Daisy Mae's swimming BG thread

Sports & Exercise
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1793

SWIMMING AFTER DIAGNOSIS EXPERIMENT # 1:

first let me say that all your prayers got me through these past 2 weeks. so thank you all very much. the “mass” on my spine turned out to be just a shadow, and nothing more than that. HOWEVER, it turns out that i have bi-lateral lumbar osteoarthritis as well as a lower disc that is pushing out from my spine and into several nerves on my right side. this is where all the pain is coming from. for pain management for this type of problem, most pain management doctors are using medicinal marijuana; b/c i have schizophrenia, i am not eligable as it exhasserbates the negative symptoms of the disease. so, right now i am taking 800mg of ibuprofin with percocet twice to 3 times per day. i am also going to have PT twice a week for the next 4 weeks. i also must see a neurologist. all that being said, lets get to the matter at hand: SWIMMING !!!

i have to put in a plug for exercise. all of my week’s fears and aggrevation melted away in the pool with each and every stroke i took. it was sheer Heaven. my numbers were great, too. so i am in a very good mood with the wonderful endorphin rush that comes as a cheap bi-product of the workout.

here are today’s stats:

at 1pm i left the house with a BG of 101. by the time i got to the pool, i had been off all IOB as well as 2.5 hours of 0% basal. from the time i left the house, till the time i got to the pool, my BG jumped from 101 to 120 !! wow, huh? )

1:20 bg120 ( took 1/2 gtab and jumped in)
1:55 bg 112 (took 1/2 gtab)
2:25 bg 103
2:55 bg 93 (bolused 1.6 units, showered dressed, hooked up my pump and walked home)
3:25 bg 110 (bolused 60% of my Boost shakes, 32gms, and its anyone’s best guess if that was enough or too much insulin; who knows, maybe i nailed it. hope so!!! :wink: )

(does anyone out there have back issues as i have? if so, how do you manage it? i would love to know. )

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!!!
signing out,

DM

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1794

@daisymae I’m so glad the report came back as just a shadow. Phew, what a relief, and boy, what stress you’ve been going through. I’m so sorry to hear that you still have pain though. I sure hope the ibuprofin reduces the inflammation and pain. Certainly the swimming helps, both mentally and physically! Gliding through the water with no bodily pressure must be therapeutic in itself.

Great workout and great numbers!! You are incredible! :star_struck: Have a great weekend, and President’s Day. :fireworks:

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1795

I know that oseoarthritis is no picnic but I am so relieved for you that it’s not something worse!!!
You have such a persistent and indomitable spirit and I I have no doubt that you will figure out how to be unlimited even with the arthritis.

Inspiring numbers and swim report!!

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1796

MEASURING MY DISTANCE EXPERIMENT #1:

i know that i always swim between 90 and 120 minutes a session, but i never thought about how FAR i am actually swimming. so today i took ten minutes to check out my timing per lap and then calculate how many miles i am going. i am not the fastest swimmer, mind you, but i get the job done. it takes me 1 minute to swim 50yds. so when i am swimming for 90 minutes, minus stopage time for my finger sticks, i am swimming 2.6 miles. wow. that seems like a lot to me. i had no idea. what a delightful surprise.

my numbers were pretty average today, but there’s nothing wrong with average.

here are the stats:

1pm bg 122
1:25 bg 135
2pm bg 129
2:30 bg 104
3pm bg 93
3:30 bg 90

looking at this trend, which i seem to have every single time i am swimming, as eric has promised, the longer i am off ALL basal, the steadier my BGs remain. right in target without crashing. i took no glucose tablets today. i neither spiked nor crashed. i was on 0% basal for 4 hours in total. i bolused 60% of the carbs needed for my Boost Shakes. dont know if that will be the magjic number, but we’ll find later. :wink:

signing off,
DM

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1797

DARING TO SWIM LOW EXPERIMENT #1:

so today was a big glucose tablet day. i have to say right out that i was anxious most of my swim, so i was not as relaxed as i would like to have been; but, i had faith and continued, pursuing my dream of keeping my BGs at a nice target range throughout. and i accomplished that, so i am pleased, especially knowing, after proving it to myself, that it is possible.

here are the stats:

1pm bg 97
1:30 bg 110 1 tab
2pm bg 94 1 tab
2:30 bg 79 1/2 tab
3pm bg 73 got out and bolused 1.6 units

i am exhausted and sore, but it still feel great. i plan on swimming again tomorrow. i dont know if i can repeat these BG numbers, but i know that if i can, i dont need to be so anxious. I am UNLIMITED.

signing off,
DM

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1798

DM, today looks great!

Beautiful numbers and only 2 1/2 tabs. That is not that much!

Let’s figure out something you can take while swimming!

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1799

i would love to be able to do something like this. i think, though, that it would require me to get out of the pool more frequently to do finger sticks. say, like every 15 minutes in stead of every 1/2 hour. what are your thoughts on this. i would love to be able to keep my numbers in this range all the while swimming harder and stronger and faster without the fear of crashing.

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1800

Can you feel yourself dropping when you are swimming? Do you need to test?

I mean, if you are going to need to get out and test, then you can just eat whatever while you are out of the pool.

But if you can feel the drop, a waterproof bag of something sitting on the side of the pool, with something a bit more water-resistant than gtabs might be easier for you. Like jelly beans or gummy bears. You could grab a couple out of the bag and keep swimming while you are eating them.

Or you could use gel-packs, because those are very small and waterproof.

Something like this. It’s made from honey and would give you a very quick source of carbs.
image

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1801

Nope. unfortunately, i cannot feel myself dropping at all while i am swimming. i am usually pretty sensitive to the symptoms when i get into my 50s, but anything above 60 i dont notice at all when i am NOT in the water. in the water, i couldnt tell you if i were 60 or 160. i know that might sound unbelievable, but thats just the way it is. as well, even when i was using the dexcom, i would be “out of range” for the most part b/c the pool is 25yds long in each direction so it was never a helpful tool for me.

any other suggestions or ideas?

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1802

Neither can my son.

Same for him again: not unbelievable at all. I suspect it is true of most swimmers.

When my son was swimming daily, we had a good ongoing routine when he would come out just in time for his Dexcom pulse (which comes every 5 minutes) every 20 minutes, then go straight back in. So for us the Dexcom worked well that way :slight_smile:

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1803

i know that if i were swimming in my own (private) pool, i would be able to have a better system. i could put all of my “gear” at the poolside edge, and just pop out for a second to test every fifteen minutes or so. in the pool i swim at (YMCA), i have to share the lane with other swimmers. there are 6 lanes to use, but sometimes only 4 of them are available for “open” swim (sometimes there are classes or children or “water yoga.” ) one lane is for the slow swimmers, then there are 2 medium speed lanes and a fast lane. just recently they created a new lane called medium/fast, which has been very helpful to us who are in between speeds. there is a maximum of 6 swimmers per lane, so in the event (in my case) you have to pop out to test your BG, you could lose your lane spot and have to stand around and wait for someone to leave their lane before getting right back into the pool. (this is why i dont swim on the weekends, and this is why i swim at the same time every day of the week; the pool is mostly empty from 1 to 3pm.)

Timing is everything when it comes to a local pool :laughing:

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1804

Sounds like a vacation home in Hawai’i/Florida with your own pool might do the trick! :sunny:

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1805

@sam and I will come and visit you often, most generally in winter :slight_smile:

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1806

Me, too! :smile:

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1807

SWIMMING WITH IOB EXPERIENCE EXPERIMENT #1:

this morning did not work as it usually does for me. i woke up at the same time as always, i ate the same breakfast as always, and i waited to test my BG 2.5 hours after my last bolus as always. usually, i am in perfect target range. i wake up around 70 - 100 and 2.5 hours later, i am about the same. well, this morning did not work like that. 2.5 hours post bolus, my BG spiked to 152 !!! OMG. dont know why, but it just was what it was. now i was in a bind. what to do? cancell my swim? NO WAY!!! so i figured if i bolused a bit to bring down my BG, despite still having IOB left over from bfast, i could get myself back into my target range. so thats what i did. i bolused .7 units, and in 2 hours, i came back down to 95. but then i began to drop, and i was just shy of cursing myself for doing the bolus. maybe i should have left well enough alone.

oh well. when you get lemons…make lemonade. i decided to push my prep time of ZB an hour later so that i could buffer the extra IOB, and that i would be ready with my handy jug of Gtabs ready by my side.
at 12 noon i turned off my pump. my BG was 84 and i had .1 unit OB. at 12:30 i was up to 112, so i bolused .1 units. i waited another 1/2 hour and my BG had climbed to 122, so i took another .1 bolus. i seemed to be holding steady in that range, and when i got to the pool, my BG was 127. not so bad if i were on 0% Basal; but now i had .3 units OB and a 1/2 less time of ZB than my usual 2.5 hours.

well, my quick thinking (having been guided by our beloved Eric for the past 2 1/2 years) told me that even though 127 was an ample number to jump in the pool with, i better take a tablet to compensate for the remaining active insulin. i swam my heart out. i swam harder and faster than ever. i didnt know if that 1 little glucose tablet would spike me, have no effect on me, or not have been enough. i just trusted in some higher source that i would be fine. that’s what eric tells me whenever i am in a panicked or anxious state: “you’ll be fine.”

when i got out 1/2 hour later to test, my BG was 91. i took 2 Gtabs, and jumped right back in…

anyway, i’ll give you the low down on my stats, but all of this is to say that there is room everywhere to make adjustments and continue to be UNLIMITED.

todays stats:

2:20 bg 127 took 1 gtab
3pm bg 91 took 2 gtabs
3:30 bg 109
3:55 bg 96
4:20 bg 88

today was a great day. (the pool was very very crowded though. tomorrow i will plan on going during my regular time at 1pm; what a difference an hour makes)

thanks for all of your continued support. it keeps me going to know that you all have my back !! :blush:

signing out,
DM

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1808

You are awesome! Look at those numbers. I love the adjustment you made today. You have it all figured out now!

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1809

I’m afraid I do that all too frequently! But, man, your perseverance paid off perfectly. You definitely made some great lemonade :slight_smile:

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1810

i do make a killer lemonade, this is true :wink:

overnight while i was testing, i continued to go low, no matter how much carbs i took in to correct. i know i should have done an overnight lowered TB, but we cant remember everything all the time. also, everything is right in hindsight. so when i woke up this morning, my BG was 39, and it took me almost 3 hours, to get it up into target in order to have some bfast. so, all of the tricks in my magic bag were close to useless. and, i am sore as hell from the last 3 days of swimming. i decided to take today off and re-coop.

also, as i was going low all of last evening, i am going to change my ICR for dinnertime to accommodate that, so i will not get as much insulin bolus with my dinner meal. this happened to me a while back when i was swimming 5 days a week (before my pneumonia). currently, i am on a 1:12 IC for dinner, now i am changing it back to 1:14. that should help a lot. (at least it worked well for me the last time!!) :sunny:

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1811

How much did you have for dinner last night?

You swam hard yesterday, and your body is going to get it all back from you, one way or the other. Eat well after that type of workout!

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1812

i had 3 slices rye bread with 2 servings of tuna salad with avocado and salad.

how far (distance) do you think i swam yesterday? i was doing a 45 second pace for 50yds for 90 minutes. how many miles does that come out to? i stink at math and you’re the FUD genious; could you figure that out for me please? thanks eric!!! :blush:

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