Just shared my swimming story on asweetlife.org
http://asweetlife.org/feature/swimming-through-a-diabetes-diagnosis/
That's a great story! I used to enjoy swimming but have realized that I mostly avoid it these days b/c of the hassle of unplugging my pump, detelemetrying my CGM and just the hassle. I went surfing once but worked it to have it be on the last day of the CGM and just yanked it out beforehand, went out for an hour and then went back and stuck a new sensor in. It's awesome that you've kept up a great career with it and didn't let diabetes get in your way!
Yeah, swimming is not for everyone. But I hope everyone can find a sport or exercise activity that s/he enjoys & figure out how to push ahead with it.
End of summer update: plan to swim my 15th mile tomorrow (Labor Day). I have easily swam 1.25 miles several times this summer. My best swimming summer since . . . .?
Have my eye on the indoor pool options for fall & beyond.
Great story there are a bunch of us here who swim regularly. I got the omnipod insulin pump specifically because I don't have to disconnect in the water. I can wear it when I do a mile in the pool. I also wear a dexcom cgm which is trickier in the pool. It all depends on sensor placement whether it gets signal or not. The worry of going low in the pool is one that vexes me and I always have glucose tablets in a ziploc by the pool.
I haven't yet done a mile in the open water because despite being able to shut off basal insulin during a swim, I am not confident enough yet in my stroke and management to leave the safety of the confined space. Friends have asked me to do the swimming portion of a mini-triathlon I think the max distance is 1/2 mile. Next year I might actually consider doing it. For now I'm just happy to be able to get in the pool and go for a long swim.
I love swimming. I have been swimming since I was young. Apparently when I was a toddler I loved the water so much that I'd cry when my parents made me leave, even if I was sitting there shivering with my lips blue from the cold. In elementary school I was in swimming lessons every year. In high school I was on a swim team for years but chose not to compete. I also did synchronized swimming for a few years which I LOVED even more than speed swimming, but unfortunately there were no adult programs in my area and eventually my mom thought it was too weird for a 17-year-old to go to a program meant for 12-year-olds, so I stopped. In university I unfortunately stopped swimming and all other exercise and gained a ton of weight. I have been swimming on and off since high school but I've never completely committed myself to it. I would like to join Master's Swimming, but I feel like I need to get in a bit better shape before doing that.
My biggest struggle is finding time and motivation to actually get to a pool; but once I'm there, I can go for a long time. I usually try to aim for swimming 2 km, which is 1.2 miles according to Google. I would like to work up to swimming longer distances. I do find diabetes a challenge. I test every 30 minutes when I swim because I find it almost impossible to feel lows while moving through the water, at least not until I get so low that I start feeling like I'm swimming at odd angles like downward!
One of my big goals once I'm done school (I'm currently working full-time plus doing full-time graduate school) is to set an awesome goal like some sort of open water swim and aim to complete that.
I just got back from the pool. My longest swim in over 20 years. 1600 meters. What sucks is I'm going to see a surgeon on Wednesday; so this might be short lived.
Good for you! 1600 meters is a long swim. Sorry about the surgery, although I did find swimming really helped me heal from my back surgery when I was younger.
Love your plans. Sounds like you know what you need to improve. I don;t know that open water is for everyone. Where I swim, the water is warm & no waves. I would be less confident in a different body of water.
Love your 1600 meters! Good luck with the surgeon.
I swam daily before my c-section & the exercise was part of why I recuperated so fast from the surgery.
How long did you have to stay out of the water after surgery? I am so stressed about the surgery, because of being diabetic. today will be the visit with the surgeon. Hope to get some Questions answered?
If your BG is good, there's some advantage to diabetes for surgery. I've always gotten to go first thing in the AM which makes the day go more smoothly, less chance the doc will get pulled into an emergency and all that. I hope it goes well for you. If you're exercising a lot, I think that helps a lot too, like Deborah said!!
Thanks AR. One of the things I'm worried about is my basal rates because I haven't changed any of them since I started exercising more. I guess I need to start doing overnight fasting into the morning hours.
There are surgeries & surgeries. (A c-sections has a variety of issues that kept me out of the pool for at least 6 weeks.) I started with light (very light) walking the first week & built up to 2 miles within the 6 weeks post-op.
You'll want to think strategically about kinds of activity you can do post-op that won't cause you pain or stress delicate parts.
Today I returned to swimming in an indoor pool. (Damn you Labor Day pool closings!) Definitely less appealing than outdoors. But I swam my mile & feel good.
Yeah, last week I went to the gym for a swim. Got in my suit took a shower and headed to the indoor pool, only to find the door locked and a notice indicating it was going through annual maintenance for a week. The outdoor pool was still heated and set up specifically for adult lap swim so it worked out ok. I did a mile and a quarter in the great outdoors but at least it was warm.
Glad you were able to get in your swim.
3 years later: I completed another mile-long open-water swim. This time I swam extra: 1.3 miles! It felt great.
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I have swam 3 miles (in 3 outings) in the past 5 days. It helps that it’s hot!
You appear to be using snorkeling or other underwater breathing gear in your image. I’m looking at a western Caribbean cruise next month and would like to snorkel or other underwater swimming. I wear a T:Slim pump which connects to my Dexcom G5 transmitter. The pump is rated as waterproof to a certain depth for a certain period of time (I’ll have to look it up and see if I can find other users who are also swimmers). Please reply with your experience of using a pump and/or CGM. - Thanks ahead of time. I’m Jules.
Hi Jules,
In the photograph I am scuba diving in Belize where I got certified for open water diving and advanced open water diving. My sister and brother in law live in Belize and my brother in law is a master diver who did my certification for advanced open water in Caye Caulker. In this photo I was not using either of the devices which I now use. My omnipod pump is rated as waterproof to 25 feet and Dexcom quite basically does not work underwater. The signal is just not strong enough to get through the water. Snorkeling with both your TSlim and G5 should be no problem at all as far as keeping them safe and dry. Mind you I’m not sure where you would stash your pump? It might be smarter to disconnect or just take a pump vacation and do multiple daily injections during your vacation? I have done that when traveling, my control was not stellar, but it worked well enough to keep me out of trouble.