Just a general survey

Thanks for joining Jennifer!

age: 20
type of diabetes: Type 1 (just had my one year anniversary!)
how do you manage it?: Pump, exercise, and diet… though i could be more disciplined about the exercise and diet part…
School you attend: Duke
Major: biomedical engineering
Minor: linguistics, maybe
career goals: diabetes inspired me to do bme because i want to help design a better insulin pump/bg monitoring system!! or maybe something different alltogether…
expected date of graduation: may 2009
one tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college: i was only in college with diabetes for 1 semester so far… it was hard, since i was eating the on-campus food that (with the exception of subway and mcdonald’s) had NO nutrition info provided so i had no idea how many carbs were in anything… after a lot of highs i ended up avoiding the carby/cheesy sandwiches and pizza… trying to stick with protein and veggies but i love chocolate and bread and other carbs so it’s hard. it’s also hard for me to avoid the low/high swings when i exercise, so i guess i’d like to know - how does everyone else do this?? i usually stop my pump or put it on a lower setting about 30 mins - 1 hr before i work out (usually i run on a treadmill or do the elliptical for 30-45 mins)… i either strumble away with bg of 50-60 or end up over 200 !! seems like i can’t find any middle ground. one thing that i have enjoyed doing is yoga, since it doesn’t affect blood sugar much. i also like walking (i never liked running anyway)…both of those require no insulin adjustments, usually. i’ve read that getting into a regular exercise routine will help a lot and i’m hoping to start this with the coming school year. but again, anyone have any tips about insulin adjustments before exercise? i’m also interested in weight loss and would prefer not to have to EAT in order to exercise since i feel it kind of defeats the purpose…

When I exercise (usually similar to you, 30-40 mins. on the elliptical, etc.) I take a few factors into consideration.

  1. When was my last bolus? If I know that I’m going to be exercising within two hours of eating I will reduce my bolus by 50%. If not, I try to wait until I’m showing less than 0.5 units of insulin on board, otherwise I go low. If I have a lot of insulin on board and want to exercise then I will eat to “use up” some of that insulin, but I usually only have to do that for unexpected exercise.

  2. How long is the exercise? Usually I set a temporary basal rate for twice the length of the exercise, so if I’m exercising for half an hour I set a temporary rate for an hour, if I’m exercising for an hour I set one for two hours, etc.

  3. Intensity. If it’s really intense exercise I will set a temporary basal rate of 50% or even take my pump off altogether (although I find if I do that it’s really hard not to go high later). For more regular exercise I use a temporary rate of 80%. I usually set this rate about half an hour before I start exercising.

  4. What’s my blood sugar? Usually starting at a blood sugar of 6-10 (110-180ish) works well for me. Much lower than that and I will end up low. Much higher than that and I come down a bit but not much. This never used to happen on shots, but on the pump I’ve found that if I’m in the teens (250-350) and try to exercise my blood sugar won’t budge and sometimes goes higher, so if I’m high before starting I take a correction bolus (like the meal bolus, half of what I would normally take usually works well).

Sorry this is so rambly, but this usually works really well for me and has enabled me to exercise without crashing low. I’m a fairly new pumper (seven months) but I also had fifteen years of experience with shots so had a good idea of how exercise affected my blood sugars (before I just had no way of preventing it other than eating!). It also took a LOT of testing before, during, and after exercising to figure out what worked and what didn’t. I too hate eating before exercise and am trying to lose weight, this is why I love the pump SO much, it was impossible to do with shots. And you are right, doing some sort of exercise every day helps so much for stability. I’m not good at that. I’ll do two weeks of daily exercise and then a week of nothing … and then I get frustrated when I start running high during the week I’m not exercising, and start crashing low when I start up again, and at the adjustments I have to make. Remember overall insulin requirements will change as you start/stop an exercise program.

Name: Stacey
age: 25
type of diabetes: Type 1
how do you manage it?: Pumpin’ and testing more than Id like ; )
School you attend: Strayer University
Major: Business Administration
Minor:
career goals: who knows!
expected date of graduation: March 2010
one tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college: well lucky for me all of my current classes are online…but when I went to community college to get my A.A.S. in Paralegal studies I learned that I had to get over my self consciousness and occasionally check my BG during class. So my tip…realize that the self consciousness you feel when checking your BG during a class is MUCH less than the humiliation you will feel if you start talking nonsense in the middle of a lesson ; )

Haha. Nice tip. Reminds me of a day in 10th grade. I went real low real quick just after having lunch (no idea why), and when the time came to move on to the next period I was wandering the halls, walking into the wrong classes (classes that I had, but not at that time), and babbling like an idiot. Thank goodness I wandered into my Chemistry class. The teacher, Mr. Jarrett, saw something was seriously wrong and had a girl take me to the office.

Welcome Stacey!

Jonah
18
type 1
Lantus Novolog
DePaul University
Math Education
career goals: math teacher

I’m currently a junior and I got really sick the winter of my freshman year, stayed sick, and was diagnosed at the beginning of my sophomore year. I’ve had so much difficulty dealing with school in the last six months that I don’t think I’m going to have a degree in math ed in 2009 as originally planned. Maybe a degree in pure math a quarter late, maybe a math ed degree a year late, maybe no degree at all. We will see.
The best thing I’ve changed to manage diabetes is get a locker. I’m a commuter student and I need to have an extra meter, snacks, lancets, blah blah blah in my locker just in case. It’s awesome. 10 dollars per year for a lifesaver.

Name:
age: 25
type of diabetes: Type 1
how do you manage it?: Pump
School you attend: University of Colorado, Boulder
Major: Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (have a bachelor’s in Spanish also)
Minor: none
career goals: Leaning towards research (specializing in type 1 diabetes. of course). I still have a couple years to figure out the specifics.
expected date of graduation: May 2009
one tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college: Always keep a sugar source on hand, if you don’t you WILL get low during an important exam/presentation/etc.

Kristen
21
My sister has Type 1
She is on the pump
Sam Houston State University
Education 4-8 Science
May 2008

Name: Kim Parker

age: few weeks shy of 20

type of diabetes: 1

how do you manage it?: pump, diet

School you attend: University of Louisiana at Monroe

Major: Health Studies

Minor: Marketing

career goals: When I get out of college I really am considering becoming a flight attendant. Yeah something that has nothing to do with my major but I think it would be fun. After that I want to get into pharmaceutical sales, maybe even specializing in diabetic supplies, pumps, etc.

expected date of graduation: 2010 (lets keep our fingers crossed. lol)

one tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college: Self control. It would be sooooo easy for me to run into the student union building and grab some fast food, but I have limited myself to one fast food a week. Also working out at least 5 times a week

Name:Emily
age:19
type of diabetes:1
how do you manage it?:pump, diet, and exercise
School you attend:Houston Community College Houston,tx
Major:Nursing
Minor:
career goals:not sure yet
expected date of graduation:May 2010
one tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college:i just started so I haven’t got anything for this one.

Name: Regge
age: 31
type of diabetes: Will find out for sure next week, I think. Was a T2 but changed to a T1 but records still indicate T2…but also says I am a mix between a 1 and a 2. Maybe a 1.5?
how do you manage it?: I pump
School you attend: Austin Peay State University
Major: Criminal Justice w/concentration in Homeland Security
Minor: none needed
career goals: School Counselor
expected date of graduation: Dec. 08
one tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college: time management and online courses…my major is totally online

Name: Katee
age:29
type of diabetes: Type 1
how do you manage it?: Pump
School you attend: University of Mississippi
Pharmacy School w/ graduation date of June 2010
one tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college: I’ll let you know when I find one!

Oh: I also have six year old twin girls!

Name:
age: 22
type of diabetes: T1
how do you manage it?: pump
School you attend: Middlesex CC
Major: Nursing
Minor: none
career goals: Get my grad in nursing education
expected date of graduation: who knows.
one tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college: informing professors that I was diabetic. Came in handy when I was really low one day where I had a final

Name: Kim Nordlöf
age: 19
type of diabetes: Type 1
how do you manage it?: Shots
School you attend: Royal Institute of Technology
Education: Master of Science in Engineering, Computer Technology
career goals: World Domination =P
expected date of graduation: 2013
one tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college: Didn’t have any issues to deal with.

Name: Tiffany Yuen
Age: 19
Type of Diabetes: Type 1
How do you manage it: Pump, Diet, Exercise
School you attend: University of Pennsylvania
Major: Cell and Molecular Biology
Minor: Chemistry, Theatre Arts
Career goals: happiness?? No idea…
Expected Grad date: May 2010
One tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college: having amazing friends…but other than that, I’m still trying to figure it all out

Name: Roman
age: 21
type of diabetes: Type 1
how do you manage it?: Responsibly
School you attend: Rutgers University
Major: Biology
Minor: Aging
career goals: ize wana b a doctuh
expected date of graduation: May 2008
one tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college: Turn your backpack into a portable hospital LOL… mine stores a back up of pretty much all my supplies( except insulin, which I check in the morning) and glucose tablets.

Also, anyone that’s working in a health field or towards a degree, do you find yourself becoming a diabetic hypochondriac? lol every time I hear about conditions and symptoms, they immediately manifest themselves in me and all of a sudden my projected life span is 2 weeks LOL. Can’t see it getting any easier in medical school…

love your answer for how you manage your diabetes. and yes i find myself becoming a hypochondriac! i’m not working toward any health-related degree, but i spend a fair amount of time reading up on diabetes. that doesn’t help at times, i’m afraid. but it’s good to be a bit of a smarty pants! haha!

Name: James Naimi-Akbar - but people call me Aki
age: 21
type of diabetes: Type 1 diabetes mellitus
how do you manage it?: Split injection, Lantus(long term) Humalog(short term)
School you attend: Camberwell (University of the Arts London) (england :wink: )
Major:Graphic Design BA (Hons)
Minor: N/A
career goals: — Design based —
expected date of graduation: Summer 2008
one tip that has helped you deal with diabetes in college: Cook in big batches and freeze the left overs so if you dont have time one day, you can just defrost, - you gotta eat well :smiley:

P.s :stuck_out_tongue: dam all of u for having pumps lol! send some to the UK for us :wink: xxx