Samson is at a new camp, where breakfast is biscuits and honey or oatmeal, lunch is pizza, fruit is just freely available to take in stations around the campus and snacks include yogurt parfait, popsicles and other carb-heavy meals. And yet he had his best day of the last 3 months. I shouldn’t second guess, and just be grateful I guess, but diabetes sure is weird!
How nice! On both counts, that he’s 94% in range and that he’s at camp enjoying himself!
He is probably running himself ragged having a great time and his Diabetes knows it and has decided that today should be a good day because he has earned it. Seems like a reasonable explanation.
@Chris, haha! If only diabetes played fair like that. Whatever it is, I’ll take it.
Wow, amazing with that type of food, but as @Chris says, he is probably non-stop active, and having a great time with no thought of diabetes. That probably makes a huge difference!! So glad to hear this.
I have found that I spike when I go low carb and get better results when eating carbs. I have thought that either the glucose needs something to ‘stick’ too, or the carbs stimulate the pancreas to assist with whatever it has left to help with. I also find that being active in the heat makes my body use up the insulin more efficiently and I have to keep a close eye on my bg levels or I can go low very quickly.
Glad you have found what works for you. For my son, eating more carbs (>150 a day) is a recipe for looser control, but we totally agree with you that being active makes the insulin uptake more efficient.
As I read the conversations of those who are running, swimming, increasing activity,…and so on, I am amazed and I must say, what you said above, is so true! There are times, when I read what people are accomplishing with zero basal, reduced basal, minimal boluses, adding carbs,… that I have to wonder … couldn’t we just all increase our activity and do without insulin! I know, it’s not true, it coudn’t happen, but sheesh, what our friends in this community and others are able to accomplish, often makes me wonder … what kind of exercise/activity would it take to bring our insulin needs to a zero basal more often and for longer periods of time! /end-rant
As I’ve been increasing activity I’ve found that suspending my pump for an hour and a half is helpful to avoid lows. But it’s also very tricky, and about 50% of the time it causes me to rise too much and I end up giving several corrections, to the point it’s like I should have just let it be. I also found this when I used to swim more than I do now: disconnecting my pump was useful to avoid lows during the swim, but as I neared the end and after I was done, I had to pile on the insulin even if I wasn’t high, otherwise I’d spike enormously and have high ketones and feel awful. I don’t know what suspending basal is like for others, but for the most part, suspending my pump for any length of time is tricky and almost always requires “replacement” insulin be given to some degree. I actually use a 30-minute suspend of my pump as a strategy to bunt my blood sugar up if I’m running too close to the lower limit of my target range before bed. So even that short suspend time causes my blood sugar to rise by 1.5 or so.
I hear you, @Jen. There is a line, probably a very thin one, between zero basal with increased activity working and not working. When I read the conversations, the lengths people go to to check their bg and either hold steady or correct with either carbs or a hit of insulin, is great! There’s a learned and practiced skillset that, at times, doesn’t work; but from what I’m reading, does work most of the time. When it doesn’t work, I think it’s the nature of diabetes - we can do everything according to Holye and it works one day and not the next. Still, there are many accomplishing great things with reduced/zero basal and increased activity and it’s a phenomena (zero basal in particular) that I never gave much attention to, until recently. I need to read the book, Sugar Surfing; perhaps this will shed some more light!
when i am in the pool swimming, i am off all insulin for 4 hours and my BGs are normal (even for someone w/out D.) so for those 4 hours, i no longer have diabetes. its great. perhaps i should just go and become a mermaid and live in the sea. lol. (but which is worse? being a mermaid or having D?)
PS: i hated that book. (i know many who live and die by it) i found it completely uunhelpful and it made me feel like a moron. but, as the saying goes, YDMV. you could love it.
just my 2 cents.
That’s awesome, DM, to have such control. And, it’s all due to exercise/movement/activity.
Wow. You’re the first person I’ve heard who did not like it. I’m hoping I love it
you probably will love it. i’m just an odd duck