thanks for your support. i cant wait to see what happens as well. every day something new presents itself. i’m just trying to plug away.
1 Like
A few things work through:
You need to make sure your body is getting the carbs it needs for the exercise. If you swim 5 days in a row, you really need to make the refueling a priority. When you are done swimming, take in some carbs and protein right away.
What is your total carbs in a day?
I am confused by how you get in the pool at 200 without eating. You have said you have breakfast 7 hours before, and don’t eat anything but a UCAN bar between breakfast and your swim which is much later. What brings you to 200?
Have you tried cutting your basal off for a longer time before you go to the pool? Let’s work on the 100+ drop first! Are you going to try that sometime?
I don’t use Afrezza. And I also try hard to not run above 120. I use small doses of injected insulin. And occasionally a pump. But the basal stuff is just a matter of knowing how long it lasts, and how hard I am going to work, and how different workouts will affect me. I do a lot of BG tests. I know that on days when my basal seems strong, I am more likely to drop. On days when I my basal seems like it’s not enough, I won’t drop as much. The process of having good BG for your workout starts many hours before, simply by noticing how things are going with your BG that day. But that is why I like being able to vary my basal injection every day, which is the reason I don’t use Tresiba.
How about 2 things for you to consider?
-
Refueling carbs and protein immediately following a workout. I think this will help you a lot.
-
Cutting that basal off for a while before you head to the pool…
every day that i am swimming, at 12pm noon, i eat 1 to 1 1/2 Ucan bars W/OUT giving myself any bolus. i wait about 2 hours for my BGs to climb (from the sugar and the super starch of the bar) and thats how i get from about 100BG to 200BG. then i jump into the pool. thats how its done. and yes, i have a hearty breakfast and a hearty dinner. i have always been a very protein oriented eater on a LCHFHP diet. now i am slowly introducing carbs.
my total carbs in any given day are around 60gms. i do need to bolus for protein, though; 1 serving gets 1 unit of insulin (turkey, chicken, eggs, tuna, fish,etc.)
this is definately something i will begin trying as of my workout tomorrow. i am a bit nervous about turning off my basal. one thing at a time 
i love eating nuts, btw, and i was wondering your opinion about eating slow-to-digest fats for a protein source in terms of how they relate to working out.
1 Like
Ok, that makes sense about the 200.
If you occasionally feel tired on the day after a workout, if you sometimes feel a bit run-down, that is a sign you are not getting enough carbs to refuel.
I know there are some low carb-ers here. I am not one of them. A big part of how your fuel exercise will come from muscle glycogen. Muscle glycogen is the storage form of carbohydrates. It is the fuel tank the muscles use. You fill up this fuel tank with carbs.
So you know if you don’t do this, you will drop 100 points. If you shut it off an extra hour, how much do you think you will drop? Make a prediction. Do you still think you will drop 100 points? 50 points? 0 points?
You may have a few bad BG days while you are testing this stuff. That is ok. It takes a little bit of time to figure it out. Eventually, your goal is to not drop much at all, and not need to start at 200. That is the goal.
It doesn’t have to be fixed in one day. No rush. If you don’t get it figured out in one day, plan on being diabetic the next day and you can try again. We don’t ever have to hurry to figure things out.
1 Like
my family is very competitive. its always been that way for me to strive to be in 1st place. i’ve a tendancy to feel the need to figure it all out at once immediately. i know i have to pace myself and have patience. ugh. at least i am not a quitter. one thing i have learned in the 30+ years of living with D, is that it is ALWAYS a work in progress. thanks for your support.
2 Likes
@daisymae
I wanted to emphasize something. I think it was on the other thread where you said you ate about 60 grams of carbs per day. Depending on how hard you are swimming, how much you weigh, and what kind of stroke you are doing - every time you swim, you are burning more calories than you take in from carbs in an entire day. You are running a deficit and that is why you drop so much.
Your body will fuel your muscles one way or another. Without proper fuel stores, it will pull every bit of glucose it can get out of your blood. That’s why you are seeing those huge drops.
Increasing your carb intake will help you a lot. This will take a little bit of time to see the effect. I can help you with some numbers to use for post workout carbs and the insulin you need for it. It’s not the same as just sitting down and taking a bolus for a meal, because post-workout you don’t need as much, but you will want to replace some of the basal you missed while you were disconnected from your pump. It’s not hard to do. And then for dinner, adding some carbs to your meal will also help you. Carbs today mean better BG in your swim 24-48 hours later.
1 Like
after my swim i need to reattach my pump, and i must MUST give myself a manual bolus to counteract the time i missed any basal insulin. if i do not do this, my BGs spike up high (once even up to 300 post workout). now i have noticed that even after waiting 2 hours after this bolus, i still have some IOB before i bolus for my dinner. lately, after dinner i have been going high (200 BG) and i have had to give myself a correction before bed. i am assuming that this is some reaction to hormones soaring through my body due to my exercise. my BGs come right back down into range through the night, but my fasting morning BGs are on the low side (75-ish). i dont mind starting my day like this. i feel comfortable. but is there a way i can avoid the post dinner spike? give myself a bit extra insulin with my dinner bolus?
i would love to be able to PM you, but i havent any idea how to do it. can you walk me through the process. i dont want to consume so much of time on this thread; i feel i am being selfish to others who may want to participate. needing advice and instructions. please RSVP ASAP 
thx. Daisy Mae
1 Like
daisymae,
I don’t think you are hogging the bandwidth, but rather providing a real life example of how to approach sustained exercise as a diabetic with good control. I have enjoyed reading the exchange and would ask that you keep the discussion public if that isn’t too uncomfortable for you.
Chris
5 Likes
Yes, absolutely. That’s what I was saying here:
You will definitely need to replace some of the basal you missed while disconnected. But not all of it.
For example, let’s use some simple numbers. Supposed your basal was 1.0 units per hour, and you disconnected for 2 hours. As soon as you are finished, you would want to replace some of that 2 units, but you would not need to replace the whole 2 units. There are some general rules I have for that. I can share them with you, but I want to keep things very simple and work through these issues one-at-a-time.
Yes. We’ll get there.
But starting just with the a few things first before we get there. Today when you went swimming, did you disconnect for a bit longer before your swim? And did you follow-up your swim with some carbs right away?
The first thing to get past is that 100 point drop you usually have. Let’s fix that. Those two things I mentioned will help you the most. Sufficient muscle glycogen in your body, and a reduced amount of insulin in your body. Immediate carb fueling following every workout, and a longer disconnect. Those are the two things to work on first.
1 Like
so this afternoon was an awesome swim. i went into the pool happy and relaxed. i was extremely comfortable at an increased pace. i upped my game. i think a lot of this has to do with taking your food suggestions; i have been fueling with lots of lean proteins and carb intake, and last night before bed i drank 2 cups of 2% Lactaid milk. (i am also hydrating more). i didnt do the pump thing that you suggested , but i did remove my pump 5 minutes before my swim. my BGs were 202 going into the pool, and after an hour of a strong swim, my BG was 104. still the drop. basically, 1 hour drops me 100 points. this becomes a pain in the butt when i want to do my 2 hour swim. and i think that the only way that i can achieve this comfortably and appropriately is by using your basal suggestion. if i am not dropping so fast, i can swim longer.
but what i wanted to say was that when i am detached from my pump for about 2 hours, and my basal rate is .575/hr, i give myself a .8 unit bolus and this seems to have been working very well for me. i have not spiked nor gone low with this formula. but my latest problem is the after dinner spike. i believe that this is totally a hormonal thing, which as i previously posted, i corrected before bedtime last night.
i am not able to go swimming tomorrow, but i will be back in the pool friday. i plan to try out your disconnect suggestion. i will disconnect 1 hour before i swim. my question to you is: do i eat w/out a bolus before i swim as well, or do i just disconnect? i am afraid of getting into the pool w/out a BG of 180+ b/c i swim it right off. i would love to be able to do a 90 or 120 minute swim.
i will wait to hear back from you regarding my pre-swim fueling. hope your day was as wonderful as mine. i am totally coasting on the endorphin rush right now
chris, i feel totally comfortable being open about my personal experience and experimenting for my exercise and food fueling. there is so much i dont know and want to learn. the only reason i considered making my conversation private was because i keep getting these pop-up reminders that i am “hogging the thread, and that i should be considerate of others who may want time to post their experiences as well.” so i felt guilty, and i thought i should try doing the “PM” thing.
thank you for your response. i am happy to hear that i am able to be of help to others who are trying to achieve the same thing as i am. i am just so grateful that there are other Ds who have the experience and the knowledge to pass down to me. i do feel slightly overwhelmed by all the new and sometimes confusing info, but i am just taking it one day at a time. one suggestion at a time. and it is working. i am making progress 
YAHOO !!!
1 Like
i also wanted to mention that i find this whole experience very empowering. i dont want to live with the attitude that D rules my life. i want to be able to make the healthiest choices possible, but i want to have as much fun as i can while living with this sh**ty disease. as i have been learning from eric and mike and so many others, you dont need to live with unbearable restrictions and be miserable just because we are more challenged than most others (non Ds). i am trying to look at the glass as 1/2 full and getting fuller by the moment 
4 Likes
That is exactly why I volunteer my time to make this community happen. Awesome! Great to hear about your successes by the way.
2 Likes
gus, have you experienced any breathing problems with the Afrezza? i’ve heard that it can be hard on your lungs. also, could you explain exactly how to use it and how it works compared to insulin? i dont want to exercise with IOB either, so i have to wait until all my bolus insulin is out of my system; but still, as i wear a pump, i am still carrying the basal IOB. in order to be totally free of insulin, i have to either do a 0% temp basal, or i must detach from my pump altogether. maybe Afrezza would be a good option for me as an athlete ???
very curious. thx.
That sounds like a good formula. When I am on a pump, for 1 hour of detachment I do not replace anything. Anything over 1 hour I will replace at a reduced %.
Maybe you want to play it “safe” at first. Do the extra 1 hour of detachment but keep everything else the same and see how much you drop. After a few times doing this, see if you need to detach longer, or see if you would be comfortable starting at 150 instead of 180. Just take small steps. You have many opportunities to figure out!
The other thing is when you have sufficiently replaced carbs you will not drop as much either. So keep working in that direction.
Have you tried getting carbs right after your swim? I think you said you get in the sauna when you are done. Do you have your pump on in there? I would suggest drinking a real Gatorade while you are sitting in there (the real kind of Gatorade, with sugar, not the diet kind…). That will help with re-hydrating, electrolytes, and wonderful carbs. But you gotta bolus for that. It only helps you if your BG is not high.
That’s a good feeling! I hope to get mine right now!
1 Like
no lung problems at all. I did two spirometries, both normal. And I have never felt better and happier in my 26 years with T1D. This is because Afrezza simplified management radically.
My equation when I evaluated risk / benefits on the lungs was: I knew that with injected my A1Cs are, though ok (~6.5) not in normal range. There is data that shows anything >5.6 for an A1C starts increasing risks of complications. I also knew T1D management was a full time job, that required a lot of sacrifices. Especially with exercise. 5 years of Afrezza trials showed no signs of lung damage. The process tecnosphere works to let insulin into the bloodstream is passive (versus Exhubera that used chemicals).
So I took the plunge.
The key difference is that Afrezza is fast in and fast out. It works exactly like human insulin. That recovers many normal cycles around insulin (e.g. the initial peaks tells the liver to stop releasing glucose to the bloodstream, which doesn’t happen with injected). Assuming your lungs are ok, I would encourage you at least to try for some weeks, injected basal and afrezza. Worst case scenario you go back to where you are. But if it works, you might find a radically easier way to enjoy life and exercise.
You can learn a lot about Afrezza at www.afrezzajustbreathe.com.
1 Like
gus, i Googled Afrezza on the internet and learned why i am not a candidiate; i have schizophrenia and must take an anti psychotic medication called Clozeril for it; Clozeril is contraindicated (highly) with Afrezza.
most anti psychotics react in the exact same manner. so, as wonderful and appealing as the Afrezza sounds, it is not an option. 
thanks though; i really appreciate all your enthusiasm, as i am certain others on this site will as well. it is always helpful to find new options to treat D 
.
no; not yet. this is what i was curious about asking you: right after my swim, i manual bolus for time spent OFF my pump. how much insulin should i expect to need to bolus for the carbs post swim? what percentage of my usual I:C ratio? should i just give myself a regular bolus as if i had not been exercising? i am very very curious about this, for one, b/c after my workout, my BGs rise automatically if i dont bolus the moment i re-hook, so i am giving myself insulin to prevent that rise, but then how do i add on a bolus to cover the carbs? typically, i dont bolus for my next meal until about 1 1/2 to 2 hours post workout. this gives my BGs time to settle into my target range.
i hope i am making sense to you (and all others reading this thread). i took today off swimming due to family obligations, so it was a “rest/recovery” day for me. but tomorrow i want to try this stuff out. i want to suspend my basal 1 hour prior to swimming, and i want to carb/protein/rehydrate replace right after i am finished.
and just as a PS: i only stay in the sauna long enough to dry my hair (5 minutes max) so i dont think i would need full-force Gatorade for electrolytes.
looking fwd to hearing back from you…hopefully before i set this new part of my plan into motion.
When i was on the pump and no afrezza I would turn it off before the swim as it wasn’t water proof. After the swim, the routine was: Put on pump, normal basal, bolus of 4u (my ic ratio was 1:15) plus any corrections (1u per 50points).wait 30 minutes to the insuling to start acting, use that wait to hydrate. The eat 60gch, usually chocolate milk and a banana. Then back to low carb for dinner to avoid IOB at night and anylows due to exercise hypersensitivity.
1 Like