I really appreciate your detailed notes, @daisymae. I’m sure others do, too, although we don’t always respond. I’m going through similar lows and really appreciate seeing how you are resolving them. I’ve yet to get a handle on mine but am trying similar lower basals. I forgot to lower it tonight so am experiencing a low right now as a result:(
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tonight i pre-bolused 15 minutes before eating dinner. i think that on my swim days my post meal crashes are a result of this. i experienced the same problem tonight of crashing right after finishing dinner. i think i am just too sensitive to insulin after my workouts.
the change in my ICR, though, worked very well. i treated my low with carbs, was able to turn off the TB, and have leveled off at 113. feeling wonderful now. (i found that if i eat fast carbs immediately for a low, and i dont over-shoot my target, if i have some slow fatty carbs, like cheese or peanut butter, i will stabilize nicely.)
also, something that eric suggested to me tonight was brilliant:
on swim days, have a separate dinnertime ICR than on non-swim days. i think that might just solve many of my issues with post meal lows. i am eager to try it out tomorrow, when i am NOT swimming. (also, i see my endo tomorrow, so i can discuss a lot of this with him)
good luck with your BGs!!
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Thanks for your tips w/ lows and I’m glad it is working for you. After having the low after dinner I reduced my basal 50% and had 7 cherries. It stayed low 'til I went to bed but I figured it would eventually come up since cherries really affect me. Well, this morning I woke to 240 finger stick!
I should have stayed up and returned my basal back to normal but the low sort of wiped me out and I forgot all about switching from my reduced basal:(
I have to be more diligent with adjusting basal after a run, and also REMEMBERING to return them back to normal. I probably should use the temp basal but instead I’ve setup a few different basal settings.
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Trying: first off, thanks for sharing!!
since you know the results of eating cherries, why dont you just do a correction with something else or eat less of them? also, one of the things that i do from time to time, depending on my swimming schedule, is to set a TB to start when i get out of the pool. (when i disconnect and i put my pump into my locker, i pre-set it so that when i hook up again, the pump is already set at the TB that i need, so if i space out, i dont need to worry)
i dont know which pump you are using, but my pump ( MM) can be programed to shut off whenever i want it to. for example, i can turn on an 80% TB for 4 hours, and then at the 4 hour point, the TB shuts off and my pump goes right back to 100% .
i’m sorry if this doesnt answer your problem. this is just my experience. but, we’re all human and we can make mistakes. no judgment here, just correct your high bg and move on.
LATEST ENDO APPOINTMENT AND HIS TAKE ON MY D MANAGEMENT WITH SWIMMING:
well, first off, my A1c went up. my latest is now 5.3%. not bad. secondly, we talked a lot about many of the things i discuss with eric, and he was totally cool and on the ball about all of it.
(just to confirm that eric isnt as crazy as we all think he is 
.)
we talked about things like muscle glycogen, carbs and swimming refuel. we discussed my post dinner bolus crashes, and his idea was to have a separate ICR for swim days and that i should try a 1:16 ICR on swim days and a 1:12 on non-swim days for dinner, but that i should feel free to experiment with everything. he only made one basal change to curb my 2am spike, but thought that i had my basals under great control.
he’s very big on experimentation. so whenever i tell him my swimming experiments he is curious to know what works and what doesnt work. he doesnt judge or criticise which i really like and respect.
he gave me a few insulin pen samples of Levimir and Novolog. (got to love the free-bees )
all my blood work was great. my thyroid medication was right on target. (phew, b/c thats been a real PITA)
there is so much more, but i wanted to stick to anything that refers to my swimming as well as my starting on the dexcom. i am anxious but excited about it. i placed it on the outside of my upper left thigh (i was wearing shorts, so it was easy to place, and i had enough flesh there for comfort.) i just finished my first callibration. OMG. here goes!!!
signing off,
DM
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Sorry for the delay in responding. Thank you very much for your advice. Yes, I agreed, I probably ate too many cherries. 4 would have been sufficient but I got anxious with no change in bg after half an hour, and ate another three! I know from experience not to do this but I relay myself.
I use the omnipod and yes, I can program temp basal just add you describe. I use them sometimes but also use programmed basal as I did the other evening. Probably would have been better to use the temp basal. Another mistake, another day!! Last night was much better, waking up at 95. So far today, no lows and no highs! Pretty usual for me. This morning I used your and @Eric’s method to do ZB for my ruin on the beach and it worked pretty well. No low!!! I also took 2u immediately after the run to compensate for the missed basal and pre bolus for refueling. I didn’t actually eat for nearly an hour since my bg continued to rise from 95 to 120 when it began a down trend. So I started my run at 95 and ended my run at 95. That has to be a first for me! I suspended my basal half hour before the run at bg of 120 then it started a down trend so I ended up eating 4 cherries before the run.
Anyway, it all worked very well. I want to thank you again for sharing your method. I’m slowly incorporating them and so far so good!!! 
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Super Dr appt, and super results!! All that swimming and effort is definitely the way to go!
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glad part of yesterday went so well !
i cannot say the same for last night. i went down to 21 BG. OMG. drank juice immediately and had two Oreos. this happened twice, and then i spiked to 333 before bedtime. i had to give myself 3 IM shots and put on a TB of 150% for 4 hours. i woke up in range, but soon came on to the same problem. my BGs are all over the place and i am having terrible control. this is about the first time in many many years that this has happened to me, and all i want to do is to cry. 
i changed my pump out this morning. maybe i will see some balance today. i just wish this would pass. i mean, it always passes, i just wish it will pass sooner rather than later.
i am really happy for you with you running BG results. its awesome when that happens!!! 
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OMG, that was a severe low last night. I’m so sorry, I hope I did not jinx you:( I’ve had many of these lows so know exactly how you feel. I hope the pump change resolves it. I also hope the Dexcom helps once you are using it. Make sure to use the alarms at night! I often turn mine off so I’m not continually disturbed, but that of course, defeats its purpose:(
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i have found that the dexcom runs very low for me (so far). some times it has been acurate, but not enough to trust in. it will show 40BG when in fact from a finger stick i am 80. so the alarms were going off all night long. did not make for a good night’s rest 
today i have been running high (for me) . i am feeling very frustrated and could just scream!
i really want to go swimming tomorrow. i dont want any of these crazy BGs get in my way.
(i’ve been stable now for a couple of hours at a BG of 110. i pray it stays around there!!! )
Sometimes when you first start a sensor it takes a day or two, sometimes even 3 days before it is accurate, at least for me. Hang in there, I think once you get used to it you’ll find it really helps. Praying for stable BGs to continue!
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BGs started trending down again. ugh. i am at 56 right now and the dexcom says that i am going straight arrow down. i took 2 Gtabs and am waiting to come back up. i am hungry and want to eat a proper dinner. i hope i dont get a repeat of last night. if i do, i will lower my basal rate for this time of night. that could be the cultprit. so much frustration! i really want to go swimming tomorrow, so i would like to remain in target. ugh.
(but on another note: the dexcom seems to be getting more in line with my finger sticks, so perhaps it is settling in and becoming more accurate. i truly hope so.)
Yikes, 56 and trending down sounds like basal is too high. I’m similar though! I’m at 65 but mostly flat. I reduced my basal 50% for just an hour, this time using a temp basal.
I’m glad the Dexcom is more aligned with your fingerstick.
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BG leveled off after 2 Gtabs. just ate a healthy dinner and am now hoping that my ICR is appropriate for this time of night; i was just on the cusp of the hours between 1 ICR and a completely different one. i didnt know which one to use, so i erred on the side of caution and gave myself less insulin (out of fear of going low at bedtime). fingers crossed.
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Fingers crossed!
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another terrible night. highs, lows, bad nights sleep. watched the world cup and opted out of swimming today.
on a great note, though, my dexcom has become in sync. i wouldnt bolus over it, but is enough info that i know where i stand with my BGs. so i guess i found a sweet spot on my left thigh.
thank god for small favors. (actually, BIG favors 
)
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DIDNT SWIM IN 3 DAYS EXPERIMENT # 1:
OMG. what a difference exercise has on my body than when i lay around and sloth. everything was effected. ( i wasnt slothing so much b/c i didnt want to swim, i had just had 2 back to back terrible nights in a row with my BGs; crashing and then spiking terribly; dex alarms going off all night long,etc, and i was beyond exhaustion and fatigue.)
my Bgs were effected, my ICRs were effected. my whole body just needed so much more insulin than when i am swimming. and for whatever reason, it did not occur to me to do a TB or change my basal profile on my pump. i just struggled unnecessarily. silly me.
but, today was the 1st day that i got to wear my new Dexcom in the pool 
. my thigh seemed to be an ideal site location. it was comfortable wearing it there; it did not interupt my swimming at all. didnt even notice that it was there. i did, however, check it a couple of times just to make certain it hadnt fallen off. (i had this fear that it would peal off in the water and not only would i lose the sensor, but i would lose the transmitter as well; and then i would spend the rest of my day under water, scouring the entire bottom of the pool just to find it.) but it stayed stuck in place and it even did not go out of range. i did have to recalibrate it once i got out of the pool, but no big deal.
my numbers stunk today, but i know that that is b/c i hadnt been swimming and had a difficult time keeping them in target range. but once i started swimming, they realigned themselves to my “normal” levels.
here are todays stats:
1:20 BG 163
2pm BG 159
2:30 BG 135
3pm BG 113
i just want to add that i drank copious amounts of water before my swim in an unsuccessful attempt to bring my BG down; this usually works like a charm, but today it had relatively no impact whatsoever (or maybe it did and i just didnt realize it b/c my BG was so high.)
so, i’ll be back in the pool tomorrow. i have changed (again) my dinner ICR to give me even less insulin when i bolus due to the endless lows i get after eating (which coincides with the insulin’s peaking impact) this is just an experiment, so anything could happen. it was just something that my endo suggested i try out. i will let you know how it goes. like all other experiments, its a crap shoot. anything goes. but it would be really nice if it worked this first time out of the gate .
signing off,
DM
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I have never done this before, but I wanted to make a prediction. DM is currently in the pool as I post this.
I am predicting phenomenal numbers from DM today.
Alright, DM. Let’s see what happened…
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SWIMMING WAS HARD WORK TODAY EXPERIMENT# 1:
so i read eric’s post, and i can tell you right off that i did not have phenomenal numbers today, but i worked really hard anyway. it was so crowded in the pool that i wanted to bail out and leave early, but i stuck it out; every stroke was an effort b/c i wasnt enjoying myself as i usually do.
the funny thing is that one of the reasons i continued swimming was that i was really looking forward to my chocolate refuel shakes that i drink once i get home. silly, i know, but hey, whatever keeps ya in the pool, is good enough for me .
now at 12:30, one hour before jumping into the pool, my BG was 96, and i thought,“wonderful; right on target.” but then i got to the pool, and my BG had jumped to 130. amazing what being on 0% basal for 2.5 hours can do to you!
since my BGs were high starting out, i didnt need any Gtabs today, so i think i just burned off my own glucose (eric will have the answer to that one; i am not certain how the physiology works).
here are todays (unremarkable ) stats:
1:20 BG 130
2pm BG 118
2:30 BG 96
3pm BG 84
3:30 BG 77
my new dexcom went “out of range” until i got out of the pool. but it came right back on the moment i was back in the locker room. amazing. also, i am glad that i kept everything secure in small plastic sandwich baggies. it was tumultuous here when i was leaving the pool, and everything was soaked. i ran all the way home just trying to keep my pump dry. when i finally walked in the door, i looked like i had been swimming in my clothing. ( thank god i was wearing a bra under my white T-shirt ) and thank god for my very thoughtful husband who met me at our front door with an enormous, dry towel
another note regarding my dexcom: it was perfectly in sync with my finger stick when i got out of the pool and during my walk home, but now the darn “low alarm” will not stop screaming at me. my finger stick says that i am at 77 (i checked 3 times) but the dexcom is reading 51. it wont let me calibrate it because it is reading LOW. is this something normal i shouldnt worry myself over? should i just ignore it?
anyway, that’s really all the news that’s fit to print. so…
signing off,
DM
oh yeah, PS: you know how i’ve been having trouble crashing after dinner every night, and how i have been writing about IS and changing my ICRs? well, i have been doing more experimenting, and i am moving my ICR tonight up to 1:17 (remember that i started at 1:10 , then 1:12, 1:13, etc etc.) so we’ll see how that works for me. i hope i get it down tonight.
Yes, you got it! That’s it exactly.
DM, get one of these. Much more durable than a sandwich bag.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0065TKDD4/
What would you think about changing to a two hour ZB, instead of 2.5 hours?