recently i began a swimming regiment. i swim one hour 5 days a week. for this i need to take off my pump, so i can’t simply lower a temp basal for the exercise time. i don’t know if it matters in terms of having these crazy high BGs, but my endo and CDed suggested that i do not go into the pool with a BG under 200 so that i can keep the hypos away. if i go into the pool 150 or less, i can only swim for 1/2 an hour without going down to 80. i still bounce back up, but if i get stuck in the pool and go below 80, i start to sink
so i was trying to come up with a plan to have my BGs elevated enough so that while i swim i am in a healthy BG zone. HOWEVER, the big problem is that from the moment i get out of the pool, my BGs start climbing FAST. for example, this afternoon, i got out of the pool at 120, and by 5:30pm my BG rose to 300 !!! i took a shot of 5 units to bring it down so i could eat dinner.
does anyone know how to combat this craziness? any suggestion or solutions? thanks everyone.
Yes, I have this problem, typo, after a run. And for me, it is not consistent. I don’t always get a spike. I don’t have a solution other than just bolus after bolus til the bg comes down. Quote a shame since exercise in general is good:(
i have found that at diff times of day, i get a real variety of results; however, i seem to spike w/in 1/2 hour after getting out of the pool; and, by an hour after getting out of the pool my BGs can climb quickly to 200 - 300. but, when i do get out of the pool, before the BG climb, my sugars are around 80. yesterday i had to give myself a shot of correction till i came down to normal range (but i do come down very quickly) i am baffled. there simply must be a decent formula. thanks for the affirmation . it does help to know i am not alone.
Yep, that seems to be how it is for me, too, but as I said, not always. I haven’t noticed that the time of day makes a difference for me, but I don’t modify my time of exercise too greatly. Yes, the climb seems to be abnormally fast, as if I just drank a glass of juice! I need to keep a closer eye on BGs during this time. It is hard because I am frequently low after a run and my inclination is to eat something to bring up my BG. I guess it is best to wait it out a bit to see if it rises on its own. Yes, this forum is great to see what others are experiencing. It has been so helpful in refining my self-treatment, but also, as you say, just not to feel alone and know that despite all the effort, I guess it is “normal” to have these issues, rather than blaming oneself for not being “normal”. A lot of the time we have the same experience, as in this case and it is so helpful to see how others resolve these issues. Yep, just “trying”, what else can we do!??
at first, i had the exact same inclination (bring up those falling BGs fast.); but, i found after trial and error that those pesky lows climb up fast on their own. it can go up within minutes, jumping from 65 to 150 w/in 15 minutes, and then much higher still within a 2 hour period. i dont correct until i feel i have reached my peak, though, as there seems to be little point in correcting too early on. maybe i am wrong about that though. i think i have to play around with it. try new tactics. i am bewildered. i dont know if they still make the classic R (regular, later peaking insulin), but if they do, perhaps a small dose of that before my workout might help a great deal. i will investigate.
Yes, I have the same experience, going from 65 to 150 sometimes in 15-20 minutes, the time it takes me to drive home from my running place. I sometimes have a bite of banana but I am going to consciously try to hold off eating anything and see how it goes. Yes, I think some people actually still use R. I would be afraid to mix it up w/ my Humalog since I don’t know how I will react to R now. It has been years since I used it but it is a good idea. Or maybe even increase the basal towards the end of the exercise? Planning to do a run now, so I will update later today! Yes, very bewildering.
my problem is that i swim. i have to take off my pump in order to get into the pool, so for the hour that i am swimming, i am pump-less. i cant change a temp basal rate. thats what made me think of giving myself a shot of the R insulin b/c of its peek time. if i took a shot before i swam, perhaps that would hit me just before i got out of the pool and stop the spike. just a thought. something to discuss w/ my D ed after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Oh, I see, you have to remove your pump. I didn’t think of that. That is more complicated. I use the OmniPod and I can program it with a temp basal. Can you do that, ahead of time before you remove your pump? You might be able to mimic the R insulin then. I ran yesterday but did NOT have the high afterwards. In fact I remained low for about 4 hours after my run! Go figure… it was a different path so maybe that made the difference.
yes, i can do a temp basal on my pump. perhaps raising the temp basal for one hour before i swim will curb the spike. ( i am nervous about having IOB before i exercise ; whats your experience with that?? ) hummmmm. do you ever eat a candy bar (or half of one) like a snickers before working out? (its got the nuts, the chocolate, and the sugar)
also, just as an after thought: i dont spike at all when i walk; in fact i go low if i dont lower a temp basal and i end up having to take a few Glucose tabs. weird.
I imagine for you, walking is an easier exercise than swimming. More strenuous or intense exercises (even if it doesn’t feel strenuous) will cause your body to release glucose to make up for what you burnt. So there will definitely be a level of intensity that will raise your BG. Also, if you are not wearing a pump while swimming, that will make it even worse.
Maybe something like having a BG of 150 that is slowly rising before you begin exercise might be a good way to try. The exercise and the slow rise can kind of “cancel each other out”.
Also keep in mind, not all 150’s are the same! There is 150 slowly rising, 150 slowly falling, 150 with a bunch of insulin on board waiting to hit you, 150 rapidly rising. So many ways to be 150!
Post swim, hit that bolus right away! Even if you are not high yet. Once you are confident that you will spike, take that bolus preemptively. Log it so you can become more confident. I bolus sometimes at 50 following a run. There is no endo or CDE on the planet that would advise me to do that.
One edit. The recommendations from Endos and CDEs are meant for the 1.2 million T1Ds in the U.S - and I don’t know how many T1Ds and T2Ds there are in the whole world . They aren’t specific to you. Come up with a recommendation that is meant for the one-of-a-kind, completely unique, swimming, walking, diabetic that is you. Make your changes one-at-a-time so you know what is working. Don’t change a bunch of stuff all at once. Make your changes slowly, in very small increments. Don’t be in a rush. You have your whole life to figure it out.
We successfully used one of these for my daughter’s Dexcom receiver while snorkeling. But I don’t know how you would be able to utilize one with tubing involved…
Yes, I understand about being nervous with IOB. I don’t usually have IOB when I go running, but I do usually eat something immediately before I start my run if my BG is already on the low side, under 100. Usually it is a half of banana. But it doesn’t always work as I still end up going low on occasion and need to have a glucose tab during the run. I haven’t tried eating a candy bar before exercise, but I would think a snickers bar would be good, esp w/ the nuts and chocolate, might be something I will try. Has it helped you from going low during your swim?
Yes, me, too, I never spike after a walk. I could go low, just like you, so I always bring glucose tabs with me, even just taking my dogs out. If it is under an hour then I’m usually fine.
Today was a success. i made certain i had no IOB and my BGs were 106 and then ate 1/2 English muffin w/ 1/2 Boost shake so i got my carbs and my protein in w/out any bolus. that totalled about 21gms of carbs. after walking to the gym (15 minutes), my BGs had risen to 174. i swam for 1 hour and when i came out of the pool my BGs were 98. 2 hours later, my BGs are stable at 163. no spike today. now i just have to remember the formula and the hour of the day that i went swimming.
thanks for your continued encouragement. i will experiment w/ the Snickers bar and let you know how it goes.
So glad you had a good day! Looks like you found a good strategy, at least this time! I didn’t have a great day yesterday but today is another day! Yesterday I went too low despite having half a banana, and still went up 80+ mg over the next several hours after my run. Maybe I will try just taking a unit of insulin today after my run and see if that helps… I’ll keep you posted, and good luck with the Snickers bar!
i am wondering about when to eat the snickers b/c chocolate digests so slowly compared to simple carbs. usually, if i am on the low side and i eat a piece of chocolate it takes about 1 hour to see any effects. i might just do the same formula i did yesterday. there certainly must be a way to fine tune this. my last A1C was 5.8 and i would like to keep it under 7; if i spike every time i am exercising, what will that do to my overall BGs/ A1Cs ???
Yes, I noticed that in myself as well, that chocolate takes a long time to effect my sugar. I think I would stick to you formula from yesterday to sort of prove it out before I make another change. Yes, I know, you definitely want to keep those spikes from occurring. I actually tried a bit of your suggestion today, and some of @Eric2’s, too, and it worked pretty well, despite the additional effort. About 15 minutes before running while still at home, I had two bites of dark chocolate mouse and two bites of a hard cheddar cheese. Then immediately before running I had 1/2 banana. I started out at 67. About a couple miles later I reached a high of 78, then proceeded to go down. At about 40 minutes into the run, my BG was back to 67, so I ate a glucose tab. It continued to drop down and go up a bit up, too, but about 20 minutes later I had another glucose tab. That saved me because at the end, I was 63. Twenty minutes after my run my BG had risen up to 91 so I took 1.5U. In fact, the 1.5U was too much as I started to drop down to the 70s, so I ended up eating a small granny smith apple. That worked, I didn’t go over 105. A lot of fine tuning today, but it worked! Not sure it will work tomorrow, but I am going to try this again. I don’t really want to rely on glucose tabs but if I have to, I will. Maybe you can try something similar, @Daisy_Mae. Thank you so much for the suggestion of the chocolate bar, not something I had considered before:)
Your mentioning that makes me think I am in the same situation. If anyone were to look at my Dexcom or BG graphs, they’d wonder why I ALWAYS spike in the evening before dinner. It’s kinda funny/ironic, the only time I spike like that is after exercise.
Some of your spike might be because you don’t have your basal when you are swimming. Did you get a chance to look at the waterproof containers? Not sure what pump you have, but Medtronic makes one specifically for their pump, but this type might work for most anything maybe. Amazon.com - Aquapac-Waterproof-Connected-Electronics
i do use the Medtronic pump, the only problem with swimming is wear to attatch the pump comfortably on my one piece racer bathing suit. its not the same as where to put it while you are running.
I need to keep a closer eye on BGs during this time. It is hard because I am frequently low after a run and my inclination is to eat something to bring up my BG. I guess it is best to wait it out a bit to see if it rises on its own. Yes, this forum is great to see what others are experiencing. It has been so helpful in refining my self-treatment, but also, as you say, just not to feel alone and know that despite all the effort, I guess it is “normal” to have these issues, rather than blaming oneself for not being “normal”. A lot of the time we have the same experience, as in this case and it is so helpful to see how others resolve these issues. Yep, just “trying”, what else can we do!??
