Daisy Mae's swimming BG thread

It’s mostly spot on-- it’s only that when it shows lows, it overestimates both how deep they are and how long they last. But if it says he’s 109, he’s usually w/in 5 to 10 points. So it’s overly conservative. It certainly makes us feel safer from hypoglycemic seizures though, for instance.

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I’m using the Libre still (which I love); insurance won’t cover a Dex. Like @Eric, if/when I get a Dex, the main benefit I see will be the alarms. Doesn’t really help to see the lows I’ve had when I wake up the next morning…

For what it’s worth, my lows on the Dexcom align quite well with my actual blood glucose levels. I don’t see the overestimation of lows that others report.
I do think my Dexcom doesn’t show the lowest value of a “valley” or the highest value of a “peak.” -verified through checking my blood sugar levels at those times.

i loved wearing the LIBRE, but it isnt waterproof and i spend half my life in the water :wink:

LOW BG EXPERIMENT #1:
todays swim was awesome. i’ve had better, but this was right up there. i have that nice endorphin rush going and my body feels tired; not sore at all, just tired.

well, when i left my house for the pool at 1pm, my BG was 110, but by the time i got to the pool it had shot up to 141. i think i might have tested on a dirty finger or something, 'cause that just seemed too weird. but, whatever. i took NO Gtabs and just jumped into the pool. i was a little early on my schedule and the pool was very crowded, so i waited a bit for other swimmers to get out and let me have a lane of my own so i could swim in peace.

i was very conscious of the dexcom sensor on my arm; i was concerned that another swimmer would bump into me and knock it off. but, happy to say, that didnt happen. (at this point, i dont know why i even cared; the darn thing isnt working anyways.)

i think that today marks an achievement in all of my swims. first off, my BGs were completely stable. 2nd off, i had no panic about going low; 3rd off, i really enjoyed myself and was relaxed throughout the full 1.5 hours. i need to repeat myself again: I had NO panic about going low! this is HUGE. what a gift. i had such confidence. no fear at all.
here are the stats:
1:15 BG 141 (maybe not, though)
2pm BG 107 took 1 Gtab
2:30 BG 101
3pm BG 93 bolused 2 units and walked home
3:30 BG 103 bolused for carb/protein shakes and some yogurt (10 minute pre-bolus)
4pm BG 82
4:30 BG 100 (after drinking shakes)

so far, so good. i have had to make some minor changes in my ICRs as well as lowering my basals, both overnight as well as during the day. i have become much more insulin sensitive and my body seems to not need as much insulin as when i wasnt swimming (while i was re-cooping from my surgery) it amazes me how our bodies react to simple changes.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!

signing off,
DM

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A REALLY BAD EVENING AND A TERRIBLE NIGHT; EXPERIMENT #1 :

I was really considering bagging my swim today. i had several great excuses. last evening my BGs kept dropping into the low 40s. it seemed a perfect time for some yummy indulgence; i ate malt balls, i ate chocolate, i ate Oreo cookies with milk. mmm. it took several+ hours to bring my BG up to just a little over 100, and then i felt safe to go to sleep. but i felt really whipped from the lows; its very draining.

at about 5am i woke up and my BG was 240 (if i remember correctly). i hadnt even heard my Dexcom alarm go off. i slept right through it. well, i gave myself a correction and tried to go back to sleep. but, i was so uncomfortable and frustrated that i couldnt sleep. so i left my husband in our cozy bed and went into the living room to watch some TV and get ready to make Bfast in 2 hours. and i waited for my BG to come down.

at 6:50, my BG had come down to 188, and i pre-bolused for Bfast. but then, after i ate, my BGs started to drop very quickly. when i was 95, i still had 1.5 units IOB, so i thought i would curtail the crash and i took a Gtab. But my BG continued to go lower, i took another tab, and just as i was chewing on it, i knew i had made a mistake by over-doing it. i should have been more patient after eating the first one. (remember: “patience is a virtue” ??? Duh. :wink:)

i wanted my BG to be in a certain range for my swim. i kept thinking to myself, “awh, bad nights sleep, roller-coaster BGs, exhaustion, why dont i just stay under the covers today and skip the swim?”

have you ever had this? excuses to skip out on life b/c your diabetes seems to be getting in your way? not doing something you really enjoy b/c you feel short-changed, and then you end up just short-changing yourself even more?

well, if i want to continue to be UNLIMITED i wont follow what my brain is playing dirty with. if my sugars are “too high” or “too low” they can always be corrected. take some insulin or have some carbs. LIVE LIFE. SCREW THE D!

so there i was, with my “imperfect” numbers, deciding to F it and go do my thing. D was not going to rob me of one of my favorite things in life. not today!

here are the stats:
1pm BG 129, left for the pool
1:30 BG 142 started my swim
2pm BG 122 took 1/2 Gtab
2:30 BG 103
3pm BG 92 bolused 2 units and dashed home like a crazy woman :wink:
3:30 BG 106 bolused 1.6 units for 2 replacement carbs/protein shakes

and i congratulated myself for having the willpower to not chicken out. i did it. 1.5 hours of laps.
now, after a nice dinner, i can relax and watch some TV and then get a good nights sleep, so i can wake up tomorrow, refreshed (hopefully), and do it all again. :blush:

PS: can you believe that i am even slightly complaining about my BG numbers? just one year ago, this accomplishment was not even a dream; it seemed too fantastic to achieve.

signing off,
DM

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Your numbers look very good. You can be proud of yourself for adjusting and coming up with such great numbers with challenging circumstances!

You wouldn’t believe how many times I have taken a bite of a cookie or something and spit it out after a couple chews because my instinct was telling me it was too much. :smiley:

Seriously. It happens all the time! Instinct just kicks in and says, “Too much!”.


DM, remember this:

When it doubt,
Spit it out !!!

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SWIMMING EXPERIMENT # 1: FASTEST SWIM EVER

2 new goals accomplished today; 1) swam hard, swam faster than ever, and 2) didnt take even 1 Gtab throughout my swim.

i think i am getting more and more confident about my ability to push myself without worrying about lowering my BGs too fast for me to enjoy a nice long swim. this is very exciting.
here are the stats:
1:30 BG 132
2pm BG 126
2:30 BG 100
3pm BG 68 bolused 2 units for basal replacement (also knowing that my BG would rise as soon as i got out of the pool. and i was right…
3:30 BG 99 bolused 1.6 units for re-fueling, and waited 20 min before drinking to try and avoid the spike i had yesterday. we’ll see how that works out.

PS: rebooted my dexcom today using the same sensor. we’ll see how that goes, as well. i hope it stays relatively close in range to my finger sticks. :sunny: (this is all very new to me )

BE WELL ALL!
signing off,
DM

Very gutsy. Great job today!

Now listen…very important! Don’t let your endo talk you out of this.

When he sees you finishing at 68, don’t let him worry you about it. You did great today.

Tell him that he can handle the diabetes for his other patients, but DM handles the diabetes for DM… :wink:

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dont worry about the endo. he is totally cool about my “low” ended numbers. he knows about the “bounce-back” from the lack of basal and the need for replacement bolus post swim.

this is one of the reasons i like him so much. while my A1c was 4.9% he was thrilled. (not like that former idiot endo who wanted me to eat Snickers bars before my swims, start at 200BG and have my A1c closer to 7% . thank god i left that guy in the dust. what a screw ball he was :wink: )

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HELLISH LEARNING EXPERIENCE EXPERIMENT # 1:

after my swim yesterday, in the middle of dinner, mt BG went down to 27. OMG. i was home alone; no husband around to help me. i dragged myself to the kitchen and filled a glass full with apple juice (it has more sugars in it than OJ). i wasnt thinking of anything except “DRINK! DRINK! DRINK!”

i was sweating and shaking and felt like i might pass out. i sat still on the sofa and tried my best to be patient and just wait it out till my sugars came back up. it was hours till my BG came up to 68. i turned on an 80% TB and went to sleep.

i woke up in the middle of the night. my BG was 350. i went into the living room to get my reading glasses. i went back into the bedroom, grabbed a syringe and my vial of NovoLog. i gave myself 5 units IM. this took a while, b/c i couldnt see clearly, and i was trying to calculate how many units to give myself. i was in an awful state of confusion.

finally, the task was done and i went back to sleep.

( i dont know how i slept right through that dexcom alarm; i have it set on HIGH. )

anyway, when i woke up this morning, i was in perfect target range. (105 ) yay! but i was still shaking and sweating and terribly restless but exhausted at the same time. i made myself a nice Bfast, but in my confusion, i bolused the wrong amount of insulin. as soon as i realized this (this time i heard the dexcom alarm “HIGH” ), i gave myself an extra 1.5 units of insulin to try and compensate for my mistake. Uh Oh…i think i gave myself too much insulin, and i soon began to crash. AHHHHHHHH!

it was a difficult day. i took the day off and just nurtured myself. no blame, no shame, just another learning experience. naturally, i contacted eric, and solicited his help.

"why did this happen? " well, it happened (probably) b/c i had had such an intense workout. much more than usual. i didnt refuel enough. “but why the overnight spike?” well, it was a late onset of carbo loading along with the lowered TB.

anyway, the day was a rough one. there were moments where i felt like crying. (probably D-related hormones and crazy blood sugars ) i turned on the TV and just chilled out as best i could. i ate plenty of carbs and lots of protein :wink:.

now it is just past dinnertime. all seems to be back on track. tomorrow i will be in the pool again.
hopefully i will have a great swim :sunny:

(and BTW, the skin tack under my sensor didnt hold well enough, so i put a Tegaderm over it. i had re-booted the sensor on tuesday, and it is still working just fine. not perfectly, but fine. and, i want to get as much wear out of it as possible, b/c friday i re-visit my endo and he will download it in his office. and you can bet that i will be discussing a plan of action for the furture regarding my body’s needs with regard to my exercise regime!!!

wishing everyone a good night.
signing off,
DM

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Sounds like a rough day! I hate those wild swings. Looks like you have a plan for the future though!

How long does it take you to warm up your muscles when you get in the pool? Does it vary much from day to day?

My muscles seemed so stiff during my last swim, and it seemed to take forever to really get them to warm up to where they were working properly. I don’t know why. Have you experienced this?

@daisymae, this is a really scary experience!
I’m amazed at your positive attitude. Our son has days like this. It really takes resilience to dust yourself off and just look towards the next day.

So you think the issue is you should you have maybe eaten a bigger, heartier post-exercise snack? @Eric, What would be the way to avoid this next time you are exercising hard?

DM has been experimenting with a different breakfast, and she dropped to 68 after her swim so that means she was probably very depleted at that point. Usually she finishes closer to 100. The 68 was new territory for her. So maybe just being depleted and her body taking all of the dinner and restoring is what dropped her so low.

Also because of her spike that night, I am guessing the carbs she took in were delayed so they didn’t go right back in.

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@daisymae, I’m glad you’re ok after those rough couple of days! Can I just say I admire your perseverance and determination to not let your D rule your life? I am struggling quite a bit lately with my health and resulting mindset, and it is very encouraging to hop on here regularly to read your posts. Thank you for sharing this journey with us!

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thank you so much for your very kind words. it really helps me to know that i am not alone struggling with D at times.

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my first 1/2 hour is my warm-up period; this seems to help enormously for the rest of my swim. this was eric’s idea, so i really owe it all to him. i used to jump in the pool without warming up and swim as hard as i could from the get-go. now i find that i am having more productive swims and my energy is much improved. hope this helps.

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AN APPREHENSIVE SWIM, EXPERIMENT #1:

so despite the Skin Tac under my sensor and the Tegaderm on top , my sensor was peeling off a little bit. i could feel it on my arm with every stroke. i had visions of having it come loose and searching to find the transmitter on the bottom of the pool somewhere. i swear, i am not joking :blush:.

also, i swam at a moderate pace today, basically b/c i was a little afraid to go all out considering what i’d been through with my crazy BGs over the other night and yesterday. i didnt want a repeat performance of BGs in the 20s or over 300. ( who would want that :wink: ??? )

but despite my fears and my cautious thinking, i got in a really nice and easy 1.5 hour swim.

i am fueling up heavily. i just finished drinking my post-exercise protein/carb shakes, and i will be having a large dinner. this weekend i will be eating out at two of my favorite restaurants…sunday my husband and i will be going to that burger joint i write about so often; i cant wait. burger, brioche bun, fries, guacamole and chips. i might even try their sweet potato fries as well. yummm :blush:.
here are the stats:
1:30 BG 144
2pm BG 123 ate 1/2 Gtab
2:30 BG 100
3pm BG 97
not bad, if i do say so myself :wink:

seeing my new endo tomorrow, and we will be discussing how i feel about going on the Dexcom. it did not start working with any accuracy for me until 3.5 days of wearing it. then it was spot on target for another 4 days. last night and throughout today, it has gotten wonky again. i dont know if it is worth the trouble. the thing is, though, Medicare now pays 100% for it. so i am thinking “why not? its free.”

(anyone have any suggestions, opinions, thoughts they would like to share? please dont be shy!!! chime right in; i am open to anything! )

signing off,
DM

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My question for you is did the Dex help you when it was working? If so, then maybe it would be worth it to stick with it a while longer. Especially if it’s free.

As far as it taking 3.5 days to get good, I find that the time it takes to settle down and start working right depends on where I put it. Some sites settle within a day, other times it can take 3 days to get good. But even when it is not yet settled I find it really helpful, because if I’m going up I take insulin, and if I’m falling I take carbs. And if it was off by 20 points I really don’t care, because steady at 80 is as good as steady at 100 is as good as steady at 120. What I’m really trying to do is stop a fall before it gets to 50, and stop a rise before it gets to 200. And even a wonky Dex helps me do that just fine.

How fresh was the Tegaderm? You can always add a fresh strip right over the old tape along the edges just before you go out to swim. That should stick for that swim, right? Then you can peel off the extra strips whenever they start to seem loose.

i really appreciate you pointing this out. i have found it helpful with regard to staying steady. often i dont feel my lows until they are very low. then i find myself dizzy, sweating and blinded by bright lights in my eyes. the dexcom has helped me to see trends and catch lows as well as highs before they get out of hand. the arrows, though, havent been that helpful (at least not this week); i found that they might show a diagnal UP arrow with a BG of 85, and then 3 minutes later, there is a straight arrow at 83.

i just put the Tegaderm on yesterday, wednesday; today was the first day i swam with it on. the rest of my week i just relied upon the skin tac under the sensor tape. (which worked really well, considering i was in the pool for many hours last week! )