swimming carb/exercise ratio

i am a regular gym goer and runner, find that a carb snack prior to exercise is the way to go. if i was to head for a session with a reading around 7 i would have 2 weetabix with a little sugar, or maybe a little bit of chocolate on the way. a combination of some slow and fast acting carbs is the way which works for me. as a rule i will always test myself 45 mins to an hour into my session as it is easy to feel fine but still get a pretty low reading. hope that helps a little, being active is too important to let go, especially in a young person,good luck!

Hi Donnamum.

Firstly, I'd agree completely with Eddie, your efforts on your daughter's behalf are remarkable and utterly fantastic.

I use insulin and try and run and cycle regularly so I appreciate how difficult it can be to balance the glucose lowering effects of exercise and insulin with the sweet / starchy foods often needed to raise them again. You've already experienced the frustrations of big old blood sugar swings. As Eddie describes, the variables often seem to outweight the constants, unfortunately.

In my experience ( I was diagnosed type 1 aged 18) there are huge benefits to be had in reducing insulin dosages. This makes blood sugar levels much more steady and predictable and hypos become more infrequent. This, as you already know, implies reducing carbohydrates in the diet which may be difficult to implement with a child. Self-denial is an aquired taste!

I don't know whether this helps, but please feel free to PM me if you'd like to talk about it in more detail.

All the best,

fergus

Swimming always made my BS go down very quickly, now with a pump its stable because I remove the pump before ie I have only a tiny amount of residual insulin when swimming. So if its possible to reduce insulin without going too high during the pm as a result then thats probably ideal . Its actually what my doc always suggested but I'm not disciplined enough to do things regularly.
Otherwise a snack such as low/med gi fruit, a well chosen cereal bar (read the labels a lot of them are not as healthy as they claim!), a slice of fruit loaf or perhaps a less healthy but enjoyable choc coated biscuit.

When your daughter is more active than usual she may ,be more insulin sensitive at the next meal, resulting in a hypo You may find you need to reduce the insulin with that meal also.
Unfortunately you need to experiment a bit to find the best options for her.

Incidently I found this site with games for children with diabetes, I don't know if you've seen them.



http://www.avondiabetes.nhs.uk/Children/Links/games.htm

Dear donnamum
I concur with everything everyone has written. I'm not on insulin, so i can't comment on that, but i do do 2 aquafit classes every week and i get COLD even in a heated pool. Your daughter could be burning extra glucose just keeping warm. Have you asked her: is she shivering when she gets out of the water? If she's cold, Is she small enough to wear one of those suits which have sleeves and legs? My grand daughter has one and it helps keep her warm.
i think they're seen as quite fashionable by the children.

Hi Donnamum

Firstly just wanted to say I agree with the comments everyone else has made, for me it is hard enough dealing with this for myself, the thought of having to do it for my child just blows my mind. It sound like such a good idea trying all these sports - waterpolo sounds great fun! The more sports you introduces the more likely your daughter will be to continue with exercise when she grows up I am sure. My family were never very sporty and I am sure it rubbed off although I have started to sort this and have been going to the gym for the last 2 years (and then I got sick there is irony there somewhere!) I intend to correct this with my son and the poor boy will be encouraged to do every sport going - he is starting swimming lessons in Sept!

This thread has been very interesting as I am planning to start swimming regualrly when my son starts school (I currently work from home on Mondays so plan to drop him off and then go for a swim before I hit the laptop) The only swimming I have done since this began has been with my son (so not much actual swimming done!)so I haven't experienced its effects yet. I have been warned and will go carefully at first.

Thanks

donna tom when i get a chance ill post some guidelines about bs and carb intakes - its on my pc not laptop

I exercise every day but swim once a week, and swimming is the one exercise that affects my blood sugar the most, even though I only swim for half an hour whereas most of the other exercise I do lasts longer. I swim shortly after breakfast and have to reduce my breakfast insulin to half my normal ratio before breakfast to avoid hypos. I also test afterwards because occasionally I've hypoed later as well - if my blood sugar is under 7 straight after swimming then I eat a banana which keeps me going till lunch.