to correction bolus or not to correction bolus, that is the question

[ang]

i take a dance class and always check my sugar before i go and disconnect my pump for the 1 hour class. sometimes this works perfectly, sometimes i run high after the exercise. last night was 6.3 before i left and 15.7 when i got home. ugh. corrected with my normal factor and woke up at 3am with a wicked low. majorly over corrected (mmm cookies and egg nog at 3am!) and woke up 14.8. i know what i did wrong (too much correction bolus and too much food correction). i think the most frustrating part of this disease is the inconsistency of it all. why can you do things the exact same way one day and it works one day and not the next. just a rant!

[am1977]

Just went through a similar experience myself :dito: (see my Rebounding post :wink: ). It can be very, very frustrating :hmpf:... yeah, it's just a bonus to having this disease :thumpdown

Hang in there :smile:

[MarkMunday]

Correction boluses can be very tricky. The amount of insulin you need to get the BG down again depends on what made it spike to start with. And it makes a lot more sense to treat the cause rather than the symptom. In other words, stop the blood sugar from spiking.

Your blood sugar rose after you class because your body ran out of insulin. Disconnecting tbe pump interupts the supply of basal insulin. Have you considered the "Untethered Regimen", whereby you combine using the pump with a daily shot of Lantus? It means that disconnecting the pump for a class won't interupt you basal insulin supply. And your blood sugar levels should be more stable.

Cheers,

Mark

[Cinnabon]

I hear ya Ang...
Its like a bad BOYFRIEND.. lol.
I have to disconnect at times when I jump on the treadmill, but sometimes, I cant. Keep your chin up and dont give up your class....
(unless you feel a low)

[ang]

don't worry, there will be no giving up of the tap class! i always take my pump off when i'm exercising because its never more than an hour and the exercise seems to balance out the insulin that i'm not getting ... eventually (i get crazy catch up activity). just sometimes i get a weird spike. i really don't think its because i'm running out of insulin because its only off for an hour. i sometimes take it off for 45min - 1 hour when i'm getting ready for a night out and i don't get the spike i do sometimes after exercise. there's just no consistency. ah well, whadya gonna do.

[MarkMunday]

ang,

A spike after exercise can also be caused by increased levels of adrenalin. And applying your normal correction factor to bringing your blood sugar down again is risky. When the adrenalin level comes down, your sensitivity to insulin returns to normal. And if you have injected a correction bolus, you can end up going low.

There is not much you can do to control your adrenalin levels. Just be aware that they could your blood sugar to spike after a particularly vigorous workout. And use a reduced correction factor to fix the spike.

Cheers,

Mark