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maynard · 10-28-2003, 06:56 PM

Holmes,

I wish I had noticed this post last week, but such is life.

I'm 27 and I've been Type I diabetic for 11 years now, and a student of Aikido for about a year and a half.

You're original post included a call for help on how to handle your blood sugars during seminars. Unfortunately, I can't really provide much guidance since I did such a horrible job controlling my own sugars during the only seminar I've attended. My sugars were basically high all weekend. I think it was the combination of excitement, sleep deprivation and over compensation of (perceived) insulin reactions that caused my blood sugars to be higher than I would have liked.

I'll try no to repeat much of what's already been said, lot's of good stuff in this thread.

Insulin pumps.. I've considered them from time to time, but I don't think I want one. This is just my personal preference.

I find that my Aikido training noticibly affects my metabolism/blood sugars for about 1 to 2 days. I end up taking less insulin for the same blood sugar/food intake than if I have not trained.

For snacks to keep with me, I prefer single serving cookie packages over chocholate etc, mostly because the cookies don't melt in the Florida heat.

To avoid waking up in the middle of the night, I check my blood sugars before I go to bed. If I've correctly controlled my blood sugars, I usually need to eat something before bed. This is also dependent on what I've eaten for dinner, if I've had pasta, the complex carbs seem to help keep my blood sugars up over night. On nights that I have pasta, I'll usually have some garlic bread and a glass of milk or some other less complex/more simple carb so that my body is processing some of that while I'm training.

As for variance in training, I've found I can somewhat control my training intensity on a particular night. On the nights I attend the beginning/intermediate classes and my sugars were low/controlled before dinner, I'll seek out complete beginners that are more likely to slowly walk through the techniques. If my sugars are high and I need to burn some extra off, I'll seek out the more advanced students and attack more vigorously. On advanced nights, if I need less of a workout, I'll find the older generation of Aikido students and attack in a committed, but less vigorous fashion.

Before this gets too long, here's my treatment program:

Wake up: Insulin 16 units of Humulin Ultralente and X units of Humalog Regular insulin.

Mid-morning: usually a snack or three depending on blood sugars

Lunch: Check sugars if I feel I need to, and eat lunch accordingly

Dinner: X units of insulin based on dinner and excercise for the evening.

I'm 5 foot 6.5 inches tall and I've weighed around 145-155 lbs since I was diagnosed with diabetes. The key to blood sugar control for me is balancing Food/Insulin/Excercise, and you'll gain experience with what works for you. Ultimately, you are responsible for what goes in your mouth and for me at least, anything that has calories raises my blood sugars (go look at the nutrition facts labels on all that "sugar free" candy at the supermarket, what a load of garbage that label is!). When I'm eating sushi/chinese I end up taking 2 extra units of insulin because that's what I've found I need to do to keep my blood sugars under control. When I'm excercising vigorously, I'll take 2 units less than my normal scale, otherwise I end up having to eat too much food or stop excercising to eat.

Ultimately, for me blood sugar control ends up being a game of timing. For me, I picture my blood sugars as either rising or falling depending on when I've eaten, how much excercise and food etc, so when I'm having an insulin reaction at 8:00 a.m. and I'm not eating lunch until 11:30 a.m., I'll eat more than if I'm having an insulin reaction at 10:30 a.m. If the night before, I trained really hard in the advanced class, I might need to eat 3 servings of some M&M's to get me to lunch. If I haven't excercised as much the night before, I might have something sugary with around 200 calories given the same time of my insulin reaction. The best thing that helps me keep control is eating regularly at consistant times.

Sorry, this is a bit long, Hope this helps, if you want, I could tell lots of stories (my freshman year roommate at college was diabetic).

Regards,

John S. Murray

10-28-2003, 06:56 PM	#21
maynard Dojo: St. Pete Aikikai Location: Pinellas Park, FL Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 38 Offline	Holmes, I wish I had noticed this post last week, but such is life. I'm 27 and I've been Type I diabetic for 11 years now, and a student of Aikido for about a year and a half. You're original post included a call for help on how to handle your blood sugars during seminars. Unfortunately, I can't really provide much guidance since I did such a horrible job controlling my own sugars during the only seminar I've attended. My sugars were basically high all weekend. I think it was the combination of excitement, sleep deprivation and over compensation of (perceived) insulin reactions that caused my blood sugars to be higher than I would have liked. I'll try no to repeat much of what's already been said, lot's of good stuff in this thread. Insulin pumps.. I've considered them from time to time, but I don't think I want one. This is just my personal preference. I find that my Aikido training noticibly affects my metabolism/blood sugars for about 1 to 2 days. I end up taking less insulin for the same blood sugar/food intake than if I have not trained. For snacks to keep with me, I prefer single serving cookie packages over chocholate etc, mostly because the cookies don't melt in the Florida heat. To avoid waking up in the middle of the night, I check my blood sugars before I go to bed. If I've correctly controlled my blood sugars, I usually need to eat something before bed. This is also dependent on what I've eaten for dinner, if I've had pasta, the complex carbs seem to help keep my blood sugars up over night. On nights that I have pasta, I'll usually have some garlic bread and a glass of milk or some other less complex/more simple carb so that my body is processing some of that while I'm training. As for variance in training, I've found I can somewhat control my training intensity on a particular night. On the nights I attend the beginning/intermediate classes and my sugars were low/controlled before dinner, I'll seek out complete beginners that are more likely to slowly walk through the techniques. If my sugars are high and I need to burn some extra off, I'll seek out the more advanced students and attack more vigorously. On advanced nights, if I need less of a workout, I'll find the older generation of Aikido students and attack in a committed, but less vigorous fashion. Before this gets too long, here's my treatment program: Wake up: Insulin 16 units of Humulin Ultralente and X units of Humalog Regular insulin. Mid-morning: usually a snack or three depending on blood sugars Lunch: Check sugars if I feel I need to, and eat lunch accordingly Dinner: X units of insulin based on dinner and excercise for the evening. I'm 5 foot 6.5 inches tall and I've weighed around 145-155 lbs since I was diagnosed with diabetes. The key to blood sugar control for me is balancing Food/Insulin/Excercise, and you'll gain experience with what works for you. Ultimately, you are responsible for what goes in your mouth and for me at least, anything that has calories raises my blood sugars (go look at the nutrition facts labels on all that "sugar free" candy at the supermarket, what a load of garbage that label is!). When I'm eating sushi/chinese I end up taking 2 extra units of insulin because that's what I've found I need to do to keep my blood sugars under control. When I'm excercising vigorously, I'll take 2 units less than my normal scale, otherwise I end up having to eat too much food or stop excercising to eat. Ultimately, for me blood sugar control ends up being a game of timing. For me, I picture my blood sugars as either rising or falling depending on when I've eaten, how much excercise and food etc, so when I'm having an insulin reaction at 8:00 a.m. and I'm not eating lunch until 11:30 a.m., I'll eat more than if I'm having an insulin reaction at 10:30 a.m. If the night before, I trained really hard in the advanced class, I might need to eat 3 servings of some M&M's to get me to lunch. If I haven't excercised as much the night before, I might have something sugary with around 200 calories given the same time of my insulin reaction. The best thing that helps me keep control is eating regularly at consistant times. Sorry, this is a bit long, Hope this helps, if you want, I could tell lots of stories (my freshman year roommate at college was diabetic). Regards, John S. Murray