Airport Security

I hate it.

I hated it long before I had to deal with diabetes supplies, liquid restrictions and taking shoes off (athlete’s foot anyone???).  Now I really hate it, to the point that I stand back and watch the ridiculous ceremony that is getting on a flight and reflect on what this means about humanity today. I mean really, did you see the video of the 6 year old getting a pat down???

Ok I swear this rant has a point.

This weekend I flew home for Easter.  Getting there was no big deal; I’ve learned that if I take off all pieces of metal (earrings, necklace, zippers, pump clip) that I can walk through most metal detectors safely with my pump. One kind security person told me that those machines measure cumulative metal, so the less you have the more likely a pump can go through.  Luckily there were two lines, one sending people through the Xray machine thingy (I’m scared to take my pump through), and one through the old metal detectors. So I just kept myself to the Left and passed through with no problems.  Coming back, however, the metal detector was set on very sensitive, and I didn’t make it through.

“Female assist in line 1”

Bummer.  I tried to be nice, warning the lady that my bag was heavy, and explaining that I had an insulin pump in my bra.

“Can’t you move it to your hip or something?”

At the time the pump was in my bra and inset was in my thigh.  It was conveniently wrapped twice around my bra strap and once through my underwear, and the inset was taped down securely cuz it was my last one and I had already almost pulled it out.  

“Not without taking my clothes off.”

“Well you need to wear those on your hip next time”

Struggle Bus

This last week or two has been a challenge. Between final papers, oral presentations and looming final examinations, I’ve been catching up with my friends before we go our separate ways and travelling to job interview.  What’s missing in this description of life??? Three major things: 1) exercise 2) food 3) diabetes.  Result??? Bad diet, no exercise, ear infection = bad blood sugar.

Struggle bus.

Ever remember Ms Frizzle and the magic school bus??? My absolute favorite is when the kid eats the bus like a Cheeto and the class learns about inside the body.  Well, along the same lines, when on the stressed out, sleep and exercise deprived and carb loaded struggle bus, there are lots of bodily changes too. Lets take a look.

1)      Stress: increased cortico steroids in your system (adrenaline) cause your body to increase glycogen production from your liver to help your body survive the stress. Result? Higher blood sugar.

2)      Sleep deprivation: leads to more time to eat, as well as increased stress hormones. Also puts me in a bad mood and takes me straight to the nearest coffeepot.  Caffeine= higher blood sugar.

3)      Lack of exercise:  I try and get out regularly, so not getting out and working out makes my body less sensitive to insulin and increases my insulin need, or if I don’t increase that it just raises blood sugars.

All of this is not boding well for my next A1c draw.  Besides that, increased blood sugars has been tied to decreased memory and cognition, making all that hard work you are doing less relevant.

Thank you Ms Frizzle.  How is this going to change what I’m doing??

So in order to turn around the last two weeks of my semester, I’m going to focus on getting at least 30 minutes of exercise every day, try to eat identifiable meals (and count the carbs) instead of mindlessly grazing on whatever is sitting around (or being handed out for free). And try to limit the caffeine and drink more water.

I challenge all of you out there to take a second and evaluate how stress affects your blood sugar control and come up with 2 or 3 concrete ways to manage your diabetes in the midst of the end of semester stress…

 -J

Job Interviews & Diabetes

Alright…so last week I talked about highlighting people with diabetes…but I was sitting in a lecture for class this week about interviewing and employment laws. This really made me think about my life with diabetes and how I’m going to find a job that works with me.  I strongly believe that diabetes shouldn’t stop me (or anyone for that matter) from doing whatever I want to do.  Being well educated, thinking things through and having a backup plan is the key to succeeding at just about anything. So if I know I can make anything work, why am I a bit anxious about mentioning the ‘D’ in an interview??? My guess is I’m not alone in these thoughts, so this week I’m going to highlight issues about getting a job with diabetes and provide some answers I’ve found.

1.       Things that are protected by law from discrimination, firing and harassment: Age, race, color, sex, religion, veterans status, national origin, citizenship, disability (physical or mental), genetic identity, sexual orientation (in some states, not federally) and marital status (by state). 

a.       Employers are not allowed to ask about these things in an interview.  If you bring up the topic, they can only ask about it as to if it will affect your ability to perform essential job skills.

b.      These characteristics are protected under separate laws, each is a little different, but the majority apply to companies that employ more than 6-15 employees.

2.       The Americans with Disability Act of 1990:

a.       Disability = “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of major life activities, or has a rcord of such impairment or is regarded as having such an impairment.

b.      The million dollar question: Does diabetes apply?? I don’t have a copy of the actual law, but the summary handout I have lists applicable diagnoses as: blind, deaf, cancer, ADIS, DIABETES, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, downs syndrome etc. things that don’t apply: hair color, sexual orientation, lefthandedness, current use of illegal drugs, gambling, temporary impairments.

c.        so yes… it does apply to me, even though I don’t consider myself disabled, there are some things in the workplace that I need to perform as well as everyone else (like a lunch break) (don’t laugh, I was on a 10 week clinical without one. Totally illegal).  

d.      So what does this mean?? Employers are responsible for providing reasonable