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Swimming And Insulin

Jen92'

Jen92'

Well-Known Member
Messages
46
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hello everyone,
I haven't posted recently but starting to get this diabetes under control however tomorrow morning has a new challenge for me..swimming!!
So what I'm asking is how people manage their blood sugars when going swimming i am petrified I hypo in the pool as it will only be myself and my toddler son...any advice would be really appreciated. Thank you all
 
Jen92' said:
Hello everyone,
I haven't posted recently but starting to get this diabetes under control however tomorrow morning has a new challenge for me..swimming!!
So what I'm asking is how people manage their blood sugars when going swimming i am petrified I hypo in the pool as it will only be myself and my toddler son...any advice would be really appreciated. Thank you all
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you won't be doing much swimming yourself if you're looking after your son, but even minding children in a pool can make your blood sugar low. Test immediately before you enter the pool; aim to have your BS higher than normal so you have some cushion; take glucose tablets with you; get out and test at regular intervals; and tell the lifeguard you have diabetes.

I often eat a bar of chocolate before going in the pool. You could also reduce your bolus insulin for the meal before if that would work, but the most important thing is to test, test, test and top up with glucose/food as necessary.
 
The pool near me only lets you in for certain amounts of time so I'd aim to have your bg a little higher when you enter and try get a locker near the water so if you feel you need to go test it is easier to just nip out and do so. Everyone is different so only experience will tell you how much swimming impacts your bg. I, personally, don't see any impact unless I'm trying to be Phelps so you can only take notes as you go. Good luck <3 Hope your son takes to the water ok!
 
Thank you for your replies, it's actually just a half hour swimming lesson for him so not much swimming but I will be running around trying to organise him then being in the pool with him. It's at 830am so I was thinking possibly having a small slice of toast and banana before I go without taking insulin as I would rather run higher than low, generally speaking this would only raise my levels to about 9mmol ish I just have such a fear of hypos as I haven't experienced one yet so I don't really know what I'm looking for. Thank you both
 
@Jen92' It can be a little harder to spot a coming hypo in the water, so test just before you go in. I'm allowed to put my meter on a bench near the children's pool so I can get out and test easily.

Hypos have many signs - shaking, weakness, sweating, pounding heart, tingling lips, changes in vision (harder to focus and like coming indoors when you've been in bright sun), feeling confused or like you and/or your brain are going slow.

Those are just some of the signs.

If the swimming becomes a regular thing, you'll learn what works for you : )
 
Thank you I think I will have a word with the swim instructor before class and ask to leave my kit on the bench next to the pool so I can maybe check 15 minutes in just to gage how I'm going as it will be a weekly thing so I will just see how it goes and work with it. Thank you for your advice :)
 
I swam quite a lot when first diagnosed. I'd test before and make sure I was 6.0+, I'd have test kit and lucozade on poolside (and small towel to dry hands to test), had a silicon diabetes alert wristband and inform lifeguard.
 
Dear Jen,
For any kind of sports you practice you should test your amount of effort reported to the amount of insulin you re doing. When i go swimming for one hour as an example, i make 2 units less of insulin and everything is perfect. Or you can go for the second option which means to eat a fruit or little bit of chocolate. Of course, measure your glycemia before go swimming and after 20 min you finish swimming.
Lot if health!!!
 
Let the lifeguard know you're diabetic and leave your testing kit etc. with them if you're worried about someone wandering off with it. That way the lifeguard will know exactly what the problem is if the unlikely event of a severe hypo occurs.

If I was you I'd play it safe, test and have a decent-ish snack before getting in the water and then once the lesson is over test again. If your blood sugar is low then you'll know you need a bigger snack next time, high, cut back on the snack a little.

Most importantly, have a lovely time!
 
Thank you all for your reply, it was a success I halved my breakfast insulin and had a small banana and cereal bar just before I went into the pool which brought me up to 10mmol but higher than I wanted but prefer to err on the side of caution which brought me down to 7 half hour after I left the pool so il know for next week to not have as much of a snack to bring me in a bit lower thank you all
 
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