i discovered something new today: i was having a very challenging time getting my BGs to cooperate today while i was prepping for my swim. i turned off my pump at 11:30 this morning when my BG was 90 and i gave myself a tiny bolus of .2 units. each half hour i test to see the direction of my BGs. well, usually, they rise slightly in small increments while i wait for 2 hours of ZB with no other IOB.
as i have written in the past, i like to start swimming with a BG of 130/140 so that i dont have any fear of crashing and i can swim as hard and as fast as i want. well, today, instead of my BGs rising, they fell. at one point i tried to nudge them along by taking 1/4 of a Gtab. it had absolutely no effect.
so i did the next best thing: instead of being on ZB for 2.5 hours before my swim, i took an additional 15 minutes before jumping in; i know that may not seem like a lot, but apparently it made all of the difference in the world. i think i will use this in the future when this problem arises again. i was able to swim with low BGs without crashing and barely relying on using more Gtabs during my swim.
i must say that today, for several hours, i HATED being a diabetic. yes, i can be UNLIMITED, but man did i have a lot of frustration and anger. but once i was in the pool, all of that melted away. now i am just feeling happy to have learned a new trick which i can use in the future when/ if needed,
here are today’s stats:
1:30 bg 87 left for the pool
1:50 bg 110 took 1 Gtab and waited 15 minutes and then jumped into the pool
2:45 bg 95 took 1/2 a Gtab and jumped right back in (no wait time)
3:15 bg 86
(also, today i only swam for 1 hour. i was thoroughly exhausted from yesterday’s swim. but i did swim strongly, and i really pushed myself hard)
no, i dont. my system is based upon what my BG is BEFORE i turn off my pump. if my sugars are under 100, i bolus very little ( .2 units) BUT, if i am higher, i increase the bolus based upon how high my BG is. so, if i were 120, i might bolus .5 units, BG 130 i would bolus more. if i am 150 (which is extremely rare) i will simply take an IM shot to correct and do a small bolus through my pump before detatching. i do that IM shot rather than a subQ b/c then the insulin isnt OB for as long (in and out w/in 2 hours)
does any of this make sense? let me know and i will try and explain it better if i am being unclear.
Yes, makes sense, THANK YOU!! My initial feeling is that my BG will go straight up w/out basal, even with the small bolus. I am going to try this out though and see if this helps my lows during exercise. I’ll keep you posted on how it works.
definitely do. i am very eager to see how something that i do for swimming will effect what you do for running.
today i am going for a long walk to many different art galleries in DUMBO (part of downtown bklyn) so i am trying to use an 80% TB 1 hour before i leave the house and set it for 3 hours. i dont know if this will work; i just know that when i walk around my neighborhood i go low every time (can you believe that! just from walking…and not even quickly; just strolling about.)
i’ll keep you posted on whether it works out or not. i’ve never done this before.
Sounds like a great time, love walking around that area. Yes, definitely want to reduce your basal for all of the walking!
I decided to start out slow… I’m reducing my basal for a full hour today before exercise, rather than 30 minutes. I’m already on the low side. I probably should have reduced it earlier but I’ll have a small carb before running. I’ll let you know how it goes!
the weirdest thing happened to me this afternoon: i had two goat milk yogurts with my lunch and i spiked to 186!!! (this was before i turned my basal down) so i did a small bolus correction through my pump (of only .7 units) i didnt want to have much active IOB while i was walking around, but i thought that since i was so high, i wouldnt bother doing the TB. well, it ALMOST worked out perfectly. ALMOST. my BG came down to 130 within 1/2 hour, and then down and down and down. finally it rested at 60 when it was time to eat. i took some carbs before bolusing, and then bolused as if i were at 75 (kind of doing a science project with the math and all, thinking that since i had taken the carbs, my BG would be going up, if that makes any sense whatsoever) well i bolused and then waited 10 minutes to eat. now, 1.5 hours post bolus and i am only at 74. what a crazy day i had.
this diabetes thing really keeps you on your toes 24/7
PS: 1/2 later: just crashed to 40. sip of apple juice, and a home made sugar cookie and a 1/2 of a dried date. ( at my husband’s insistance). i am shaking and sweating. ooooh, i hate this feeling!!!
Wow, that is a fast drop. Good thing you didn’t do the TB after all!
Sorry to say, but your yesterday sounds a lot like my today! I’ve been on a roller coaster all day. I started the day perfect, at 71. Then went running early to try to beat the forecasted rain. Reduced my basal by 80% at about 6AM for an hour before the run, no IOB, no carbs, since I skipped breakfast (but NOT coffee mistake #1!). By the time I started the run I was already at 107. I didn’t bring my pdm with on the run since I didn’t want it to get wet. Mistake #2! BG just kept going up and up. By the time I finished the run 2 hours later I was at 170. Took 3.55U. Twenty minutes later I was at 210. Well, the insulin eventually brought me down, but took a long time. I retrospect, I think either I experienced dawn phenomenon, or the coffee w/ cream had a huge impact. Perhaps I should have cancelled the TB when I started the run and saw I was at 107. I’ve done that before and then suddenly dropped, so not sure cancelling TB would have been right either!
Yes, I totally agree! Feeling wiped out now! Hope your today is better than your yesterday!
last evening i continued crashing. i would take some carbs, bring my BG up, then crash again. not major crashes, just like 40s. but i took some juice, i ate a cookie, i had a dried date (my husband’s idea)…anyway, i forgot all about the cumulative effect of all of those carbs and how sometimes they dont hit you until much later. well, thats exactly what happened: at 3am i woke up and my BG was 215. i did a correction through my pump, but 2 hours later, my BG had barely budged (180 ), so i did an IM correction right away and went back to sleep, thinking that i had nicked the problem. woke up 2 hours later and had to do another IM shot, but this time i raised my basal by 30%. when i woke up next time, my BG was 92. i turned off the TB, had some Bfast and climbed back into bed to watch some TV. well 1/2 hour later, i crashed to 43 (i am certain that this is b/c of left-over TB IOB) anyway, all worked out well, my day was completely uneventful. it was terrible weather here in BKLYN so i just hung out in my PJs and binged on Law & Order. now i am about to eat my dinner and my BG is 98. i doubt HIGHLY that i will have any other mishaps tonight. phew.
PS: if i have coffee with cream and Splenda, i have to account for 20 grams of carbs!!! if i dont bolus for coffee, my BG spikes immediately through the roof. (however, if i have decaff with nothing added, i dont need to bolus at all) crazy, huh?!
Wow, that is a lot of carbs for coffee! Maybe that is what happened to me yesterday morning! 20g of carbs would definitely rise my BG > 100! I’ve never really noticed that I had to bolus for coffee w/ cream, but I don’t usually drink coffee w/out food and a bolus. So maybe I am compensating for it w/ the food+bolus. I’m going to have to test this out. Thank you for the suggestion!!!
i have no problem drinking diet pepsi or diet coke. i dont even think i have a problem drinking black coffee. i just know that the minute i put a Splenda with Cream in my coffee, I MUST bolus, regardless of whether i am having a bolus for my meal with it. anything black requires NO insulin.
i have experimented with this exact suggestion; i spike EVERY time. i wonder about this often, though, b/c i know that their is an amount of Splenda in diet sodas, and i dont spike when i drink those. a conundrum. completely baffles me. (and i love 1/2 and 1/2. i would also pour it over cereal instead of milk!!! i can drink it right out of the container!! )
So it is the coffee cream that spikes you and not the Splenda?
Plain black coffee with nothing in it does not spike you, black coffee with Splenda but without cream does not spike you, diet sodas don’t spike you, but coffee cream does, right?
There is a small amount of carbs in coffee cream, but only a gram or two.
I wonder, would this spiking from creme be the same cause that makes my BGs spike on cheese? Cheese has a small about of cheese, but spikes me way more than the carbs. Is it the lactose?
Well, it is like candy to me! I often eat it as my lunch, nothing else, except a slice of cheese which requires a 1U bolus. I guess it is just another YDMV
Feeling wiped out now! Hope your today is better than your yesterday!
