Please help! New to high school football, 2 a days and whatnot

[bnmom]

Baseball was our 1st sport since dx last fall - and it's been a breeze so far...Bobby just sips on a G2 during practices and games and so far so good.

Yesterday he says he wants to play football again, but he's going into high school this year so they'll be doing '2 a days' starting in July...when it's 95 degrees. And football is obviously alot more physically intense than baseball.

The endo said in the hospital that when Bobby played sports, we (dad & I) needed to go to all practices to monitor his levels and be on hand if anything went awry. Well, dad's good for nothing there (divorced) so it's all gonna fall on me.

Anyway, I have no idea how I can manage to be present for 2-a-days. Do you guys go to every practice? How do you manage via remote control when your teen is playing football or other hard core sports?

I know YDMV, but I'm hoping to get a rough idea outline:

Is there a number range you shoot for before practice starts?
Is it more likely Bobby will drop during practice, or after, or both?
Same question (above) on the required weight lifting sessions?
How worried should I be about this? (I overthink and overworry alot! )

And what exactly do you tell the coach? With baseball, I just told them 'he's type 1 but I'll be around so just heads up for you if he says he needs a drink or something please allow him immediate access' (I was intentionally low key and nonchalant about it with this rec league - because the middle school coaches didn't put him on the team because D freaked them out)

But with football, there is no way I'll be able to be at every practice (other son, work, etc) and it's more physically intense, so not sure what exactly to tell them.

Okay, enough rambling - you get the gist. Please help! Please walk me through your teens hard core sports management. Thanks!

[VinceysMom]

Oh the joys of football! :eek

Speak with the coaches, have a little informational session with all of them, make sure they are attentive. Also, the football TRAINER should be in attendance, I think he or she will be come your next best friend! The trainer will be at all the practices (or should be). He/she can help you. I know our trainer was so glad to learn about Type 1. I text her, email her, etc., when I think Vince needs to "check" his BG, etc. They will eventually get into a routine. The types of workouts my son did, most of the time he went high, and then we have to be easy with corrections. You will do a lot of trial and error.

I am rushing out the door, but will come back to this... Feel free to send me a private message as well. Nanshot (mom to Hugh) will probably also chime in as she has a teen that plays football as well, and last year, we went thru this together, as it was the first time both our boys were playing football aft dx.

All the best, and first step... A coaches/trainer meeting with handouts, and some refreshing gatorade for the coaching staff, maybe even some cookies...

We start with the weight lifting tomorrow, it is called anaerobic - makes the blood sugar go up (at least in my son and in most cases) so then you need to be very careful with corrections OR CWDs have been known to "come down" on their own... trial and error! and lots of checking!


Kathy

[AlexsDad]

My son plays baseball (you're right, it's a breeze) and soccer. I think it's completely unrealistic that you attend every practice, and I'm sure that if your son is anything like mine he doesn't want you to be the only parent hanging around practice. With school sports' practices starting right after school it's not even possible for working parents.

His coaches are aware that he may need an extra minute to test and that he may need to sit out for 15 minutes if he's low. Fortunately, he completed the spring baseball season without going low once and maybe had one or two lows in soccer practice last fall.

My son will check before practice starts and take carbs as needed. In soccer, he'll typically check his BS in the middle of practice during a water break. With baseball, he doesn't usually check until the end of practice. He's become a very good judge of how many carbs he needs.

We're looking at two a days for soccer starting in August. The morning practice will have a heavy emphasis on fitness, including be timed for 2 mile runs. We'll probably cut back significantly on breakfast insulin and have him check halfway through.

[nanhsot]

Originally Posted by bnmom

Baseball was our 1st sport since dx last fall - and it's been a breeze so far...Bobby just sips on a G2 during practices and games and so far so good.

Yesterday he says he wants to play football again, but he's going into high school this year so they'll be doing '2 a days' starting in July...when it's 95 degrees. And football is obviously alot more physically intense than baseball.

The endo said in the hospital that when Bobby played sports, we (dad & I) needed to go to all practices to monitor his levels and be on hand if anything went awry. Well, dad's good for nothing there (divorced) so it's all gonna fall on me.

Anyway, I have no idea how I can manage to be present for 2-a-days. Do you guys go to every practice? How do you manage via remote control when your teen is playing football or other hard core sports?

I know YDMV, but I'm hoping to get a rough idea outline:

Is there a number range you shoot for before practice starts?
Is it more likely Bobby will drop during practice, or after, or both?
Same question (above) on the required weight lifting sessions?
How worried should I be about this? (I overthink and overworry alot! )

And what exactly do you tell the coach? With baseball, I just told them 'he's type 1 but I'll be around so just heads up for you if he says he needs a drink or something please allow him immediate access' (I was intentionally low key and nonchalant about it with this rec league - because the middle school coaches didn't put him on the team because D freaked them out)

But with football, there is no way I'll be able to be at every practice (other son, work, etc) and it's more physically intense, so not sure what exactly to tell them.

Okay, enough rambling - you get the gist. Please help! Please walk me through your teens hard core sports management. Thanks!

Football has been very very good to us...yes, it is a challenge initially, but the benefits for my son's confidence and physical condition have been HUGE.

To answer specifics: I typed up, printed out, and handed out an informational handout to give to all coaches and also any interested parents. I tried to give the basics: this is what he has, this is what to worry about, trust him to know what to do, and respect his judgment at all times. I'm blessed to have a son who never shirks workouts, and they knew him from before diagnosis and knew he wasn't the type to make excuses...we have a new coach this year so I'll be starting anew with this particular topic but I trust that my son will advocate for himself well.

That's the most important thing in my mind, that they respect what he feels...if he says he needs to sit out for a few minutes...he is to be allowed to do so...NO QUESTIONS. I personally believe that if you present it with confidence and with forthright honesty, you'll have no trouble.

We always started practices at 120 or better, correcting highs that started before practice (but leaving alone those highs that drifted during).

I attended all practices for the first few weeks, until we found a rhythm and we knew his reactions, then I went maybe once per week. Always to games of course, but after those first few weeks, I felt confident that he was safe.

We found that sipping a gatoraide or other drink was not a good option for him, the stress (particularly weight lifting) caused him to go HIGH, so we always stuck to propel zero or something similarly no carb. (or water of course). I always stocked his bag with PB crackers and glucotabs, I'd say that he needed those less than 20%of the time. He really did not ever have drops from football, or rarely. I was horribly stressed ahead of time about that but found the opposite to be true, highs were our problem. (of course I did night time test throughout to make sure).

He tended to go high, particularly with games. We found that any correction was a mistake, so he played high and found that he naturally drifted down again. Corrections caused lows....they were adrenalin highs and leaving them alone was our best option.

This year our challenge will be figuring out pump and Dex; he was still on MDI last year. Leave it on or disconnect....give lantus or missed basal, etc. There's always a challenge! We LOVE football around here and all the challenges have been totally worth it for our family. My son started both offense and defense (6man football) and he played the entirity of more than one game, crazy but doable!

Bottom line: it's less scary than it seems right now, you will not need to be at every practice though you may need to be there for the first few weeks, you'll find a rhythm fairly soon.

I think I am very very lucky too though, my son is fiercely independent and quite mature with his diabetes. He leans on me for research and support but his daily needs are his to own, and have been since diagnosis at age 15. He owns his disease and I believe that really factors into his success at sports, he has really tuned into his instinctual needs and while he is far from perfect, he tries very hard to always listen to his body and react appropriately. I truly believe that made things so much easier, that he felt in control.

I was always there for stupid stuff like how to keep meters dry in rainstorms....keeping his bag stocked with snacks....researching ways to test quickly on the run (aviva compact is your friend!), etc.
Feel free to PM me at any time.

[VinceysMom]

I knew Nancy would chime in!! And I totally ditto all she said, that's basically what we did too. We were not at the practices everyday, as the trainer was trained and my daughter is also a trainer, so someone was always there that new what to do. At the times he would dip low or below that number we like him to be at, they would call or text me and we would figure out a solution together. Starting August we have food thrown in the mix; they break for 2 hours and have a lunch. My husband goes to this to help my son count his carbs; and we are conservative on any corrections per the high from adrenaline.

My son is not as mature about his diabetes as Nancy's son, we do a lot of the carb counting for him, but we know he can do it if we were not around, he hears us and chimes in when he wants, but he just is not at that maturity level at all, he is pretty "young" for his age, and we are about 1.5 yrs into this. I am hoping come Fall, he will be able to do more on his own, but we are always "here" for him if he needs our help. We are MDI, not pumping yet.

PM me also if you need any further advice, etc.

Kathy

[bnmom]

Thanks for your replies! It's so helpful to hear from folks that have been there and done that.

I will def go to the first few practices and just lay low (Bobby does not want his mom hanging around anywhere ever! ) till we see how things go.

Backing a bit off his insulin before practice sounds good, and I like the handout idea for the coaches.

I'm surprised to hear about the highs, but I can't pretend to understand or predict adrenaline at this point. Heck, I just got comfortable with understanding protein, fat and fiber effects...baby steps, baby steps

[VinceysMom]

The highs from weight lifting because weight lifting is not AEROBIC exercise, it is anaerobic.. lol My son came home today at about 246 and this was four hours after insulin, so we figured it was from weight lifting. He didnt drop much before lunch, but did drop to about 194 between 10:15 am and 11:40 am. We will do what we did today for the next day or so, then change things if he still is not coming to range within a couple of hours. So we may have to do a 1:7 or 1:6 ratio for breakfast... we will see how the next few days go.

Anaerobic exercise, from what I think I recall happens, is that the glucose is pumped out of the muscles being used?? something like that. And when they are doing more aerobic exercise they are using more energy.. good gosh, I am probably really screwing up the explanation, but it is something like that. If you search on this site for anaerobic you may find better info than what i can tell you. I just can't explain it properly...

Found this: Exercise in which oxygen is used up more quickly than the body is able to replenish it inside the working muscle. As a result, muscle fibers have to derive their contractile energy from stored substrates like Glygogen (stored carbohydrates), ATP (Adenosine Tri-Phosphate), and CP (Creatine Phosphate). Weight training is an example of such an activity.

Google: Anaerobic and aerobic exercise in diabetes, you might find better explanation..

Good luck.

[nanhsot]

Originally Posted by bnmom

Thanks for your replies! It's so helpful to hear from folks that have been there and done that.

I will def go to the first few practices and just lay low (Bobby does not want his mom hanging around anywhere ever! ) till we see how things go.

Backing a bit off his insulin before practice sounds good, and I like the handout idea for the coaches.

I'm surprised to hear about the highs, but I can't pretend to understand or predict adrenaline at this point. Heck, I just got comfortable with understanding protein, fat and fiber effects...baby steps, baby steps

For my son the highs were more of an adrenalin response, we believe. Hitting practices in particular caused highs and I think it was simple excitement/adrenaline. Adrenaline causes the body to go into fight or flight mode and increased blood sugar is one of the many affects of that...in the typical (non D) person a higher blood sugar from adrenalin is dealt with efficiently....not so much in our guys. BUT, I did find that correcting adrenaline highs was not good, lows always resulted.

Cut and pasted regarding the fight or flight response (adrenal gland response): Increased sugar rates in the blood. Allowing rapid energy use, and accelerating metabolism for emergency actions.

Weightlifting is another thing altogether, and we don't see as high of a response as others do, and we have to watch for lows later when he lifts a lot in a day.

Re: trainers, I forgot that in my initial response, DEFINITELY tap into your trainer as a resource. We were blessed to have a college professor (who trains other athletic trainers) volunteer her time with our team and she was AMAZING. Before I could even finish telling her he was T1 she turned to him and began grilling HIM directly on his regimen, gained my respect right there that she wanted to hear from him what he knew and understood. They had a great rapport (it helped that she is very attractive!) and I always knew she had his back. My daughter is the water girl and she watches out for him too, will check his meter and text me the numbers!

Feel free to PM me if you want a copy of the letter I sent.

[del]

My son is 15 and starting to play football too. This is new to us so I will be watching this thread to try to learn something. What is considered a light breakfast? He throws up(sorry) his breakfast during morning workouts. It's hot here in Mississippi. His sugar is up when he gets home. he has to take his pump off during workouts. Any help? thanks <>< del

[nanhsot]

Originally Posted by del

My son is 15 and starting to play football too. This is new to us so I will be watching this thread to try to learn something. What is considered a light breakfast? He throws up(sorry) his breakfast during morning workouts. It's hot here in Mississippi. His sugar is up when he gets home. he has to take his pump off during workouts. Any help? thanks <>< del

Do his coaches understand he has diabetes? Personally I would be upset if my son was working out to the point of vomiting. If this continues he needs to learn to recognize the signs BEFORE he throws up and take a break. We have an agreement with our coaches that they are always to trust my son's judgment, he can go sit down when HE chooses, none of this "I'm the coach, keep going" garbage when it comes to diabetes. That said, however, in my experience for new players the vomiting in the heat/workouts only lasts about a week, their bodies adapt fairly quickly.

If my son did throw up for morning practices, I actually would not have him eat ahead of time. Better to throw up water than food that has insulin matched to it. I might have him drink a protein shake or something VERY low carb and just give no insulin at all until he quit throwing up.

Does he give himself the missing basals when he finishes practice? If it's a 2 hour practice I'd have him reconnect after the first hour and bolus what he missed, same after practice.

If he's really hungry and you want him to eat, I"d stick with something very simple and easily digested, stay away from overly fatty foods. For my son that may mean toast with PB, or a protein bar. He likes those extend bars quite a bit too. He usually has a protein shake every morning, very low carb and packs a punch for him to work out.