today i was only able to swim for 1 hour as we had dinner plans with some friends. ugh. i was so enjoying myself in the pool, all i could think about was cancelling the damn dinner date. my BGs were excellent, but i made the dreaded mistake of UNDER-bolusing my correction when i got out of the pool. i have been so insulin sensitive lately that i only bolused .7 units. when i got home, i tested an hour after the bolus and i had spiked to 200. no big deal. live and learn.
the irony of the whole situation is that we had to cancel our dinner date, and i could have swam for another hour. god, i remember when one hour was tiring. now its when i am just getting warmed up.
my BGs were nothing exceptional, but they were good; and, i challenged myself by leaving for the pool under a BG of 130.
1pm bg 119
1:15 bg 125
1:45 bg 135
2:15 bg 145
2:45 bg 131 (post swim bolus .7 units; i should have known better, but i was erring on the side of caution b/c i didnt want to go low in some restaurant during dinner with friends.)
so, other that the spike, i had a nice flatline swim. very proud. now all i would like to see is a 2 hour flatline.
seeing my endo tomorrow. (the idiot) and he will download my FreeStyle Libre Pro. i only had it on 10 days this time, b/c it fell off in the pool (it was supposed to be waterproof). i deff need to tweak my over-night basals and my I:C ratio. i have to under bolus for meals now b/c i keep going low. i think that this is a result of my swimming. i’m certain that eric will know the answer to that
so thats all the news that’s fit to print today. would love some of your supportive feedback !
DM
Hey, when did you start swimming?!? Was it at 1:45? That’s flat!!
Good work today!
Going low in a restaurant is the best time! You can buy stuff to eat!
For normal weeks, where you are swimming each day of the week, you probably need to bolus more on Monday and less on Friday. Progressively it requires less and less…
yeah, thats pretty much the case, b/c last friday, i hardly needed any insulin to correct. and even with a very small amount, i went low. but now, its 2 1/2 hours post bolus, and i am stable at 200. so i bolused for dinner with correction. no worries. S happens.
of course as far as the restaurant thing goes, i didnt want to go there anyway. so it was no loss
just got home from a long day in the waiting room at my endo’s office. (what a schmuck that man is; i sat there and kept asking myself “what am i doing here?”)
ended up seeing the NP (who was unfortunately there just on his rotation). he was wonderful knowledgable and pleasant and respectful. he knew a lot more than my darned endo did about exercise and T1D. asked me all sorts of questions :what time of day did i swim; did i swim at the same time of day every day; what did i eat for lunch before i swam; what did i carbo load with after i was finished swimming (that made me think of, hummmm, ERIC ); did i think that my overnight lows were b/c of my swimming, was i eating enough carbs, or did i think they were a basal issue; on and on and on. where has this guy been hiding? and so young and good looking as well well, the next time i go back there is to see the wonderful CDE/nutritionist who i love; i won’t be seeing the endo until september for prescriptions and blood work. and shortly after that, i will be seeing the new endo who came so highly recommended to me by another endo (sadly working in LA CA) who i greatly respect. Mount Sinai Hospital, NYC.
going away for 2 weeks, so no swimming reports, but i will do my very best to get in some lake swimming in upstate new york. also, some horseback riding and hiking. got to keep on my toes and keep those pesky A1cs down in range
just returned from Fire Island. swam in the ocean every day. did everything i was told not to do regarding my IOB and disconnecting from my pump before going into the water.( well of course i disconnected before diving in .)
well i just want to report: success. i went in with my BGs a little elevated, but was able to ride the waves without incident. i did however bounce a little high once i got back to the house before dinner. but no biggy.
now its back to the pool for me. got to get my laps in. back to my regular routine. YAY
so today was my first day back in the pool after two weeks of sloth (just kidding; i actually did a ton of exercise while i was away, including swimming, but just not pool laps)
i thought i would take it easy, but my body disagreed. it was a moderate 2 hour swim; pushed myself a lot. reached a high of 130BG and a low of 120BG. cannot believe that i went into the pool at 130 !!! OMG. a record for me.
i must give Eric most of the credit for this accomplishment. i just followed his advice and challenged myself every day i was in the pool. its working.
so as far as swimming goes, i will have to make new goals. this is really a life UNLIMITED
i was a little low when i started out this morning, but i prebolused .4 as opposed to .5 units. otherwise everything else remained the same.
i did get too aggressive with my post swim bolus, though (1.7 units ). i ended up crashing about 3 hours afterwards. not a bad crash, though; only down to 60 till i decided to bolus anyway and eat some dinner. (i just over-road my Wizard, which will not allow me to bolus for anything under 70 )
it was a great swim. so nice to be back in the pool again. it was feeling like forever that i was away. happy to be home.
btw, how much of a bolus do you think i should try giving myself tomorrow after my swim if 1.7 units was too much today? its still a total of 4.5 hours off basal.
I am not Eric by any means, but how many carbs did it take you to recover? Use this amount to estimate how much extra insulin you delivered, then subtract this amount from the post swim bolus.
@Chris asked the same thing I was going to ask:
How many carbs did you have?
If you crashed, it might not be too much insulin, it could be too few carbs.
Your IC is somewhere between 1:10 and 1:15, right? In that case, 1.7 units is practically nothing! Considering what you burn in 2 hours of swimming, you need to take in a good bit to help restore that for tomorrow’s swim. Otherwise, by the time you get to Friday, your tank will be empty.
I suggest simple sugars, at least 40 grams. If you did have at least 40 grams of simple sugar, and 1.7 units was still too much, we can figure out some post-swim formulas for you.
Usually you would reduce your I:C ratio following a workout. But since you were off basal for 4.5 hours, you don’t need to reduce it as much. The lack of basal kind of cancels out the reduced I:C ratio…
So the simple thing to start with is, how many carbs did you have, and what type?
what percentage of insulin to carbs do i take for covering my carbs post swim? and if my basal rate is .55/hour what percentage of bolus do i need to replace my missed basal for 4.5 hours?
If you were not disconnected, I would suggest you use about 40% of your IC ratio for post-swim carbs.
But since you are disconnected, part of what you are taking is replacing lost basal, and the other part is for the carbs. And those two parts - together - might be close to your normal IC.
So let’s figure out some good numbers for you. Yesterday you had 1.7 units and crashed. But how much did you have post-swim? And what type of carbs? Fast, or slowly metabolized?
Sure, when you got out of the pool you dosed. Then your tracing went something like this:
When you recognized you were low, you ate some carbs to recover. How many? How high did the carbs take you? Using this information and your mid-afternoon dosing ratio, you can calculate how much extra insulin you gave, or how many additional carbs you need to eat after exercise to avoid the low.
yesterday post swim, i forgot to drink my chocolate energy drink. i get nervous about giving myself bolus insulin for carbs after i swim. i just dont know what percentage of bolus i should give; for example, if i am drinking 36 gms how much bolus should i give myself? do i take 50% of that ( which would be about enough to cover 16 grms? ) or do i give myself enough to cover the entire 36 gms?
i ended up going all the way down to 53; i ate 2 Gtabs and a piece of chocolate. an hour later i was at 80 bg. then by 11pm, i shot up to 150. i gave myself a correction bolus of .5 and then went to sleep. i woke up at 5 am at 175. usually, i am on the low side during the night and early morning. i corrected this high at bfast and am now back in my target range. ( its almost noon )
so today i want to try the entire experiment again today. i just want to know how much insulin to cover my chocolate/ protein drink after a 2 hour swim. (disconnected from my pump for 4.5 hours ) and, do i take the “replenishment” bolus at the same time as the carb bolus? b/c i need to walk home from the pool which takes about 15 minutes. can i take the “replenishment” bolus after my swim and then take the carb bolus once i walk in my front door?
I suggest simpleness here. Yes, take your post-swim bolus as soon as you get out of the pool. Right away!
Just take a bolus for the carbs you are going to have. This is kind of combined with all the basal you lost, but since you are super-sensitive when you are done, just to simplify it, let’s call it a bolus for carbs.
Start with a bolus of 50% of your normal IC. That’s just a starting point, you might need to tinker with it a bit over time.
So if you are going to take 40 grams of sugar after your swim, bolus for 20 grams as soon as you get out of the pool, and if your BG is not too low, walk home and then take the post-swim carbs. If you are low when you get out of the pool, then take the carbs right away.
Following the 40 grams, test and add carbs as needed.
Tomorrow, DM’s swimming body will thank you for the post-swim carbs you took today…
well, the next time i go back there is to see the wonderful CDE/nutritionist who i love; i won’t be seeing the endo until september for prescriptions and blood work. and shortly after that, i will be seeing the new endo who came so highly recommended to me by another endo (sadly working in LA CA) who i greatly respect. Mount Sinai Hospital, NYC.
