Daisy Mae's swimming BG thread

Maybe 10-20%, from the time you hit your pillow until you wake-up, depending on how much you ate today. See how that works.

I jump back right away unless I am at 70 or below. I know how much I use in 20 minutes so it’s OK. But if you don’t know, I would wait a while if you were below 85 or 90.

Yes. it gets out of range. This is what I do. The Dexcom sends data every 5 minutes exactly. I look at my watch (I swim with it) and I know exactly what minute on my watch it will send new data. So, when I am towards the end of my 20 minutes, I come out of the water the minute before the Dexcom will send data, and walk to my Dexcom. I arrive by my backpack and take the Dexcom out, then right after I arrive it shows the new data point.

But sometimes I dont get a new point for some reason. Also I want to test often with a strip because my dexcom is always a little behind. Thats important when I am close to 80 or 70. So I test manually a lot too. Maybe 3-4 times in 2 hours.

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That’s dedication, @kaelan! Well done!

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do you get your Dex data on your watch? is your watch waterproof? is that what you mean?

Hey DM, how was your basal last night?

i lowered my overnight basal to 90% for 6.5 hours, but i woke up at 55 this morning. had 3 GTABS and went back to sleep; woke up again at 7:45 at 98, had some breakfast and then 2 hours later went down to 53; again, 3 GTABS and some carbs. we’ll see how that goes.

i want to get to the pool today, so 2 hours earlier i will set my basal at 0% and hopefully my BG will rise enough for my swim. (i always have my handy BABY RUTH bars as a back-up)

will keep everyone posted :wink:

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Replacing carbs right after you exercise will help with the nighttime lows!

No, I get my dexcom data on my iphone. I leave my iphone in a backpack by the benches on the side of the pool.

The Dexcom sends data every 5 minutes. Before I go in the pool, I check on my watch when the data comes in. For instance, maybe it comes at 5:07pm. Then it will always be at 5:12. 5:17, 5:22, 5:27, 5:32 etc.

I wear a normal waterproof watch. If I get in the pool at 5:10, I know I need to get out at close to 5:30 because I need to check every 20 minutes. So I get out at 5:31, walk to my iphone, and be there at 5:32 when it receives the data. This way i can see it right when it comes in, take my carbs, then dive back in. I don’t lose any time that way, it is really fast.

But often I test manually anyway to be sure.

what kind of carbs do you take? do they work so quickly that you feel safe diving back into the pool?

Hard candy – mostly skittles or jellybeans. He keeps them in plastic tubes, 32 jellybeans or 30 skittles per tube (I don’t take all the tube, just some [says K]), because it’s really convenient and he can see exactly how many carbs to take by counting how many jellybeans or skittles He takes. He crushes them fine so as to get them absorbed faster.

In less than 5 minutes it’s going up on his CGM – I think it is almost instantaneous. On the CGM it looks like it takes them about 35 minutes to be fully absorbed. But I think in reality it is more like 20 minutes because his CGM is almost always about 15 minutes late.

[EDIT] relayed by me from K.

i had a weird day. last night i cut my basal down by 10% for 6.5 hours. i still woke up at 5am w/ a BG of 55. i took 3 GTABS and went back to sleep. i had bfast at 7:45 and my BG was 98. excellent, right? but then at 10:15am my BGs dropped down to 53. i took 3 GTABS and waited to come back into range. i was very excited about repeating yesterdays experiment. it didnt quite work but here are the stats; i am certain you will be able to shed some light on why this may have happened and what to do about it.

EXPERIMENT # 4

at 11:30am, my BG was 141 (a little high for me and deff not in my target range), but i was determined to continue with yesterday’s “success” recipe. i turned my pump off (no basal no bolus, no IOB)

at 12:30 my BGs had shot up to 169; at which point i walked briskly to the pool; but when i got there, i tested again before jumping into the water and my BG had elevated even more (202). but, being tenatious as i am, i decided to go for it. i had been on no insulin now for 1.5 hours. F-it, right :wink:

i tested again at 1:30 and my BG had come down to 152. not bad. got back into the pool and then tested again at 2pm (151); still not bad (steady and stable)

then at 2:45 i was 114. i got out of the pool after a 2 hour swim and i gave myself 1.2 units manual bolus to try and compensate for time without insulin which totaled apprx 3.5- 4 hours. (this number was a total guess)

i have to add that today i did not swim at my usual hour. i swam 2 hours earlier (i think). i know that in order to mimick my formula, sometimes the time of day can play havoc on the system. perhaps this was one reason that my BGs were different. dont know for sure. i do know 1 thing: i swam for 2 hours and i still did not crash. that in and of itself is a miracle.

so, that was what happened. and btw, i ate no Ucan bar today…not even a bite :wink:

looking fwd to hearing back from you and anyone else who has been cheering me on and giving me their suggestions.

hey; at least i am trying!!! yay for me :blush:

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what is the name of the protein bars that you eat? i would love to get some for myself.

i eat the Ucan protein bars with super starch (they digest VERY slowly; but they have 35gms carbs, so i cant use them while i am in the pool if i need a fast carb in my system.)

The process of replacing glycogen stores takes a while. Lows that follow exercise can in part be because your body is taking the carbs you consumed and refilling your muscle glycogen fuel tank.

Yesterday I suggested you reduce your basal at night because I don’t think you are getting enough carbs in your diet to fuel your swimming, and I am not sure you are doing it quickly enough after exercise. What I told you when you finished yesterday:

Replacing the muscle glycogen today helps fuel your workout tomorrow.


Today you saw a bit of a quick spike from the g-tabs which is different from your normal formula of the UCAN bar, and waiting. And you went swimming a little bit earlier so you may have had a little more IOB than you did the previous day, so that contributed to your drop.

Still not a bad day!


One of the best things you can do is restore your muscle glycogen right when you are done.

For active adults, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends you eat 0.5 to 0.7 gram of carbohydrates per pound of body weight within 30 minutes of finishing your exercise. Plus protein!

When you are consistently fueling your activity and giving your body what it needs to perform, you start to get much more consistent results.

Assignment for you! Read this thread:
https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-should-i-consume-after-exercise/

I know you love your old jeans. Put those in a glass case as a memorial to the old DM. Get yourself a new pair that says you are a fit beast who is not afraid of the disease, but rather, the disease is afraid of her. Then carb up, and swim like that beast.

Here are some women who are not worried about their jeans:

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Daisy Mae, I use the Fiberone coconut almond bars. They have 17 carbs and only 140 calories, and they are not expensive, about $4.00 for 5. I like them because I like the taste, they don’t have too many carbs, they don’t have too many extra calories, and they are faster than other bars I tried.

I had a hard time finding the link: https://www.amazon.com/Fiber-One-Protein-Coconut-Almond/dp/B00WB87XG8/
Here on Amazon they cost $20 for 30 bars.

But these bars are not as fast as jellybeans. I use them at the beginning or the end of a swim practice, but not if I am going to go straight back into the water.

here is my big question,bc i am sooooo confused about how to handle this situation:

when i am done with my swim, my bgs are down, but VERY quickly after that, they begin to climb rather quickly; since i have been on a 0% temp basal plus 2 hours detached from my pump, i need to replace the missed basal with a slight bolus to keep my bgs from skyrocketing. how do i then bolus for the carbs ? do i do this manually through my pump, or do i let the pumps WIZARD feature take care of this? or, do i just guess? i would LOVE to have a Challa roll right after my swim with some fresh turkey and a glass of milk. i usually need to account for 26 grms of carbs for the roll and then 10grms for the turkey and (believe it or not) 24 grms for the milk. at this time of day, my I:C is 1:10, but with my bgs in flux, i dont know how to bolus for my food.

SOS,
DM

can you please

Spikes after exercise are common, especially if you have been disconnected for a while. You have to hit that bolus right away, and do it aggressively. First thing after you get out of the pool, hit that bolus.

Replace the basal you missed for anything longer than an hour, AND bolus for the carbs you are taking. I would not use the wizard, I would manually do that.

Try it and see what happens, and then make adjustments the next day.

As long as you are awake, it’s better to over-bolus and follow with carbs like chocolate an hour later if you need them, than it is to under-bolus and chase a high blood sugar all afternoon.

EDIT:
I wanted to add this. In my personal experience, whenever I am playing basal catch-up, I always need more bolus than usual. For example, when on MDI, if a basal shot is late and I am without basal, or I have skipped a basal shot to have no IOB during exercise, the amount of insulin I need for food is much more than usual. It is somewhat surprising because you may not realize just how important that basal is for helping your mealtime bolus. So just be prepared to take a good bit of bolus for anything you eat after you have been disconnected.

I would just try using your usual ratios for the food and then add it into the bolus for the missed basal and see what happens?

the minute i get out of the pool and into the locker room, i hit the bolus immediately. but then i need to walk home from the gym. it takes about 15 minutes. do i bolus again but this time for the carbs i am about to eat?

I would pre-bolus for the meal AND take the missed basal right away, so it has a bit of time to get into your system while walking home.

But - this is important - only as long as you have access to emergency sugar and you know you will have access to food within 15 minutes. Like if you are driving and get stuck in traffic it is risky, but if you are walking and it is certain you will be home in 15 minutes, get that bolus in before you get home so you can eat right away. Don’t delay it.

Please see this note I added above!

i know that i can prepare my mini-meal before i even leave for the pool so that it is right there and ready for consumption by the time i put my key in the front door. but the timing of this meal takes place just one hour before i usually eat my dinner. how do i divide this up? should i just make an early supper out of it and have a larger meal right after i get home? (otherwise, if i eat the “mini meal” then i have no appetite for dinner.) i usually eat my dinner (w/ my husband) at around 6pm. i don’t get back from the pool until around 4:30/5pm. what ta do?