Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Pumping It Up!

Although I'm less than a week into my pumping life, I couldn't feel more liberated or be happier about the results. In addition to having awesome bs control during the ride on Sunday I was able to eat a delicious lobster roll with fries on Saturday night and eat POPCORN AT THE MOVIES following dinner!!!! When I was first diagnosed with diabetes I guess I shed away from putting myself in a situation that would be hard to control, like eating movie popcorn, having some french fries or sleeping in a bit. Now that I'm starting to understand how to use a square wave or dual wave bolus and how to adjust my basal rate I feel like I can once again eat all those foods I love, in moderation. I'm not sure if it is the confidence of knowing that my insulin can be constantly adjusted or that I don't have to stab myself to be able to eat but I feel as if the pump has lifted 1,000 of pounds off my shoulders.

One of my biggest frustrations with diabetes was going to the gym and being really worried about getting a low from lifting or running. Last week I had some problems adjusting my basal rate prior to working out and encountered a low while on the treadmill and another low after a secondary muscle group lift. I guess I didn't reduce my basal rate enough prior to exercise or bolused too much for my Clif Bar.

For me, lifting is a way to reduce stress and lets me clear my mind of all the things that are bothering me so any disruption to that routine is tremendously frustrating. Pre lift I like to have a Clif Builder Bar so I have enough energy to work my butt off for an hour and 15 minutes. While on lantus/ novolog I would eat my Clif Bar without a bolus and then have to bolus after my lift to account for any sugars I didn't work off. However, yesterday by reducing my basal rate to 50% 45 minutes before my workout and bolusing .5 units for the Clif Bar I ended my lift with a blood sugar of 89! I can't tell you how much a regulated blood sugar aids in recovery.

7 comments:

Dances with Corgis said...

arrrrrgh it wont save my comment

Dances with Corgis said...

Haha. Okay there we go. I wrote out this huge comment and it wouldn't save. Let me try again :)

I was wondering at all if you considered the dual implications of your headline when you wrote this, because you speak both towards your minimed pump and also your lifting routine at the gym, and the benefits derived from both. I enjoyed the dual synchronicity very much!

And, I would have never considered "sleeping in" to be something you need to consider like popcorn at the movies.

Wingman said...

Court - my literary genius knows no bounds!

Yeah, sleeping in on lantus can be even more difficult than eating a tub of movie popcorn.

Anne Findlay said...

Before I switched to the pump, I had not slept in since I was diagnosed (from age 14 to age 19). Pretty impressive for a teenager? But now I still can't sleep in. I had also not been hungry during that time since I was an ultra-compliant diabetic before the pump.

Congrat's again on getting the pump. You will learn by trial & error what works best for you, and hopefully get some good tips from others.

Also, you should check out DESA (http://www.diabetes-exercise.org/index.asp)
which is an organization for diabetics who are also athletes. There might be a local chapter that is active. It's a good community.

Oh and one more thing.... Be very careful not to start eating a lot more. This is not a problem with everyone but can sometimes happen on the pump. Or, it may be for other reasons but some people do gain weight when getting on the pump. So make sure that popcorn you get is sans butter. :) I'm sure you will have no problem...

Bernard said...

Wingman

I'm glad you're enjoying the pump so much - they're truly amazing technology.

The trick with exercise is to decide when to reduce your basal. I've found that for racketball I needed to reduce my basal (to about 30%) about 90 minutes beforehand. If you know about how many calories your exercise will use up, then you can make sure your BG is high enough before you start.

Let me just say that with years of playing r'ball 1-2 times per week, I only got it right about 60% of the time. Best of luck with it.

Heidi said...

I'm impressed that you already figured out a way to regulate both basal and boluses around your workouts, i.e., if it turns out to continue working for you ;-)

I've been on the pump for more than a year now, and I still haven't figured out how to deal with my soccer games. Practice is usually no problem, but the games always tend to cause problems (usually highs during and after the game). The same thing with swimming (lows, despite starting out relatively high and being disconnected for about an hour or so). I succeeded with that once or so, but when applying the same procedure again, it didn't work :-/ Quite annoying, because I love both soccer and swimming, and I will continue both activities despite the problems they cause me.

So congratulation with your accomplishment - keep up the good work, I hope it will continue paying off in good sugars!

Unknown said...

Yes, pumping makes exercise much better though requires experimentation. I swing-dance a couple of nights a week, lessons Tuesday (65% for an hour) and a longer jam session Wednesdays (45% for 2-3 hours), and it took the longest time for me to be in the habit of remembering to do a temp rate beforehand. I'd wind up low after twenty minutes, and think to myself "you dummy, you have this fabulous piece of technology that is supposed to make your life easier, use it already!"

On another topic, you can even advertise your dual pumping here: http://www.cafepress.com/medtees/2452321

Enjoy!