"Matty (I Weighed More Than Jared From Subway)" <Idontthinkso@spammy.net>
wrote in message news:1312jfoem4j946c@corp.supernews.com...
>A friend of mine called today and was asking me about losing weight and
>exercising. She has Type 1 Diabetes and I think she said she has an insulin
>pump.
>
> She tries to exercise for at least 15min-30min a day but her I guess her
> blood sugar gets very low afterwards. She also tries to drink 10 glasses a
> water a day.
>
> I have no idea on what to suggest as I am not familiar with Diabetes other
> than knowing it runs in my family. Thought I would toss it up here on the
> group and see if anyone can suggest websites or books to help her out...
I also have Type 1 diabetes and use a pump. Before I got my pump (in May
2005) I was not able to exercise without going low. I'd then have to eat to
bring my BG back up. Sometimes it would drop so low I'd end up eating an
enormous amount of carbs just trying to get it back up and stay up. The
pump changed that all for me. On injections, a Type 1 diabetic takes two
types (usually, some might take 3 or even 4 different kinds, but 2 is the
norm) of insulin. One is short acting, which starts working quickly and is
used to cover food intake and to correct high blood glucose levels. They
also need long acting insulin, because we all need insulin working at all
times. It's the long acting stuff that causes a lot of grief, because you
inject a relatively large amount in just one of two injections, and that's
supposed to cover your background (basal) insulin needs for the day.
Exercise can cause that pool of insulin to kick in big time and cause
serious lows. With a pump, you only use short acting/fast insulin. The
pump gives you teeny tiny amounts of it throughout the day to cover your
background insulin needs, and you program the pump to give larger amounts
for meals.
The nice thing about the pump is you can change the rate of insulin delivery
throughout the day. A lot of people need more insulin in the morning, so
the pump can give them a more for however many hours they need. You can
also lower the rate, which comes in handy for exercise. It's recommended
that you lower the basal rate on your pump about two hours BEFORE exercise.
That way, when you begin to exercise a lot of that background insulin is out
of the way and you don't have to worry as much about your blood sugar
dropping too low.
If your friend is indeed on a pump, I highly recommend the book Pumping
Insulin by John Walsh. It's the bible for insulin pumpers. She should also
check out and join the mailing list at
http://www.insulin-pumpers.org/ .
Since getting my insulin pump (and changing the way I eat, and fixing a
couple of other health issues) I have lost over 100 pounds. That would not
have been possible without my pump, although I would have still been able to
lose some weight with the dietary changes I made. The pump is a wonderful
tool and it might take a lot of trial & error and testing (testing her blood
sugar, testing her rates) to find the numbers that work.
--
Liz
HW:268 CW: 160.4 GW: 148
Type 1 Diabetes 
Linear Mode
