My dietician just told me reducing to 30% means 30% less? Or maybe I'm just having a blonde day!!!
Hi @Traceyann35, Please read this post a few times, and makes some notes if need be. It took me ages to work all this out and I am not blonde, female or young, so it is nothing to do with one's hair colour, gender or age!!! I have had diabetes for 52 years so look at me the slow learner !!!
Not something you can learn straight off.
I guess your dietitian means 30 % less than 100% = 70%. That seems to be the setting regime on your pump, so
reduce the "exercise percentage" from 100%. Similarly
during illness I increase my basal rate say from 100 % to 1200% etc.
Exercise reduce % (weighs start down, feet step down) , (you need to look down when exercising otherwise you might trip!
Illness increase %. (being ill means laying up in bed)
Some of us actually have raised BSLs during and just after exercise and only dip low at around the 6 hour mark. I increase my basal rate by 20% (=120%) from 2 hours before planned exercise and continue at that level for another hour or so. So the increased rate of insulin takes hold after 2 hours and this help to blunt the BSL rise with exercise.
(up for 2 hours before and 2 hours during)
I then reduce my basal rate to between say 70% to 80% for 4 hours from about 4 hours after exercise. This allows the effect of reducing the basal insulin to start 2 hours later (i.e. about the 6 hours mark) and so helps prevent the '6 hour after' hypo)..
Down from 4 hours after exercise to stave off the 6 hours after hypo and til the 8 hours mark after)
BTW @helensarmay, rock climber extraordinaire, is a maven at this.
Others I have spoken with may have a fall in BSL during or minutes to an hour or so following exercise, which is likely to need a
different strategy early on such as eating food beforehand, something to discuss with your dietitian as well as how to manage the '6 hour after' hypo.
I also find that my insulin seems to work better for the next 12 to 24 hours. (= my insulin sensitivity is increased).
One catch is that
if my BSL at start of exercising is less then 5 mmol/l I eat a little before exercising just to be sure of not dipping low.
Another is that
if my BSL is greater than 13 to 14 mmol/l at expected onset of exercise I do not start exercising.
It appears that at 14 mmol/l BSL and above, our livers decide that we are relatively starving and release stored glucose when we start to exercise.
I have tried it and it made me ache all over, I could not complete the exercise and my BSLs took ages to come back to normal range. This last difficulty is due, I have read, to insulin being less effective, dose for dose, at higher BSLs compared to lower BSLs. (you may need to see what the name for correction dose ratio is on your pump and discuss this also with your health team if relevant)
Most importantly is to be able to enjoy your exercise and make it meaningful. If I can exercise by walking to the shops and back, walking about in springtime (in Australia, mate!) taking photos of spring colours (or finding ideas for gardening from neighbours' gardens, etc etc I am more inclined to keep doing that than a less interesting, repetitive bout at the gym or local oval (at least that is my perspective, each to his or her own)!!!
Best Wishes on your journey and please keep posting about travels.
Most Things are Possible. Please also look up my-best-kite.com with your little one.
