My son has been going to track after school. When he tests his blood sugar he is usually under 100. Right now we have him eating a snickers power bar that is 26 carbs before he runs. Then after he runs he starts to drink a low carb gatorade (13 carbs per bottle). It seems to be working okay, but I’m wondering if he shoudl be having more carbs. What’s the rule at your house for your 10-15 year olds?
I really don’t think there is a set rule. There’s not even a set rule for my son (11 years old) that always works. My son’s endocrinologist likes him to have 15 carbs for ever 30 minutes of activity, but I’m not sure that’s what we normally do.
My son plays basketball, lately what’s been working for him is to set his pump to -50% for an hour before his game, remove his pump completely for the hour that he plays, he drinks a 16 carb Powerade Play during the game and usually -50% on the pump again for an hour after playing.
If he were on shots and I didn’t have that much control over his insulin intake, I think the amount of insulin he’s missing would equal about 20-25 extra carbs on top of the 16 in the Powerade. I guess that’s almost exactly the amount you’re using.
The question is, is it working for him? Is he dropping low later, after the exercise? I seem to have to pay extra attention to my son’s blood sugar for 1/2 a day after a basketball game (or really any other exercising).
When my daughter swims her 1 hour practices, we give her a free 20 carbs before, something paired with protien so it doesn’t fizzle too fast. That seems to tide her over for the full one hour workout, but if she is doing a 90 minute workout then she gets the free 20 at the start, and then also has a bottle of full carb gatorade to sip on throughout the workout. She tends to drink about 1/3 of the 12 oz bottle. She usually ends right in range when we do that. As soon as she is done then we go back to treating carbs normally. Just wondering, what insulin is your son on? when we were on lantus we had much bigger drops. i can explain why if you are interested.
my other daughter only needs about 10 free carbs for an hour workout, 15 for 90 minutes. she tends to be a bit more stable during workouts.
what are your sons ending numbers? is he going low during/after workouts?
My 17 year old son competes in ice hockey so it is a different sort of exercise. It is more like runnning the shorter track distances.
Please be aware that your son may need one regime for practice where his BG will decrease and another for meets where his BG may increase due to the intensity and the adreneline of the competition. For now he will have to eat carbs to adjust his BG but with a pump he could also adjust his Basal Rate to compensate for the exercise. My son decreases his basal rate one hour before a hockey game and for 2 hours after a game. My son normallly has a drop of up to 100 points at about 5-6 hours after a game so we don’t over-correct his after game highs, especially at night. He is also very insulin sensitive, so we will decrease after game boluses by 20%.
So the last two practices he was only 72 afterschool, ate the 26 carb protein bar, ran for about 45 minutes to an hour, then had the gatorade. He was about 90 after the practice, then went low (65) at dinner. So the endo said on track days to reduce his bolus at lunch by one unit. He has a humulog pen. Unfortunately my son broke his toe after that and won’t be able to run for another week, so we have’t been able to test that yet. He takes his lunch injection at noon and track starts at 3:15, so I wasn’t sure how much that would help, but would like him to test closer to 100 afterschool instead of 72. He takes Lantus at night.
I was actually thinking that if he was under 90 or so that maybe he should have a fast acting 13 carb sunny delight PLUS the 26 carb protein bar, since the protein bar is a slower carb.
Hello,
It depends on the activity. My 13 yr old Type 1 tends to climb and doesn’t take extra CHO to cover before her soccer games, but thats because it alot of sprints, and short burst coupled with an adrenaline dump cause her sugars to spike.
She also runs track, and we reduce her rapid prior to a meet or race by 30 % if the event is 3 hrs after the bolus/shot.
My diabetes management is simpilar to this. I find I feel over-fed when consuming a tonne of extra CHO to cover an activity, but a teenage male, is different, they generally require the Kcals anyway. Hope this kinda sort of answers your Q.
Cheers,
http://www.three2treat.com
The drop several hours after a workout is common, our endo says that the effects of a workout can last up to 12 hours. I am happy if my girls are 90 after a workout. Also make sure that he isn’t injecting the lantus in his legs or buttocks if he is running. It is a good idea to not inject near the muscle group that is being used since it can cause the lantus to release faster than it should, that is according to the lantus manufacturers suggestions.
if my girls are under 80 (out of range), i will give a fast acting carb (like juice), along with the protien carb. Otherwise the carb release may not keep up with the activity. One thing i have learned is that diabetes really varies from kid to kid, and from sport to sport. Some activites may cause a climb, while others will cause drops. The best advise i can give is test often until you feel that you have spotted a pattern with your son, and then through trial and error work through the best regiment for him… Also know that during growth spurts, and “honeymoon” phases that what works may change drastically.
My 12 year old son tends to be in the mid-80s after school, so he has a snack before he goes to track practice. His preferred snack at the moment is Zone Perfect bars. They have between 20 & 25 grams of carbs plus protein & fat. They seem to work well for him most of the time. He doesn’t test after his snack, but is usually about 125-140 after running, then is usually in the high 70s to low 80s by the team we eat dinner an hour or two later.
Running seems to keep his bg higher (not high, but high enough), then he drops an hour or two later. During basketball season, it was not unusual for him to go low during practice, or, for sure, as soon as it was over. Even eating a snack before and sipping Gatorade during didn’t necessarily keep him from going low.
My son was diagnosed in November, so we’re still on a learning curve about how different activities affect him. Seems like our whole life is one giant learning curve these days!
I forgot to add that we usually subtract a unit from his dinner insulin after any practice or game. If we gave him his regular dose, he’d be low before bed. As it is, he’s been a little lower than I’d like him to be at bedtime after track, so he has to have a small snack before bed.
Our 13 year old daughter plays soccer. She always sips on a G2 during games and practice- unless she is in the 200’s. . She does drop quite a bit several hours later! If she plays at night, I usually check her at 2am.
Good luck
I also do the same with my 12 year old daughter who plays basketball in the evening sometimes. I also check her in the middle of the night. She also sips G2 during game and practice. Like her to be at least 140 before she starts to play. If any of this occurs around a meal we back off half a unit of novolog. This also works the same for gym at school which she has 4 days/week. We have plenty of snacks stored at school in the Gym/locker room . Good luck its a real balancing act , but it can be figured out with trial and error.
my son has been termed an adrenalin junkie, that is when he plays sports his sugar goes up instead of down. I have the oposite problem, he needs fluids other tham water for electrolytes, but we have to limit his carbs during activities.