would you get? Why can’t you have a meal at 1130 on this day and say 12:00 another day?

I wouldn’t be able to eat at 11:30 - it would be 11 at the latest, as I prefer not to eat on the hoof and need time to get to my actual teaching spot. And the issue is not the 11am lunch, it’s the 8-9 hour gap between that and dinner. The starting BS would be mid-6s, push me up to almost 10, which is way higher than I ever get normally, and make me uncomfortably tired and leave me unable to perform properly. I would then drop fairly dramatically over the many, many hours between that meal and my eventual dinner, and then rise again, messing with my post-dinner numbers and again my fasting numbers the next day.

diabetes control your life by having to ask for adjustments that should be completely unnecessary.

Alternatively: I’m using it to get a much better schedule which I - and my students - would prefer anyway even if I wasn’t keeping tabs on my blood sugar levels.

And, as I and others have said here repeatedly, there is evidence mealtime spacing and consistency is important. I’m not saying it must be like 12:38 everyday or the sky will fall. I just like it somewhere between 12 and 1:30ish, or I get grouchy, hungry, and weird for days. I know what works best for me.

 

[JimmyBlue]

There is also a legal requirement to provide someone who works more than 6 hours per day with a minimum 20 minute break. The break cannot be at the start or end of the day. Providing the gap between between 12 and 3 is the most logical suggestion as it aligns with the circadian rhythms of the body and is when the majority of people tend to eat lunch.
The break should also allow the person to be able to sit away from their workstation, if they have one, and there should be no obligation to work during the period.

 

[JimG]

I know loads of T1s in real life. Not one of them has adjustments at work to eat at set times.

But the original post is not Type 1.

 

[Lucyr]

spot. And the issue is not the 11am lunch, it’s the 8-9 hour gap between that and dinner.

You could snack after the class and before dinner eg at 4pm

 

[Lucyr]

But the original post is not Type 1.

Type 1 can have hypos unlike diet controlled type 2 and so breaks to eat are more relevant to type 1

 

[JimG]

Type 1 can have hypos unlike diet controlled type 2 and so breaks to eat are more relevant to type 1

Not so. Regular eating is not to avoid hypos unless you are on a medication that can cause hypos but to control the blood sugar levels preventing highs and lows. It is not being controlled by diabetes but is controlling diabetes.

 

[Lucyr]

Regular eating is not to avoid hypos unless you are on a medication that can cause hypos but to control the blood sugar levels preventing highs and lows

diet controlled type 2 cannot get hypos that you need to eat to fix

Diet controlled type 2 that need to eat to prevent liver releasing glucose can eat a snack to prevent this it doesn’t have to be a sit down full meal at a certain time

 

[JimG]

diet controlled type 2 cannot get hypos that you need to eat to fix

Diet controlled type 2 that need to eat to prevent liver releasing glucose can eat a snack to prevent this it doesn’t have to be a sit down full meal at a certain time

Please read my post properly. I said that diet controlled was not to avoid hypos. It has nothing to do with hypos. I would also not be happy if I was in the class being taught where the lecturer/teacher was snacking and, when I was lecturing I would never have dreamt of eating in front of the class.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

diet controlled type 2 cannot get hypos that you need to eat to fix

Diet controlled type 2 that need to eat to prevent liver releasing glucose can eat a snack to prevent this it doesn’t have to be a sit down full meal at a certain time

I think it’s just one of those situations where different things help (or appeal) to different people @Lucyr

It may not make sense for your autism in purely logical terms, but as the banner at the top of the forum says, different people manage their diabetes differently.

And @Amyfaith ’s employers are happy to accommodate this request. Which is a good thing.

When I worked full time, my company was understanding about me needing time off for clinic appointments (without having to book them as annual leave). They were understanding about hypo treatment time too. But the deadline-driven nature of the work meant I would sometimes work through lunch, or late into the evening, and my diabetes had to fit around that.

 

[Standup]

I'm not currently working but the arrangements I had with my previous employer about my diabetes were basically around flexibility whether this was late starts because I'd been woken continuously by CGM alarms or time of for medical appointments (without using leave). Fortunately as a generally remote worker snacking and meals weren't really a problem. In Zoom/Teams meetings I did occasionally have to munch on jelly babies or excuse myself to inject but nobody seemed too concerned and made a change from getting up to take an Amazon delivery.

I did have a pause on travel while I got the hang of things and international travel was tricky because of medical insurance although that wasn't purely the diabetes.