I have been pumping for 4 years and I still am a bit fuzzy on some things.My work is not a consistant exercise.Some days are harder than others.I do housekeeping at a motel.I find that some mornings I will reduce my basal by 20% and usually I will go high.So I do a correction of about 1/3 of what the pump says and then I drop too low.How many carbs should I take for a low and what kind of food.It has to be something quick and easy.I have John Walsh's pumping insulin but find I still need help.Thanks.
I can't help you with the exercise but for lows I recommend glucose tabs. About as quick and easy as it gets! They are also the most fast acting to raise blood sugar and you won't be tempted to overdo and then go high. We are all different, so you have to find what works for you. For me, if there is no insulin still active I take 2 tablets for blood sugar in the 50s and 3 for lower. I also wait a full 30 minutes to see the results rather than the 15 recommended.
What are your hours? Mornings can be very tricky? Sometimes I will test a couple of times (on top of the CGM, ok, I'm OCDiabetes...) and there's hormones or whatever pushing my BG up, on top of breakfast? Lately, I mostly avoid "straight" carbs (bread, cereal, whatever) and toss some veggies into eggs and eat that. It's yummy and can be sort of foodie (I had leftover BBQ sauce from MrsAcidRock's trip to Stephanie Izard's restaurant The Girl and the Goat, pico de gallo and spinach this AM...). I bolus for about 10-15G of carbs, look at CGM before I leave and have some skim milk if I need a BG boost.
For lows, I like little bags of jelly beans. I get the bags for a buck at the Hobby store and put the beans in.
I start at 8am and work till about 3pm.Sometimes I get home earlier,whenever I finish my rooms.I was downing jelly beans too but it wasn't keeping it up for very long.I tried eating an arrowroot cookie,about 1 every 2 hours.What is weird is that something that worked for one day may not work the next.
YOU SPEND A DOLLAR FOR AN EMPTY BAG?
You can get a bag of GU for $1.29 and a bag of jelly beans bigger than that for 99 cents. They are cute mind you.plastic egg would be better,
I try to avoid yummy things to correct sugar because they tend to get eaten by the kids. Glucose tablets look and taste pretty unappealing.
I like the carb gels like GU because they last a while and after exercising I find it hard to maintain my sugar even after I bring it up.
Like 100 little bags for a buck (they wear out...) and jelly beans are $3.99/ lb, $2.99 on sale. Quite a bit cheaper than Gu or sport beans or various other "sport" products.
I would suggest continuing to experiment with your basal for the period you are working. If 20% was too much of a reduction, try 10%. Also remember that there is at least a two hour gap, so if you want it lower for the time from 8-3, you lower it from 6-1 (or even 5-12) - play with the time as well as the amount. It may take awhile to get right, but to me it makes more sense to not take too much insulin in the first place rather than having to do all that correcting.