i think i should relocate, now that my husband’s retired, to some nicer climate (San Diego??) where we could buy a house with a very large, long pool. then i wouldnt have to wait for lanes to open up, wouldnt have to worry about rush hour swimmers, etc. i could swim ANY time i wanted, and i could swim 7 days a week. i would never be diabetic again 
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SWIMMING EXPERIMENT : AVOIDING TERRIBLE EVENING CRASHES #2
so last night i tried something utterly new: instead of doing hours of TBs, when i started to go low (50-ish) i suspended my pump for 1/2 hour. i ate 2 Gtabs and a piece of chocolate to correct. within a 1/2 hour, my BG came up to 63 and in another 45 minutes my BG was 92. i ate a small piece of cheese and a handful of nuts without bolusing. and within another hour my BG had come up to 103. bedtime.
my overnight was miraculously uneventful. i woke up at 3am to do a finger stick and then again at 5am. when i woke up this morning, my BG was 88. a night without crashing. miraculous!!!
however, i learned a new lesson this morning: i have needed to change my ICR again. originally it was set at 6.5 when i began swimming, now i had it set for 9 (breakfast time), and i crashed 1 hour after eating down to 47. i corrected and i was fine, but this has happend 2 days in a row, eating the exact same Bfast; so, i changed the ICR to 9.5 and we’ll see what happens tomorrow morning.
my swim was wonderful. i swam on the low side for my comfort zone, but i just kept at it and all was well. i am exhausted. my entire body feels so mellow. my arms in particular are very tired. but i am getting more and more courageous with going into the pool with lower BGs, so today was another milestone swim for me. of course, YDMV, as i know my BGs and yours will forever be different. what one person considers HIGH, another might consider “normal” etc.
here are todays stats:
1:20 BG 113 (took 1 Gtab and jumped in)
2pm BG 91 ( took 1/2 Gtab)
2:30 BG 83
3pm BG 74 (gave myself 2 units )
3:30 BG 110 (gave myself 1 unit for refuel; which i am still experimenting with. i drink a concoction of 2% Lactaid Milk, Whole Lactaid Milk, and 3 lg TBS of Ovaltine; this comes to around about 30gms of fast carbs, and what happens is that i spike right away and stay high for almost 2 hours, but then my BG comes down on its own right back into target range without any bolus correction. i have yet to figure out how to avoid the spike, and wonder why on earth it comes back down; if anyone knows the answer to this, or has any suggestions, i am open to any and everything. so please dont be shy. i can always use the help.
still, i am feeling really good about this accomplishment. it seems that when i resolve one glitch, another one comes along and challenges me. forever a work in progress.
signing off for today,
DM
Great numbers today!
You took 2 units at 3pm and another 1 unit at 3:30pm when you drank the Ovaltine.
To help avoid that spike, how about taking 3 units right when you get out of the pool, and then drink the Ovaltine when you get home?
Taking that 1 unit 30 minutes sooner will get more active insulin in your system.
This will definitely help.
So do it like this:
3pm - 3 units
3:30pm - Ovaltine!
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I agree with @Eric. Whenever I see a spike that comes down on its own, it’s due to not pre-bolusing adequately.
Congrats on figuring out how to avoid the nighttime lows! I hope this strategy continues to work for you.
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Another thought I just had - you said you drop about 2 hrs after the ovaltine, which would be 5:30ish? But don’t you start dropping anyway at that time normally? What time did the drop happen today? Is it possible it came down because of that drop, and really you need more insulin to cover the ovaltine? I know that will leave you with more IOB when you start dropping, but I also remember you saying you can’t pre-bolus very much because you drop too soon.
Disregard if I’m misremembering things. This thinking back on things is what happens when I’m sitting here bored, feeding a baby a bottle. 
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well, i know this about spiking, so i am pretty good about pre-bolusing. i gave myself a good 1/2 hour before drinking the Ovaltine. but the funny thing is, i did it exactly the same today as i did yesterday, and i didnt spike at all.
in any case, i suspended my pump for 1/2 an hour before eating when i felt the crash coming on, and then i ate a big dinner. all worked out well. i just tested my BG and 2.5 hours post meal i am 80 and feeling very well. i am also drinking copious amounts of water; feeling very very thirsty tonight. (maybe i should have hydrated myself better during my swim) 
(also, your memory is excellent; i am the one who could not do long pre-boluses. the only time i can give myself a long pre-bolus is when my BGs are high (above 120 ) otherwise, i wait 15 minutes before eating, unless i am around 70, and then i dont pre-bolus for more than 5 minutes)
Monday you went swimming after a week off and shoveling food in your mouth for 7 days. Tuesday you went swimming after…swimming the day before! It is no surprise that you would have 2 different results. Those 2 days are totally different scenarios. Consecutive days of exercise will amplify the effect.
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why do i always forget that? duh.
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hmmm, maybe you need to exercise for two days in a row, then take 7 days off and shovel food in your mouth, then rinse and repeat until you remember.
just saying.
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i like the way that you think
SUCCESSFUL POST SWIMMING REFUEL EXPERIMENT # 1:
after 4 hours off of my pump, with no IOB, including no Basal, and 1.5 hours of swimming laps rather strenuously, i dashed home to refuel with milk and Ovaltine, just as i have been doing for at least a week now (but unsuccessfully). i took the suggestion someone very kind had posted about pre-bolusing longer to avoid the spike i was getting from the fast carbs (which were then followed by a terrible crash).
guess what: it worked perfectly!!!
then, i took another one of eric’s suggestions: when i started going low, eat dinner.
guess what: it worked perfectly!
then, after i ate, i SUSPENDED my pump for 1/2 hour, and the evening and the over-night went off without a glitch. no lows, no highs; just steady, in target BGs.
YAHOO ! (thats one problem solved.and hopefully that recipe will repeat itself after my next swim on this coming monday, memorial day.)
signing off:
DM
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SWIMMING EXPERIMENT AFTER A WEEK OFF BECAUSE OF ILLNESS #1:
OMG. today stunk. i couldnt find my groove. my first 15 minutes of warm-up, i felt spastic and as if i had forgotten how to swim. i was trying to focus on the quality of my stroke, but it just wouldnt work. i kept trying to root myself along, but it just became frustrating. also, i had terrible acid reflux and felt like i might throw-up in the pool. (not a pleasant way to swim 
)
i still swam as hard as i could for the last hour, but nothing improved. my BG numbers werent even that good. better than last year, but not up to par for what i have been getting the past 3 months or so.
in any event, i still persevered and swam for 1.5 hours as usual, as best as i could. the best part of it was the great adrenaline rush afterwards (and that’s pretty great, so i cant complain )
here are the stats:
1:20 BG 122
2pm BG 144 (which i still cannot figure out and have no explanation for)
2:30 BG 119
3pm BG 103
3:30 BG 103
repeated the post-swim refuel the way i did in my last post (refer to previous post up above). i hope that it works out as wonderfully and successfully. i’ll find out later. plus, i will eat well before i crash so i will have some good carbs to hold my BG steady for the rest of the evening. i’ll let you all know how that goes. i would like to see some patterns that i can rely upon for the future recoveries.
signing off,
DM
PS: the best part of my swim was that there was no one in the pool, which i owe to the holiday. that was luxurious.
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Those are the BEST days!!!, you feel like a real richy rich person who can afford a whole pool to themselves. Love those days.
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Unfortunately, despite a 1/2 hour pre-bolus, i spiked again an hour after drinking my re-fuel shake. but now, without the help of any insulin, my BGs are coming back down.
this is a complete mystery to me.
anyone out there with any bright ideas that might help?
DM
sorry to hear it was a blah swim, but those numbers are still fabulous!
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thanks TiaG. hopefully todays swim will be better.
last night was difficult. i crashed after dinner down to 30 BG. drank juice till i got up to 144. but then i came down again to 94. i turned on a 90% TB and went to sleep. middle of the night at 3am, i was a little over 200. did a correction and went back to sleep. just woke up and am at 107.
hopefully i wont have the same problem later today. hate those roller coasters
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man that’s rough! the rollercoasters are the worst!!
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ANOTHER EXPERIMENT WITH MY POST SWIM RE-FUEL BOLUS #2:
just returned from the pool and drinking my tasty re-fuel shake. i gave myself a full 1/2 hour before drinking it, so i am hoping not to spike. each time i spike, i do come down without any insulin, but then i crash.
it confuses me how i should bolus for dinner, b/c i dont know what BG to base my bolus on. i mean, i know how many carbs i will be eating, and i know my ICR at the time, but what BG do i use when i am 83 one minute and then 70 five minutes later, and crashing?
i mean, come on you other athletes; chime in with your experiences and your trials and errors! i know for a fact that eric isnt the only one who exercises on the FUD site!!!
here are the stats:
1:15 BG 99 (took 1.5 Gtabs 5 minutes before jumping in)
2pm BG 106 (took 1/2 Gtab and jumped right back in)
2:30 BG 112
3pm BG 90
4pm BG 78
it was a great swim.( nothing like yesterday’s crummy one.) i felt strong, coordinated, and calm. very peaceful, and now, that major endorphin rush 
.
signing out,
DM
There is no exact formula for this, because it is not always the same. It varies based on how fast you are dropping and how low you are and what you are having for dinner (amount of carbs and glycemic index) and how long before your dinner you are pre-bolusing and how many carbs you had after you finished swimming and all the other things.
But the very simple answer when you are crashing is some combination of less insulin and less pre-bolus time.
I think dropping right before I eat is ideal, because it can prevent a spike.
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can you explain this for me? i dont quite understand.
also, as i began crashing from my Ovaltine shake (from 151 to 93 w/in an hour) i suspended my pump and did not bolus for my dinner at all. (but it was turkey and salad and barely a nibble of carbs.)
i would have liked to have a bigger dinner, but i wanted a trial and error of eating without bolusing. normally, i would have had to account for 10 gms of carbs for the turkey; thats pretty close to 2 Gtabs. 2 Gtabs would raise me anywhere from 20 - 40 points. so if i go a bit high from the turkey, i figure but dont really know for certain, it will be rather easily repairable.
we’ll see.