# Type 1, pregnant, hypos



## Vicky84! (Sep 25, 2017)

Hi everyone,

looking for some advice here. I have had Type 1 diabetes for 15 years, an insulin pump for the last 5 years, and I'm currently 23 weeks pregnant with my 2nd child. 

I work as a practice nurse in a GP surgery. As with my first pregnancy, I stared to experience more hypos at the beginning due to having to keep my BM very tightly controlled for pregnancy. I ended up having a hypo at work (I was not unconscious) the staff rang an ambulance, which I thought was inappropriate. The manager asked me to have the rest of the week off, during this time I fell and broke my leg .

When I have met with the manager to discuss going back to work, they said that the GPs at work (not my healthcare providers) are concerned about my driving because I had had 2 hypos at work, and said I should inform the DVLA. I corrected her, as there was only one hypo, but she said she had been told about another. On this occasion, I had stopped to test my BM, found it to be dropping so I stopped to eat something, therefore AVOIDING a hypo! Considering I work with doctors and nurses, they are incredibly ignorant about diabetes!

They then said that due to their concerns about me driving, the GPs want me to discuss it with the practice manager before I choose to start driving again. I have been unable to drive for the last 3 months due to my broken leg.

I am feeling bullied and victimised regarding my diabetes now. I had already discussed things with my diabetes nurse, and she advised me that as we are in regular contact to work on making sure my BMs are not too low, and that the cause of the lower readings is because I am pregnant, which is a temporary condition, that there is no need for me to contact the DVLA.

At the moment, I feel like saying anything to just keep the manager off my case, and will not drive to and from work so they won't try to say anything to me. I don't feel that it is any of their business whether I drive or not. I am always safe when I drive and test before every journey. I currently have a sensor fitted to monitor my blood sugar continuously. Feeling depressed and discriminated against. One of the healthcare assistants has been fainting and passing out a lot as she is also pregnant, but they haven't said they are concerned about her continuing to drive!

Any advice? I feel like all that matters is the diabetes and no one sees a person here as well


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## Radders (Sep 25, 2017)

Vicky84! said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> looking for some advice here. I have had Type 1 diabetes for 15 years, an insulin pump for the last 5 years, and I'm currently 23 weeks pregnant with my 2nd child.
> 
> ...



Hi Vicky, so sorry you are going through this. It sounds as if they might be well meaning but as you say there does seem to be a bit of a double standard. Why do you think they rang an ambulance: were you unable to look after yourself during the first hypo? If so then perhaps that's why they are concerned. If not,  I personally have found that people who are medically trained but not diabetes specialists can overreact sometimes to all mention or hint of hypos. They know enough to know that they can be dangerous, but not enough to appreciate that those of us who have had type 1 for any length of time and are trying to achieve tight control take them in our stride.


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## Vicky84! (Sep 25, 2017)

Hi, I was conscious and sitting upright, I remember the whole event even down to which doctors were working. What really annoys me is that we have an emergency box with glucogen in it. I come personally equipped with jelly babies and sandwiches. Yet, doctors, who see patients who have diabetes every day, were unable to deal with the situation appropriately. I'm so tired of their ignorance and I'm less tolerant of them because I think they should know better. The practice manager will often ask me how my diabetes is, rather than just asking "how are you?". They focus on it constantly, and when I'm trying to live a normal life, this makes it very difficult.


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## trophywench (Sep 26, 2017)

The DVLA want to know if you have had a 'serious' hypo which needed outside assistance.

If it truthfully did NOT require outside assistance then the answer is NO - hence you don't need to tell em.

Has any of this whingeing been put in writing, and has it been recorded anywhere?


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## Abi (Oct 23, 2017)

I am absolutely livd for you and were I in your situation, would be tempted to report them to the GMC for bullying and incompetence- and wasting stretched ambulance resources when clearly not necessary. Of course someone on insulin f***ing well has hypos on occasions. Are they thick or illiterate?
( spoken as a GP myself)
If it impacts on your employment  or driving license I would be tempted to contact a solicitor


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## Abi (Oct 23, 2017)

I'm in Wales but remember an incident when an ambulance was unacceptably delayed in attending to a critically ill patient at work and it;s hardly surprsing if GPs  locally also call 999 overtime a diabetic patient has  a reading which is slightly below range


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## SB2015 (Oct 25, 2017)

As TW has said, there is absolutely no need to inform the DVLA as on neither occassion did you NEED the help of others.  
Would it be worth a call to the advocacy team at DUK.  A discussion with them might help you to plan a way forward. Not what you need with all that you are having to do during a pregnancy.

I have learnt to assume no more knowledge about T1 in HCPs than members of the public as they so rarely have to deal with T1. I ended up doing a talk to the whole team at our Practice about self management using a pump. I saw the first signs of a hypo as urgent, but not an emergency.  If reacted to urgently it aoivds the emergency.


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## Jalpa Patel (Feb 22, 2018)

Hello, i have type 1 diabetes when i was of 18 year old and hypothyrodism too, i am married and nw i am 26 years old and trying to conceive pregnancy bt can't conceive and i have fear that vl my hypothyrodism and type 1 diabetes affect my child if i conceive in few months. My current H1bc is 7 and thyroid level is 4.9996


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## Davein (Feb 22, 2018)

They possibly could be trying to bully you out of your job. No doubt you will at some point be taking maternity leave meaning they may/would get a temp nurse in to replace you.
I would suggest you keep a written record of these incidents as they occur.


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## Vicky84! (Feb 22, 2018)

Hi,
I had my baby 6 weeks early! I feel that this happened because of the amount of stress I was given at work. I was booked in to be induced at 38 weeks on 8/1/18 but my waters broke and I went into labour on 14/12/17. Baby had to be taken to neonatal unit and then I had 10 days in hospital with my little one, being fed through an NG tube, having bloods done, given phototherapy treatment and warned that he might need surgery (which he didn't, thankfully). It was awful, I'm still trying to sort my licence out as the DVLA want 3 months worth of glucose readings with NO hypos at all! The nurses have told me to run my blood at 10mmol/L, not good control but they want to try to make sure that I never have a hypo and then they will report this to the DVLA. 
Hopefully things are going to start getting better soon, I haven't been into work with my baby boy, just can't bring myself to go and see them yet, I'm still quite upset. 
My handbag was stolen and my driving licence was inside, the DVLA won't issue a new licence until the medical enquiry is complete, so I'm told that I can still drive as my consultant has no concerns but I have to wait for investigation to complete before I can get a new licence. As my blood was tightly controlled during pregnancy, I was having some results under 4mmol/L (technically hypo but necessary while pregnant for baby's safety) so I'm still working on 3 months worth of readings. I NEVER drive without testing, and I NEVER drive if I'm lower than 5mmol/L, especially important as I'm putting my 2 children in the car with me. Horrible situation and it has made me feel like I should have just become a nun when I was diagnosed at age 17, maybe there would have been less cruelty.


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## Davein (Feb 23, 2018)

Congratulations Vicky on the birth of your son. Apologies for not noticing the date of your original post but I was so immersed in your story thinking my god if they treat a member of staff in that manner, what chance do their patients stand. Correct me if I'm wrong but surely for the DVLA must have been informed about your hypos for them to want 3 months readings. It took me a couple of months to get my driving licence changed to what the DVLA term as a medical licence after I started insulin therapy and I was allowed to drive whilst applying. Every letter they sent ending in the warning that they would revoke my standard licence if I didn't respond within 14 days. Given that the envelopes were date stamped up to 12 days after the date on their letters and I stood no chance of responding in that timeframe, I was always expecting my licence to be revoked.
I had a consult with my diabetes specialist a few weeks after being put on insulin therapy ( on pill therapy until my BG's went sky high in their 30's) and asking him what level BG's would have to be to cause complications and he said in his opinion it would have to be higher than the mid tens for a sustained period of time. Obviously only hid opinion but not one many of us would want to test. They reckon 5 to drive don't they.
Maybe, whilst you are on leave, now could be the opportunity to look for a new place to work (we are told there are thousands of nursing vacancies in the NHS) and make a fresh start somewhere else.
I don't think nunning is much fun, I am sure as a nurse you helped more people than you would have done wearing a habit.
I think you have done extremely well over the past 15 years. Diabetes can be a wicked condition to have. you can never take your eye off the ball so to speak and you should never be discriminated against for the misfortune of having it.
Best wishes for your future and just enjoy your two youngsters and thanks for coming back and updating us.
Dave


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## HOBIE (Feb 26, 2018)

Vicky84! said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> looking for some advice here. I have had Type 1 diabetes for 15 years, an insulin pump for the last 5 years, and I'm currently 23 weeks pregnant with my 2nd child.
> 
> ...


I know this post is old but it sounds like you have had a hard time Vicky 84  Hope things are better now


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## PhoebeC (Mar 13, 2018)

Hope you and baby are well. I have faced discrimination in the workplace due to ignorance so get how you feel. I  had a nightmare time with hypos when I was pregnant. Hubby had  to call 999 at one point. Good look with the DVLA xx


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