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If you have played a competitive sport, did you take any precautions with your T1D-related devices?
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At the time I played competitive sports, I only gave myself insulin shots. Mostly 1 dose of NPH per day.
Not much of a Competitor my challenge has only been staying alive but in High School I got onto the Football Field and learned I really didn’t belong there and like Jay Bachman it was 1 shot of NPH a Day
I ran competitively and currently walk competitively. Also throw the discus competitively. I make adjustments in the basal and bolus settings as well as using the exercise function during walks. Training for a 100k walk. I will be 75 in March.
wow!
I ran Cross-Country in high school. Long enough ago there was no devices. I checked my blood sugar 30 minutes before a race and ate a banana and washed it down with an Ensure.
I didn’t play a competitive sport with type one but now I’m a fitness instructor. So I always start my classes with my sugar a little higher than normal and keep a bottle of glucose close by.
I did sports & triathlon’s on and off through high school and university. Mainly before using a pump. So I would carb up before and often drink tang while doing the activity. I usually had to drive my BG above 10(180) or I would become hypoglycemic.
Luckily, I made it through high school before I was diagnosed with T1D. So, I played football. However, I don’t think it would have been possible back in the 1960’s-70 to play. I was not aware of any diabetics playing. However, I played lots of competitive sports when I became a diabetic. Early on, before blood tests, insulin pumps and CGM, I ate a lot of food before and during playing golf, running events, softball and track and field events. I had my low BS, but always had food or juices with me. As time went by and technology improved, I constantly checked my blood sugars and either ate more, or took less insulin, usually before an event. I have been a distance runner most of my life and drank lots and lots of bottles of juice. More recently, with CGM’s, insulin pumps, and Tandem Control IQ, I use a variety of techniques, that involve drinking protein softies, juices, removing my insulin pump while I’m running (or just disconnecting while running), and taking less insulin at the meal before my activity.
Thee question is about handling devices, not handling t1d. In the days when I had been on swim teams an soccer teams, no devices had yet been invented. Not even glucose meters. In a way, that meant fewer things to worry about. With no devices to be concerned about, my only concern was my well-being. Ha.
All my competitive sport days were pre-pump
The times when I played/participated in competitive sports I was not yet using any CGMs or insulin pumps. I was only using the MDI method and test strips.
I did competitive gymnastics but it was in the 70’s there were no devices.
I wear my pump in my bra so didn’t take any special precautions
I currently play pickleball. I wear my t:slim x2 on my waistband.
I have a setting in my profiles that is set up with my unique Basel and bolus settings. The activity setting doesn’t work for endurance or competitive sports. I also make sure I have a carbs on hand. I also drink protein drink
I turned on Activity mode on my Omnipod device in order to hold insulin.
Playing tennis I use a polyester waistband were I place my pump to be secure on my body and I have pockets where I can place glucose tabs. It gets hot on the court so I place my glucose meter in a pocket on the side of my cooler. Regulations require us to turn off all cell phones so I don’t use my CGM.
As far as the precautions I take for myself to stay in the game, I start with BG greater than 140. I only bolus 50% of the total. My meals before a match are mostly protein and lots of fat (avocado, olive oil, coconut). I don’t drop my basal cause my cells need energy.
When I played waterpolo in high-school in the late 1960s and early 1970s there were no devices for managing diabetes.
I rejoice in their existence now.
When I was of an age that I could participate in a competitive sport, insulin pumps and self management was just being found/created. I did some sports and worked lots of jobs after school but always had difficulty balancing long acting insulins and playing sports. I ended up with many severe insulin lows.
Waterpolo is a very “hands on” sport. Difficult to keep a sensor attached through practice for games… didn’t need to worry about pump as I switched to AFREZZA and Tresiba.
I tried Eversense sensor and simply took off transmitter and that worked well! Nobpost sensors, but I didn’t like it enough compared to Dexcom so switched back and found “CoBand” worked well.
Swimming… no problem keeping Dexcom sensor on… just stay away from rubbing in lanelines .
In my youth, when I played sports the only diabetes devices were syringes, test tubes and urine tablets. And I never carried these with me, so the answer is no.
I used to play soccer and I used to bowl. I also participated in Interim flag football one term. I don’t recall doing anything special, but it was a long time ago and I just don’t remember.
No competitive sports activities, but in my younger years (long before the use of pumps and CGMs – or even BG meters) I participated in live performance dance and musical theatre with several weeks of rehearsals followed by a stretch of live performance dates for the run of a show. I did this all the way into my late 30s. Didn’t do anything special except to have glucose tabs, OJ and hard candies on hand as a quick fix to treat hypos, and I ate sensible meals early in the day on a regular schedule so I wouldn’t be overloaded with food digesting during a performance. In those days I was on one or two shots of NPH (as a kid & teen) and then Reg and Lente, as a later teen and in college then Reg and Ultralente as a young adult.
Didn’t start pumping until 2001 when I was 40 + years into living with T1D.
I played football in high school and college. I wrestled in high school. I played various intermural sports throughout. There were no T1D devices in the mid-‘70’s.
I had to extra secure them for obstacle course racing or rock climbing after having them torn off during those activities. Then I figured out for these activities i really dont’ need insulin so I just turn them off but still secure them with extra tape coverage so i can turn them on for meals after activity
No because when I played softball blood sugar meters for at home, were just coming out. It would be another 10 to 15 years before I got my first pump.
Sometimes wrapped his pod with kinesiology tape.
Took a small bolus of insulin then removed my pump for gymnastics practices and competitions. Would hook back up every hour or so to give more insulin if needed
No, but only because when I played competitive sports there weren’t any T1D-devices.
I competed in Triahtlons for 20 years, including about 10 years while wearing a pump (before the time of CGMs). I wore my pumps during the events including under my wetsuit while swimming. I would cut my basal rate before the event started.
My biggest problem was highs, not lows. I would get so anxious before the start that my bg would inevitable climb into the 250’s before the gun went off. Mostly I did “sprint” triathlons that were over in an hour and 15 minutes, so I didn’t have too much trouble. Before I had the pump I competed in some longer events which took over six hours and these were much more challenging to manage blood sugar.
As a professional martial arts instructor (a “flavor” of Okinawan Karate), (my paid job 6 days/week) over thirty years, precautions were mandatory! Was n-e-v-e-r a “sport”, but got/gets classified that way by the public…. the short answer is yes. On a traditional karate uniform there is zero (0) place which any tech is remotely safe!!! By virtue of the activity(es) be is solo, partnered or group, the tech, the infusion site, the infusion set will be a target, even if not deliberately. Without fail E-V-E-R it would fly across the room like some kind of throwing star, get pulled off, or simply ripped clean out even during SOLO practices!!!. We were not a full contact school, nor was grappling a highly common thing. We did but not that much. Even so, out/off it came… The only place I could ever get a set to STAY was my hip pointer region, (yeah there). Consequently tech was NEVER a positive experience, not once. Traditional weapons training was the sole time I took it completely off. The purpose is/was to wear it, not remove it, right?! So it only came off when the possibility of it becoming a danger was likely. Tubing versus metal/wood, or sharp edges are unsafe for others even m9re than myself, so off it came… Never found a positive outcome to these nightmares, but once entirely removed (permanently) the problems all disappeared entirely….
We took her pump off during basketball games and just let her stay around 180 for the game. If she went high, we put it back on at halftime to give her a little nasal