Controlling exercise with Medtronic pump

[Straw362]

Hi

Can someone help us please , my 12 year old daughter has recently been on Medtronic 780g pump & sensor for the last 2 months having been on pen injections for nearly 3 years.

The issue we have is around exercise .Training with the pump we are told to use the “temp target mode “ 1 hour before exercise, during & 1 hour after , which stops giving background insulin, but every time we have used it , she has gone into a hypo , so we got to treat a hypo! Which stood her exercising??

When on the pen mode we would give a jelly baby around bloods of 7 , but with the pump we are told not to give jelly babies & let the pump & sensor do it for us .

Any advice , guidance or tricks to keep my daughters bloods up & in range would be very much appreciated

 

[Jaylee]

Hi,

What sort of excersise pursuits does your daughter do?
I don't use a pump but I'll tag in @Maco who does a fair bit of fitness with one..

 

[Maco]

Hi @Straw362, so for any cardio sort of exercise which I know will make my BG drop I set the temp target 2hrs before then for the duration of exercise and then for 2hrs after. I was told any less than 2Hrs before doesn’t give the pump chance to adjust to your higher target. The 2hrs after just give you that little bit longer to also stop a crash once you’ve stopped.

So usually if I’m running/walking etc my temp target would be set for 5hrs if I’m say doing 1hr exercise.

What I will say is that I always carry glucose tablets/orange juice, because like you if you’ve been bang on target all day say 5/6/7mmol it is very hard to stop the hypos.

Unfortunately the pump can only do soo much for us, by setting a higher temp target so that background basal has been shut off certainly helps but if your running like Usain Bolt or smashing out 100’s of burpees etc there’s nothing it can really do. It comes down to the individual to learn which exercises cause certain reactions to your BG & adjust.

 

[Straw362]

Hi,

What sort of excersise pursuits does your daughter do?
I don't use a pump but I'll tag in @Maco who does a fair bit of fitness with one..

Hi
My daughter plays netball which cardio based & just general exercise in school

 

[Straw362]

Hi @Straw362, so for any cardio sort of exercise which I know will make my BG drop I set the temp target 2hrs before then for the duration of exercise and then for 2hrs after. I was told any less than 2Hrs before doesn’t give the pump chance to adjust to your higher target. The 2hrs after just give you that little bit longer to also stop a crash once you’ve stopped.

So usually if I’m running/walking etc my temp target would be set for 5hrs if I’m say doing 1hr exercise.

What I will say is that I always carry glucose tablets/orange juice, because like you if you’ve been bang on target all day say 5/6/7mmol it is very hard to stop the hypos.

Unfortunately the pump can only do soo much for us, by setting a higher temp target so that background basal has been shut off certainly helps but if your running like Usain Bolt or smashing out 100’s of burpees etc there’s nothing it can really do. It comes down to the individual to learn which exercises cause certain reactions to your BG & adjust.

Thanks Maco
We were thinking that it comes down to how much exercise she does , just didn’t realise that with the tight margins with the pump keeping her BG in range which is great & is working brilliantly.
Just don’t want her to have too many carbs & shoot her BG too high , which then pumps insulin in . It’s a difficult balance , just was hoping for some tips for her ‍

 

[Maco]

Thanks Maco
We were thinking that it comes down to how much exercise she does , just didn’t realise that with the tight margins with the pump keeping her BG in range which is great & is working brilliantly.
Just don’t want her to have too many carbs & shoot her BG too high , which then pumps insulin in . It’s a difficult balance , just was hoping for some tips for her ‍

Have you tried glucose tablets? 2 tablets is roughly 20g of carbs so perfect for a hypo or even if she senses one coming on. When I’m on the treadmill and see my BG Down to around 5 I take one tablet. If it then drops into the 4’s I’d take the second. Usually see a small increase to around 7mmol with the two tablets so it’s pretty perfect for a correction