As stupid as it may sound, when I'm wearing my Diabetes Exercise and Sports Association t-shirt, I am mentally ready to hit the gym, and face whatever wrench diabetes may throw in the works.
Meter,strips,lancing device? check
Dexcom? check
Medical ID on body, in case I collapse? check
Extra money, just in case I run out of glucose/food? check
Juice, gel, and tabs? check
Iphone/earphones? double check
water bottle, for regular hydration? check
change of clothes/other sundries? check
And then, after all of that, there's the actual process of managing blood sugars. I'm usually high going in...so I have to correct for that, while keeping in mind how the exercise in question will affect my bgs. Weight lifting, hello stratosphere.
Anything cardiovascular, it goes in the opposite direction.
176 going in, remove pump. Eat 20 carbs.
108, 15 minutes later. Eat another 15 carbs.
109, 10 minutes later. Eat another 15 carbs.
94, 10 minutes later.Reconnect, and am starving so polish off another 40 carbs/protein, bolusing significantly less then I think I'll need.
While all this is going on, there are usually odd glances being thrown in my direction(like what the heck is this girl doing?). I am not training for a marathon,I'm simply trying to make it through a rather mild(!) workout, alive. Generally, my blood sugars are great, as long as I keep consuming vast amounts of carbohydrates. I have not yet reached the goal of being semi-in-shape, so what I want to know is...if you are, do your blood sugars not drop as much as they did in the beginning? Having to eat a lot is probably the #1 reason I hate exercise. As for the reducing insulin part, I could take my pump off, exercise/eat/have great blood sugars for several hours, at which point I'm sure I'd need a slight amount (but I've not yet been able to exercise for hours so that's not really an issue right now). I eat lots more then I actually burn off. Your input is welcome.
2 comments:
Obviously we are all unique snowflakes so take don't take this as the gospel. But I've found that I can more accurately predict the drop or non-drop of my blood sugar based on the workout simply because I have been lifting and running for a couple years with Wilford. It's not a matter of dropping less, just that I am more aware of how much it will likely drop.
Just be as super cautious as you were today for the first 2 weeks or so. After you develop a consistent routine, you can plan around the expected impact/results.
I agree with Chris - it takes time and trial and error.
In playing basketball, it has been a little over 3 years, with lots of highs and lows messing me up, but I think I have a good feel for what I need to do. I guess it's just practice. If you do it enough and check often, you'll learn about what your body is wanting to do.
I know that if I DON'T eat breakfast, I'll run higher (backwards logic) during ball. If I do eat breakfast, I need to have a snack before I start playing (probably from the insulin on board).
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