Hang in there daiseymae, sometimes different results just happen. I am sure there is a reason, and perhaps Eric can figure it out. But other times it just is. diabetes isn’t for the weak and limited.
Just skip the 0.5 units, shut off basal for 2 hours and go for it.
If you are not rising very high, you don’t need the 0.5 units.
BGs came up to 136. (i did give myself the .5 units when i turned off my basal. ) its been one hour since then, so i am going to walk to the pool now (1pm). by the time i get there and hop into the pool, it will have been 1.5 hours off basal. then i will detach.
i will just check every half hour of my swim.
will let you know how it goes.
DM
You should be ok with that. Hang with it. Even if you drop a little bit, trust that zero basal.
todays swim totally stunk. i was psyched that i was able to get my BG up to a pre-swim of 142 right before jumping into the pool. so thats exactly what i did. splash.
i swam for 1/2 hour, got out to test, and i had crashed down to 90 in just 30 minutes. i think that i need to do that 0% basal for at least 2 hours before swimming. i think i still had IOB and thats why i probably sunk so low so quickly.
anyway, i was not going to let that get me down, so i ate 1/2 a Swedish Fish, planning on getting right back into the water. well, while i had been out of the pool, some schmuck had taken my lane, and there was no room for me. so i figured, F-it and called it quits for one day…but i was cursing myself for taking that 1/2 of the fish. what can you do? whats done is done. so when i got back to the locker room, i tried to give myself a VERY conservative bolus of only .2 units. so afraid of crashing like i did yesterday. well, when i got home, i re-tested (an hour had passed) and my BG was 153. F-it. i feel like i cant catch a break. yesterday was absolute perfection (until the evening at least). why was this happening to me???
i just feel like crying. i am trying to grasp at some gratitude and put a smile in my heart. i keep thinking that only 6 months ago, this would have been an awesome achievement.
trying to put things into perspective. i know, everyone has bad days. today was mine. a BG of 153 is certainly not the end of the world.
anyone out there with any brilliant ideas and/or suggestions? and once again: SOS. ( or encouragement )
PS: i will not let this experiemnt deter me. i want to be an unlimited swimmer; not a D swimmer, but a swimmer. NIKE commercial: “JUST DO IT”
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PPS: maybe my spike had NOTHING to do with the Swedish fish; maybe i just didn’t bolus enough when i got out of the pool.
what do you think of that , Eric? any words of wisdom???
and BTW, its almost 2 hours since i ate that 1/2 fish and my BGs have gone up to 170. this is the type of spiking that i use to do before i started bolusing after my swim.
A couple of things contributing to this I think.
You are used to 2 1/2 hours of zero basal. Today you did 1 1/2 hours? Maybe 2 hours is a minimum you should do. We can explore that over time.
But there is something else at work here!
Yesterday was a hard swim, very glycogen depleting. The way you described it, you worked hard and swam for about 2 1/2 hours. That will use up most of your muscle glycogen.
Then last night you had some bad BG. You were low after dinner (not enough carbs), and you woke up at 230, which means a lot of that time your body was not able to restore muscle glycogen. Remember the conversation about “wasted carbs”? Without enough insulin, the carbs can’t be used.
So you used up a good bit of muscle glycogen yesterday, and it did not get replaced sufficiently.
So when you went swimming today, your body didn’t have enough muscle glycogen, so it sucked all the glucose from your blood for energy.
Does all that make sense?
A lot of this comes down to the important refueling window right after the workout! Don’t let that time go to waste.
You gotta hit that post-swim bolus harder. 0.2 units doesn’t even cover your disconnect time, and it certainly won’t cover your post-swim carbing.
How much insulin do you need for 40 grams of quick carbs? Take that amount right after you are done, wait a short time, and then take in 40 grams of quick carbs. If your BG is high after you finish, add a correction to the amount you take.
Let’s work on post-swim carbing.
You can swap any carbs you want, cut back earlier or later, but the ones right after you swim are the most important.
If you learn something and can make an adjustment, it’s not a waste. It’s useful.
Here DM:
here is where i get confused. i wasnt giving myself insulin b/c i kept going low (40s) i would eat some fast carbs, only to crash again. when i was finally able to get my BG up to about 115, i figured it was safe to go to sleep. so what i dont understand is that i wasnt consuming any carbs during my nights sleep, so why would my body be needing insulin? it seemed like i already had too much OB.
If your high BG during the night was from dinner, I meant enough insulin to process your dinner carbs.
How many grams of carbs did you have after you finished yesterday?
i had 42 gms post swim with a BG of 112.
my dinner was a typical dinner. i think i might have had a problem with insulin stacking b/c about 2 hours after dinner my BG was 85 and i had a typical lg C of milk (which i ALWAYS need to account for 24 gms) (and thats where the nightmare began)
42 grams and then dinner later, right?
That’s good. Let’s just keep an eye on this sort of thing depending on the intensity of the workout.
Rate how hard you worked yesterday, on a scale of 1-10. Keep that number in mind for the next time you do a similar workout, and let’s start building a chart for you for nighttime BG numbers based on your intensity.
on a scale of 1 - 10 yesterday’s swim was probably a 7. but today, although it was only 1/2 an hour, started with the same intensity. it just didn’t last as long. yesterday was a sustained long hard swim. today was a brief intense swim. (it would have been a 7 as well, but it ended so soon that i would say it ranked about a 4 ) but my body is still tired from yesterday. not achey, just tired.
Keep track of intensity, post-swim carbs, and nighttime basal requirements.
For example, yesterday it was a 7, sufficient post-swim carbs - 42 grams, basal was not enough.
Also, since your endo lowered your basal, let’s keep an eye on it.
went to bed in range last night. woke up at around 5am and bg was 175. didnt correct. woke up for bfast at 172. bolused with correction, and i came right down, but still with a lot of IOB. i am very frustrated.
i think i deff need to have my over-night basals adjusted. during the day i am doing rather well. but the over-nights are killing me.
i feel like i am on a roller coaster. and it is deff effecting my emotional state. all the crazy hormones swimming around in my body. i just want to cry.
How about going back to your settings from 2 weeks ago before your endo messed with them?
Rule #17 - never let ANYONE mess with your pump. 
i just increased my over-night basal from 12am - 6am from .55 to .60. we’ll see how that goes.
i think, hopefully, that if i am waking up in target range, my swim prep will be greatly improved. also, i wont be as tired from bouncing up and down. and, perhaps i wont feel like crying all the time. i have worked so tirelessly on this that i deff wont give up now. i just need to iron things out. I AM UNLIMITED !
(wheres that magic formula???)
not swimming today. spending the time with my husband. deff need some moral support and a fun day.
i’ll let you know how my BGs go.
Rest days are good! Enjoy yourself.