Help for newly dx'd swimmer......

[Reagan's Mama]

My girlfriend was in the right place at the right time today. A teacher where she is substituting is back at school today. Yesterday she was at the hospital with her 11 year old and a new D diagnosis.

My friend gave her my number, and I have started a list for her. She is overwhelmed, scared and alone.

Her daughter is a swimmer, any tips that I can give her? I can help with alot, except that I don't yet have an older more active child. Obviously swimming should lower her BG? Right? She is giving herself shots right now and is ok with that, they aren't looking into the pump at this time.

Thank you in advance.

[Lee]

Tell her to keep swimming! Just test frequently, especially at night after a physical day!!!

[vettechmomof2]

THe chemicals from the pool can mess up blood testing also. So remind them to wash hands frequently(notin the pool water):rolleyes:.
Wish our best.
Allene

[Mama2H]

Test before during and after. Make sure to test overnight after swimming. Clean dry hands for every test. Carb up before swimming and sip gateraid during. These are the things we did with Hailey while swimming.

[Shirley and Jamie V.]

Make certain she washes her hands with soap and dries on a separate towel. We kept getting lows after swimming and would treat and get crazy highs. My DD told us she didn't feel low and as it turns out she was right. As another poster said, pool chemicals really skew the numbers.

All the best to her and her daughter.

[mom to a sports nut]

I have a daughter who is a competitve swimmer. It is much different managing a competitve swimmer than one who is just, say, taking a half hour swim lesson once a week. Melissa will do a 2 hour am practice and a 2 hour pm practice during her peak training periods. Please give her my email address and I will happy to share with her our hints, successes and failures. The first thing she needs to know is: no her daughter doesn't have to give up swimming it just takes management!

[MamaC]

Carb up before, during and after. Test before, during and after. Gatorade or the equivalent during. Pay particular attention after any race...Tom went low once during a 50 of breaststroke. Came out looking more drained than usual, tested low, swigged Gatorade, and swam again 15 minutes later.

Make sure a couple of people know what to watch for in case your attention is diverted.

Tom has his first high school swim meet tonight. It can be done!

Becky

[Mom2rh]

My son is also a competitive swimmer. We have found out a lot through trial and error. First, his BG drops about 100 points during a 1 1/2 hour practice. So he needs to test, eat a snack which includes fat and protein before swimming, reducing his bolus AND drink a gatorade during swim practice.

Races are different. Being on a pump has helped tremendously. Since adrenaline can raise your BG, that could be a factor. We test before each race (hopefully in enough time to make any corrections) and try to have him in a good range. He doesn't do longer distances yet so his races are pretty short. During meets he eats well-balanced meals with fat and protein, dosing as normal for carbs because the warm-ups are pretty short compared to practices. We test a bunch because one day we may chase lows, the next day we may chase highs. It is hard to figure out.

We just went to a meeting where Matt Vogel, one of the Type 1 team members from The Race Across America spoke. He talked about the race, the team members etc. Basically, this stuff stays the same no matter how long you have D, or what level you are competing at. You just have to test, be prepared and hope for the best.

If your friend wants to email me I'd be happy to share what I can. And my son would be happy to be an email pal, too. He just turned 13.

[badshoe]

Swim!

Type 1 didn't stop Gary Hall Jr.

Shouldn't stop her either.

Connor swims. Sometime he gets a delayed low form a hard practice, sometimes he doesn't. Your Diabetes May Vary.

Test Swim Test Swim Test