Swimming... and pumping



Hi. Do you swim, and use a pump?

For the past year I have been swimming about an hour every day, and really enjoying the stability I see with my blood sugar levels.

What I do first is check my sugars an hour before swimming. I want to make sure it's at ~5-7mmol/L.

Then I check my blood again right before I put my swim cap on and goggles and such. It's actually really important for breathing's sake to make sure I'm not over 8.0mmol/L, and I actually need to eat about 8g of sugar if I'm at or lower than 5.5mmol/L (the cold water and exercise quickly drops my levels). So I need to make sure I am prepared to swim by either taking sugar, or carefully taking a small correction bolus before I take my pump off.

To detach, I unscrew my pump vial and tuck it into my bathing suit. I place my pump in a zip-up pouch, and put it in my swim bag.

I usually swim 40 laps, about 30 minutes, before getting out for a small break. I take a break to check my blood sugars (as it becomes very difficult to sense lows or highs when you're focusing on breathing under cold water), and if my sugar levels are above 6, I re-attach the pump (after carefully drying off the vial with a Q-tip). Then I detach and hop back in for another 40-60 laps.

I ALWAYS carry sweet tarts with me (dextrose candies), and let the life guards know how I'm diabetic and how I am feeling. I would not go back in the water if I was under 5.0mmol/L, because I would drop after just a few minutes. This can be very dangerous.

I also try to avoid any fungal infections by wearing flip-flops whenever I'm not in the water.

For the night, I lower my basal rate so that I don't crash.



I hope these tips help, and if you have any too, post away!

Thanx Valerie
that all makes good sense. I have to learn to stop and test by bgl whilst swimming as I sometimes get out very low, but I am just I am just impatient and want to finish.
I also lower my basal after any intense exercise in the afternoon or if I know I willbe doing any endurance training the next morning . . .
It is all still a lot of trial and error for me. I am on MDI but will be going on a pump in mid/late Jan 2012. I willbe using Accu-chek Combo.
cheers

Hahaha I hate getting out too!

Sometimes, where I swim, I get out and as I'm sitting down to check my blood, somebody comes along and passes the first couple of empty lanes, only to stop where my lane is (with my water bottle at the end), and in a snap my lane is gone.

But it's still worth it for me to see what my levels are at because it can be the difference between a day feeling awesome or a sluggish, blah day.

Hope you enjoy pumping life! :)