A Couple More Biking Stories

I meant to blog about a bike ride on July 12/12 but I sort of forgot.  I also went biking today so I will share the results of both of these rides.

On the 12th I decided to go for a bike ride after dinner.  At dinner I was a little lower than what was ideal for biking (6.6 mmol/L rather than the usual 10-12 that seems to be safer) so for dinner I ate approximately 100 grams of carbs and did insulin for 15% rather than the usualy 25%.  I did the usual 25% basal running for two hours.

Right away my glucose was higher.  When I started biking it was 18 mmol/L, which is too high.  It went down to 15 mmol/L part way through the bike.  Knowing I was a safe level, I biked much faster for the last few minutes home, bringing my level down to 14mmol/L; about an hour later it was 18 mmol/L, which I decided to correct.  Finally, at 3am I went low (3.4 mmol/L).

Obviously this did not work.  I was too high for the bike ride (when I'm in the high teens I don't feel very good, which makes me not want to move).  It came down a little bit but jumped back up an hour after the bike ride.  Then the correction plus the lingering effect of exercise brought me too low later in the evening.

Even though the numbers were too high, this ride gave me some good information.  For one thing, I saw the same pattern as last time, just higher.  My glucose seems to go up a bit after dinner, come down a few points during the actual ride, then jump back up once I've stopped riding.  This means my glucose is remaining relatively stable, which is great during the ride.

I've also found that going faster means my glucose level drops faster.  I know this isn't rocket science, but there seems to be a significant drop if I'm exerting more energy.  That's something that I'll have to be very aware of (and which may lessen if I keep at this).

So now for today's ride.  Today I was heading to a friend's house.  I knew I wouldn't be active while hanging out there so I decided to bike there and home.  My friend lives a significant ways away from home; I was guessing it would take me 30-45 minutes to get there.  It ended up 45 minutes including two stops (the first stop was to check my glucose about 15 minutes in.  The second one was to check my glucose and to catch my breath from a hill that really killed me going up!)  This ended up a little further than I've gone this summer, plus it was uphill part of the way.  The other couple of rides I've done were mainly flat.  The other significant difference was that I would be biking home as well.  Going down the hill would be faster than up, but I expected another 30-40 minute ride anyway, making the total time spent biking potentially 80-85 minutes, split in two.

I had a really rough start to my day.  At 8am I was 4.1 mmol/L.  I had some skittles and a power bar at that time then slept for a few more hours.  I was planning on getting up to check on my glucose around 11:30am but that didn't happen; I got up at 1:30pm ish and was luckily 10.5 mmol/L.  That meant my glucose would be high enough to attempt this.

I ate two toasts with peanut butter and banana, which was more than I normally eat at that time but is carb heavy.  I did a bolus for 25% of that food, and started a 25% basal around that time (running for two hours).  I made sure I had some food with me (skittles, power bars and some goldfish crackers), as well as liquids (both water and juice).  I made sure someone would be able to come and get me if something went wrong somewhere along the way (thank goodness for cell phones!) and headed out at 3pm.  As I already mentioned it took me 45 minutes with two stops to get there.  But my glucose held just fine, being 13.0 mmol/L when I started, 15.1 mmol/L at the first stop, 14.7 mmol/L at the second and 12.5 mmol/L when I got there.  I checked again a couple of hours later and had gone up quite drastically to 19.4 mmol/L (although I had eaten a doughnut or two during that time which I may not have bolused correctly for.  Plus I may have had sugar on my fingers, which in hindsight I should have made sure they were clean!)  Anyway, as you can tell, other than the high a couple of hours later, this ride was a success.

Of course, I had to get home as well. 

I had thought we might get food at some point, but other than the doughnuts, no such luck.  So even though it was a bit late (almost 9pm when I left), I decided to bike and stop at Subway on my way home.  There's two Subways on the route I was going to use and one of them just happened to be right where I stopped the second time on my way there (making it only a 15 minute ride from my friend's house).  I was 12.4 mmol/L before I left.  I started my basal (25% again) about 30-40 minutes before heading out.  I got to Subway, ordered my sub, and was packing everything into my backpack, ready for the next part of my ride when I did glucose: 5.0 mmol/L.

At this point, I still had about a half hour ride to go.  A 5.0 mmol/L would not hold me.  If I ate the sub my glucose would go up but it would take quite a while, time I did not really have because it was late and the sun was slowly setting (I don't have a light for my bike).  So I called for someone to come and get me, sad the whole time because I didn't get to go down that stupid hill that killed me on the way there.

While getting home wasn't exactly a success story, it did give me incredibly important imformation: I can't go biking without eating some sort of meal beforehand.  If I'd picked up a sub on the way to my friend's house (say when I stopped beside the Subway to catch my breath) and eaten a bit before heading home I probably would have made it without a problem.  I would have had to do the same 25% bolus/25% basal and my glucose would have held.  But because I didn't have that carb-heavy meal, my glucose plummeted.  Next time I'll be more prepared.

Biking During Highschool: Why it was Easier to Exercise Then

As I promised, I am going to give my best explanation for why I was able to bike when I was in high school but have had lots of trouble in more recent years.

I mentioned part of the reason before, but I will repeat it here again:

My brother also thinks that as I build up my endurance, my body should adapt and my glucose might not drop as drastically as it has.

I should probably mention that my brother is a pharmacist who has studied diabetes and so he knows what he is talking about.  And at least for me, his advice rings true.  When I was in high school I was on the bike team and was in general much more active than I was during university.  When university happened, I always felt too busy to be working out.  This was especially true during my final years as a MA student.  So it is quite probable that as my fitness level has plummented, my body's ability to exercise without going low has similarly plummented.

But there's another piece to this puzzle that my brother's advice does not account for: puberty.  Puberty is a time when glucose levels tend to be hard to control thanks to all of the crazy hormones that are adjusting during that time.  I know, looking back, that my hemoglobin A1C's were much higher than they are now.  So it's also possible that during puberty, I was running higher in general, so it was a little easier to exercise.  Once puberty stopped, the strategies that worked back then stopped working as well.  I've had to find new strategies that work for me.  It's taken some time, but it's starting to look like I may be on my way to regaining my fitness level.

Biking Success!!!!

Today was my first time biking this summer!  Well, I think I biked to work once a few months back but that doesn't really count - I was working at a place that's only a few minutes from my house (as I tell people, I can bike there in the same amount of time as it takes me to drive my car).  No, today I went on an actual bike ride that lasted forty minutes.  I took a few breaks to check my glucose (which is not counted in the forty minutes - those minutes were spent actually biking).  And more importantly: I didn't go low at all!!!!

I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to go biking at all tonight.  When I got off of work today I was 2.7 mmol/L.  But I managed to bring that up to 13.6 mmol/L by dinner.  As I had requested, we had a carb heavy dinner of perogies.  I did a bolus of 30% of the insulin I would normally have done and got a 25% basal going at about 6:45pm.  We were ready to go biking an hour later so I did glucose and was dismayed to see it had actually dropped a couple of points to 10.7 mmol/L.  But I decided to go anyway.

The goal was to see how my glucose would fare if I biked to another place that I work at, which is about a twenty minute bike ride away if you aren't going fast.  I was feeling fine when I got there, and my glucose confirmed that: it was 10.6 mmol/L!  We stopped for a few minutes at this time, then started biking back.  About half way home I stopped again, just to see how things were going and for some reason my glucose level had actually gone up for some reason to 12.0 mmol/L.  I'm honestly not sure why that happened when it did, but I knew I'd safely make it home.  For the last little stretch (just a few minutes of biking), I decided to go as fast as I could in an effort to start building up some endurance.  Back in high school when I was on the bike team (I'm not entirely sure how I managed it seeing all the trouble I've had with strenuous exercise lately - I'll explain my best guess in another post!), the coach suggested that when you're out riding you should go for ten minutes biking at a normal pace, then go really fast for about a minute; doing so will build your endurance.  And it really does work!  So anyway, I decided to go fast for a minute or two, knowing my glucose would hold me.  When I got home, my glucose had dropped to 9.2 mmol/L, suggesting that it will not hold at that speed. 

As a side note, when I went fast was the first time in a long time that my body started telling me it couldn't really do this not because my blood sugar was low but because I need to build up my endurance.  I also had that happen a few times when I was successful skiing this past winter.  It's a different feeling from when you don't have enough sugar in your blood and it was rather a good feeling; I'm actually able to start building up my endurance!

So after cooling down and hanging out reading on the deck for about an hour, I did glucose again and found I was 13.6 mmol/L (conveniently the same level I was when I started cutting back insulin at dinner).  At that time I did a correction (although not as much as my pump suggested because I know exercise often stays with you and affects your glucose level long after you're finished) and ate a snack.  I'll be checking again in a little while before I get some sleep.

The strategy that I used is the same one that worked for me while skiing.  I thought it should work for biking as well and it looks like I'm right (so long as I don't bike super fast the entire time!)  So now to start building up that endurance...

July 2

Today is a special day.  Today is the anniversary of when I was diagnosed with diabetes.  And as of today, that was exactly 20 years ago.

A lot has happened in 20 years.  When I was first diagnosed I was on two injections of insulin a day.  I had to mix both Toronto/Regular (it was the same insulin, but it had different names) and NPH into a syringe.  When I was first diagnosed I was too young to do this myself so my parents had to do it.  I think I also did glucose only two times a day, plus any time I needed to because I was feeling weird.

Eventually I moved to four injections a day, three of Humalog and one of NPH at night.  This was supposed to provide me with more control, but it was also done while I was going through puberty, which meant that hormones made control much more difficult.

Finally I switched to the insulin pump, which has made my life much, much easier.  I can eat whenever I'm hungry, rather than being stuck with specific meal times; this has been great for university when I didn't have a set daily schedule the way I did in high school.  I also do exactly the amount of insulin I need for what I eat, rather than having to guess how much I was going to eat with the Toronto/Regular (you had to inject it 30 minutes before you ate to give it time to work; Humalog and the Novorapid I use now are much faster).

During this time I've also used many, many glucometers.  My original meter, a One Touch 2, died and was replaced by a One Touch Profile.  I've used most of the One Touch meters, and several meters from other brands (I can't even remember them all now!).  Originally I had to wait 45seconds to a minute for my results; now the new meters finish the test in 5 seconds or less.

As you can tell, these last twenty years have seen a lot of change.  Sadly, the one change I would really like to see is still years in the future: a cure.  When I was first diagnosed I was told that a cure would be coming within ten years; that date passed us by ten years ago.

But today is not a day for being angry that a cure hasn't come yet.  Today is a day of celebration.  Look at how far we've come!  And so far, (touch wood!) I've managed to remain healthy.  Sure, diabetes is a constant, every day challenge.  But thanks to living when I do, I've managed to lead a relatively normal life.  Sure, there are things that are unique to me that a person without diabetes doesn't need to worry about.  But I am still able to get out and enjoy myself.  So what if I have to bring Skittles and a Power Bar with me to do so?

Hurray!

I'm super excited: I stepped on the scale today and only weigh 199.4lbs!!!!

I realize that that number may sound like quite a bit to some people, but with my height I don't really look overweight. But it's been years since I've been under 200lbs (I think four, looking back on this blog). The scale's been "stuck" at the same number for the last few years and while I'm happy it never went over 205, I'm glad it's finally starting to move in the right direction.

The best part about all of this is that I'm not feeling deprived at all! I've been trying to eat with the GI diet, but I haven't been following it slavishly (for example, pineapple is yellow light, but I don't care; I'm going to eat pineapple if I want to!) I also found a great cookie recipe which has been perfect for snacks. I know back in 2008 I said it was boring, but I think I'm better prepared now with several books (and by different authors - Rick Gallop's got some great recipes, but they use a lot of the same ingredients. Adding some recipes from say this book helps to keep things fresh). I'm also quite okay with using some of my other cookbooks, too. I'm just trying to be a little more conscious of what I'm eating.

I've also been pretty active lately. I've gone for a walk almost every night this past week (and felt deprived the one day I didn't go).

So all in all, things have been pretty good as of late. I had a cleaning spree a few weeks back (which was also exercise!), and my mood seems to be fine thus far (I'm into my second month on Accutane).

Kakabeka Skiing!

It actually happened: I went skiing to Kakabeka today! And even more exciting, I made it around the entire 4km!

Unfortunately that wasn't a complete victory. I wanted to start off higher so I did a temporary basal last night of either 70% or 80% (I don't remember offhand), which made me start the day at 15 mmol/L. I then did the usual insulin trick of 25% of my meal bolus and 25% basal running in the background while skiing. That meant I got out to Kakabeka and was about 20 mmol/L.

I need to add that I didn't do a good job waxing my skis. I had way too much wax on them and wasn't able to glide like at all. I even walked up a hill like nothing. But without being able to glide, I was working a heck of a lot harder than I normally have to and had a really tough time getting around (as I've been telling everyone, I basically walked the entire 4km).

When I finished the trail, I did glucose and was still around 20 mmol/L. So I immediately stopped whatever was left of my temp basal and did a corrective bolus. We stopped to take pictures of the falls, then headed home. By the time I got there, I was down to 5 mmol/L (this was within about a half hour). So I drank a cup of chocolate milk without doing a bolus, which stabilized me; before dinner I was about 6 mmol/L, which is exactly where I wanted to be.

So through all of this, I learned an important lesson: if I start out too high, I need more insulin working while I'm skiing. I don't know exactly what I'll do differently next time that happens. I can either increase the meal bolus or increase the temp basal (or I guess the third option is to do a little of both).

But despite what went wrong, I'm still just incredibly happy to have made it safely around a 4km loop!

Started Accutane

Today I saw the dermatologist again and he gave me my prescription for Accutane; so at dinner I officially started taking it. As per my last post on the subject, Accutane scares me quite a bit. But this is probably the only time I'll be able to take it, so here we go.

The biggest side effect of Accutane is that it dries out your skin so I've stocked up on moisturizer. I even found a new moisturizer by Cetaphil that is oil-free and has an SPF in it. I've had a lot of trouble finding a moisturizer with an SPF that doesn't make my skin break out so I'm quite excited about it.

I've also decided to really make sure I eat better while on Accutane. To that effect, I've sort of started Rick Gallop's GI Diet again. Well, I made some green-light cookies anyway. I've decided that I'm not going to follow it 100% - if I feel like some yellow-light stuff every here and there that isn't the end of the world. I also won't be able to follow it while skiing. But other than that I am going to try sticking to it as best as I can. It might take about a week though before I completely start following it.

The GI Diet is a really good idea for me anyway. Following it is supposed to help regulate your glucose level so that won't be a bad thing. Besides, I've managed to be reasonably active over the last month (mainly thanks to skiing and walking), so it's definitely time to add eating right to the equation.

Other than that, there really isn't much to report. I'll be updating this blog semi-regularly as things progress.

Skied With Friends

Today I went skiing with a couple of friends. Friday is cheap night at Kamview ($7 to ski, and an extra $7 if you need to rent skis) so it was the perfect night to go. We had a lot of fun.

Of course, the evening was that much better for me because it was a total success glucose-wise! I didn't have to eat anything at all during the entire ski!

I started the day out low. So I ate a small "breakfast" (what other people would refer to as lunch) and did not do insulin for the meal. I know this isn't a good plan normally, but I wanted to make sure I would be higher when it came time to ski. Luckily this worked out, as supper rolled around I was about 10 mmol/L.

After my problems last time, when I had a dinner heavy with free foods, I decided to have a carb heavy dinner. So I ate a sub from Subway (just over half of a foot long), a cup of chocolate milk, and a small piece of crusty white bread. Then I did the usual thing with my insulin, 25% of the bolus from dinner, and 25% of a basal running through until I'm one skiing (although I didn't take into account the carbs for the piece of bread). I started eating dinner at about 5:30 and started the basal just before 6pm. Once dinner was ready, I got ready and met my friends for about 6:45. The plan was to be at Kamview for about 7.

I did glucose just before I left my house and was about 13 mmol/L. By the time I got to Kamview I was now 15 mmol/L, which was great; unlike pretty much every other time I've gone skiing this year, my glucose level did not drop! We skied to the beginning of the Northern Lights trail where I did glucose again. This time my level was just above 14 mmol/L. That was fantastic, too - no big drop there either!!! So we skied the Northern Lights successfully. This was also when I saw the biggest drop in glucose, going from 14 to about 8 mmol/L during that time.

We finished the night by skiing the normal lit trail back to the chalet (no dark Jackrabbit for me this time). Back at the Chalet, my glucose remained steady. So that meant I successfully skied about 3km without having to eat anything!!!!

After dropping everyone off, I went home and did glucose again. My level had predictably risen to about 15 mmol/L. So I corrected that, then did glucose again about a half hour later, when it dropped back down to 11 mmol/L.

All in all I am extremely happy with how everything went with my glucose. I'm even confident enough to attempt Kakabeka this Sunday (although I'm only going to do a 4km trail. I don't feel confident enough in my glucose to attempt the 7km one).

Skiing Failure

This post's title is a bit of a misnomer. I didn't really fail at skiing today. It just really felt like I did.

Today we decided to take one of the unlit trails at Kamview. It's called Roadway Ramble and it's about 1 km long. It's a nice trail that brings you up to the top of the Sun Dial (now called the Sun Up Trail) so you miss the long stupid climb but get to enjoy the hill down the Sun Down trail. I was terrified that I was going to kill myself on that hill because it was so icy; luckily I managed not to fall despite crossing my skis as I snow-ploughed down the hill. Everyone met up at the end of the Northern Lights, where I did glucose once again. Unfortunately I was around 5.0 mmol/L, which I did not think was high enough to ski the Northern Lights. So I waited while everyone else did, in hopes that my glucose would stabilize so I could get back. By the time everyone else returned, my glucose hadn't done much of anything so I ate a little something then Jackrabbited back. Back at the Chalet, my glucose was fine. I did it once again and it was starting to climb (not too high though - it was still under 10 at that time) so I did a bit of insulin to correct that. Apparently that worked because my glucose stayed around the same - I didn't go high! So that was a success, eliminating the rise after I was done being active! :)

The reason tonight felt like a failure was because I wasn't able to ski the Northern Lights. After my success two weeks ago, I thought I'd have smooth sailing in that regard. I read a map though while I was waiting, and estimated what I had skied of the Sun Down trail to be about another kilometer. Including the Jackrabit bit I did at the end, I totaled about 3km (and yes, I realize a chunk of that was downhill, but I could feel my legs really working trying to stay upright, slow down, and fight to uncross my skis on the hill so it wasn't like I just sailed down, doing nothing). That's pretty comparable to how much I skied two weeks ago when I did the Northern Lights. So this wasn't really a failure at all. It just really felt like it.

I attempted to do the same thing with my insulin as I did two weeks ago. I did about 25% of the dinner bolus, and dropped my basal to 25% during the ski. I started that drop a little later though accidentally (we ate dinner at about 5:50pm, and I dropped the basal at about 7pm. I was going to do it at about 6:45pm but lost track of the time). So it's possible that I would have been fine if I'd dropped the basal sooner.

The other difference was that I ate a lot of free foods at dinner. Yes, we had potatoes (which were super good) and of course I had milk (I love my skim milk). But that was coupled with a salad (which was delicious), asparagus (also delicious), and ham (yum!) Everything was really good, but there really wasn't a whole lot of carbs in the meal. On top of that I didn't feel like eating much (I think I filled up on the salad). I think this was the least carbs I've had out of all my skiing nights this winter.

I also may have messed up the carb count a bit with those potatoes, now that I think of it. So between these two things, my glucose just didn't hold like last time.

I'm also disappointed that I probably won't be able to go with everyone next weekend. The plan was to try skiing Kakabeka, which would be a lot of fun. Unfortunately the trail we were going to ski is much longer (about 7km) than what I've been able to ski successfully this year. I'll see what I can do though - if I could carry something like chocolate milk with me I might be able to do it. Or maybe I'll go and just do a smaller loop. We'll see.

My brother also thinks that as I build up my endurance, my body should adapt and my glucose might not drop as drastically as it has. So at the very least, if I'm able to keep skiing (and if these strategies work for biking during the summer), I should be able to ski the Kakabeka loop next year.

Acne and Accutane

Ever since I was a teenager, I've had pimples. Unlike my brother at the time, my acne was never really bad. But about six months ago, I had a bad flare up that has refused to go away. Right now my face is the clearest it's been since August, but it still isn't clear. I've been taking an antibiotic to try to control it, which I have also done in the past. And while it's slowly getting back under control, like I said it hasn't cleared up. So my doctor gave me to a referral to a dermatologist. I met with the dermatologist yesterday, and after some discussion, he agreed to put me on Accutane.

I'm not going to lie, Accutane scares me. It has a lot of side effects, many of them quite serious. But while weighing the pros and cons of the drug, with both my parents and my brother (who was on the drug years ago to clear his acne up, and is a pharmacist), I think I am going to take it. I'll be on it for six months, and will have blood work every month to make sure nothing is going wrong (one of the more serious side effects is liver damage, which generally corrects itself once you are off the drug). The really bad side effect is depression and suicide thoughts (this link has not been proven and if it exists, effects >1% of people who take Accutane according to the literature I've read. It's a small chance, but it does exist). Another side effect I read about is possible decreased night vision. That one bothers me (as anything with my vision bothers me), but again, generally it is reversed if you stop taking the medication.

For people with diabetes, Accutane poses its own problems. I read online that it can make your blood sugars harder to control. That's troubling enough on its own, especially since I feel like my glucose has been alright lately (and I've just figured out skiing!) but I think I will mention this to my Diabetes Education team (and will maybe request monthly meetings with them or at the least emails, just to help me through). The other really troubling side effect for people with diabetes is that Accutane may increase cholesterol. While I've never written about it here before, my doctor has found that I have elevated cholesterol levels (because I have diabetes. If I didn't, my cholesterol levels would be on the higher end of normal. It seems to run in my family). So that was a really troubling revelation. But I found some advice on a website that eating low G.I. foods may help keep your glucose in check. Eating healthy and exercising may also help keep my cholesterol down, so I've convinced my household to get on board with that (and my dad has promised that if he's going to cheat, he will cheat outside of the home, so that will greatly help me (who has terrible willpower!)

As to the depression, I think healthy eating and exercise should help keep my mood elevated. I know I've been depressed before in the past (not clinical depression and I did not have to take anything for it. I also have never had thoughts of suicide), so I'm helping that will help. I'm also going to try to write every day during the months I will be taking Accutane. I participated in NaNoWriMo this past November, and was extremely happy and productive during that month. I am hoping that writing every day (what I want to be writing - to that end I have a couple of projects underway) will help keep my mood elevated. I will also have video games and good old reading to help in that regard. As well, my main support network either is notified or will be notified, so they will be keeping an eye on me. And since I still live at home, I'll have people around should I need help. Although my mom has made me promise to tell someone if I start to feel depressed, knowing that I tend to keep my feelings to myself.

I still have about a month to decide if I don't want to take the Accutane. But at this moment, I think that taking it is a good idea for me. Yes, the drug scares me. But I have the people and resources to help me get through it safely.

I Survived the Northern Lights!!!!

Last night I went skiing once again. And this time I successfully made it around the Northern Lights trail and back to the chalet without going low!!!!!

Last week I went out and tried the suggestions from this post I made three years ago: 25% bolus at dinner, then 25% basal while skiing. Unfortunately I still went low. But while watching how my glucose behaved during and after skiing, I hypothesized that the problem was simple: we went out skiing too soon after dinner. So this time, I made a point of eating earlier and going skiing later, giving my insulin and glucose a chance to regulate itself.

Before we left for Kamview, I did glucose and was 11.8 mmol/L. I thought that was going in the right direction so we left. Unfortunately by the time we got to Kamview, my glucose magically dropped to 9.1 (even though this was maybe 15 minutes later). Dismayed, I drank some regular pop and ate one peanut butter cookie (something with more staying power than the pop), then off we went.

I stopped right before the Northern Lights trail begins to do glucose again. At this point I had been experiencing a drop in glucose and would be hovering just over 4.0 mmol/L. This time I was 9.5! I was super excited - somehow my glucose had managed to hold steady!

After skiing the Northern Lights, I stopped and did glucose once again. This time it had dropped a bit to 8.4 mmol/L, but for all intents and purposes it was still holding relatively steady! So I skied back to the Chalet without any problems (and without having to eat anything more!) At the end of the ski, I did glucose and was 8.8 mmol/L. I had successfully skied the Northern Lights trail without going low!!!!!

I stopped the remaining 25% basal at that point (I had set it to 25% for 3 hours at about 6:45pm; it had 45 minutes left to go when I stopped it). About an hour later I did glucose and was now 16.8 mmol/L. I need to find a way to deal with that increase (and to stop it from happening), but it really wasn't as bad as two weeks ago when I went from about 5 mmol/L to 20 in an hour. But that's something to deal with next time. For now, I'm just excited to be able to ski (and hopeful that this will help me bike come summer)!

First Skiing Adventure of 2012

So it's been awhile, but I got back out on my skis this past Sunday. It was a bit of a glucose disaster, but I did have fun.

The problems began right from dinner. My glucose was fine (around 6.0mmol/L), but unfortunately I knew that was way too low to ski. So I ate dinner and carb counted carefully, being sure to do only half of the insulin I needed. I did glucose right before we left the house, and it was around 10. I thought that by the time we got to Kamview, my glucose should be high enough to start skiing.

It wasn't.

I did glucose in the parking lot, and it had somehow gone down. I'm really not sure what happened, but it was around 7. So I had some stuff, then got ready to ski, backing off my basal insulin completely (originally it was set to run at only 25% of the normal dose).

Of course, I still wasn't high enough to ski the whole evening. Leaving the chalet, I got to the beginning of the Northern Lights trail, where I decided to do glucose. I was now about 4 mmol/L. I let everyone else ski the Northern Lights trail, and just hung out at the end, eating a power bar. When everyone finished the trail, I did glucose once again, thinking I'd be good to go back.

And now it was up to 5.

I ended up eating more skittles, skiing a bit, eating some more skittles, and just slowly skiing back to the chalet. Once there, I was of course low again (I could feel it at the end - I had no energy). So I had some stuff that was left in the van, then we all went for some hot chocolate.

By the time I got home, I was feeling better. My glucose was up to 10, which was fine with me. Unfortunately, about an hour later, it was now up to 20, which I honestly kind of expected to happen after everything was said and done.

I decided to chronicle what happened here, and to take a look at what I've tried before. I know that I started off way too low to attempt a skiing adventure, so next time I'll have to make sure I start off a bit higher than that. But among my other skiing posts, I found this one, where I documented a successful skiing attempt. I completely forgot about it (well, it did happen three years ago!), but now I have something I can try for the next time I go skiing! (Which will hopefully be this Sunday night if the weather holds out!)