Soccer and pumping

The past weekend was pretty busy. Saturday I had an away soccer game in the afternoon, and Sunday we had to go to the confirmation party of Jimmi's cousin. In this program I had to try to fit in at least 1 overnight-to-lunch fast for the nurse to evaluate my basals at the appointment today. I started a fast Friday night, but had to stop for "lunch" at 10 AM, because I started feeling really hungry and thus decided to test: 3.4 mmol/l (61). Despite eating well and cutting back insulin, the low trend continued and I was only 2.7 (48) when I tested before preparing for the game. Grrr...! Well, glucose tablets and my preferred carbohydrate-containing sports drink of orange juice and water 1:1 (I prefer to just drink water when I practice, but when needed I have found this combination of juice and water to be useful) in combination with the fact that I always disconnect when playing soccer did the trick and I landed at a satisfactory 6.4 (115) after the game. I didn't eat anything at that time because dinner was just about an hour away and I didn't want to spoil my appetite for Jimmi's chicken roast ;-) During dinner I started feeling uncomfortable, though. In the beginning just tired which I thought was just due to the game and bike ride, but then a subtle nausea started showing its ugly face. I didn't finish the meal that I had bolused for but hit the sofa instead. As I didn't feel better and also started feeling thirsty, I suspected that the BG was not where it ought to be. Surely not! At 7 PM, just 2 hours after being 6.4 upon more than 2 hours of soccer, I was 17.7 (318) with ketones starting to show up :-( Based on my experience with a leaky tubing earlier that week, I decided to do the correction with a pen, just in case this was a pump and/or tubing issue once again. I had just done the correction and tried to drink some water to quench my growing thirst when my dinner decided it was time to resurface! Why does such things always happen after you bolused/corrected? Needless to say, this meant that my BG's cruised rather low the rest of the evening, but luckily I managed to pull through without help from others. I discussed the episode with the nurse today, as this was exactly one of the precausions that I have had about pump therapy. She couldn't explain what had caused it, and I really have no idea either. I can't say that it couldn't have happened with MDI's, just that I have never in my more than 16 years with this experienced anything like it. It is my general experience that my BG will rise after soccer practice and games if not compensated with insulin, but I have never experienced such discomfort due to a BG that has only been high for a short amount of time. Only with continuous high BGs as at the time of my diagnosis and the end of my honeymoon period, did I feel that unwell.

Apart from the issues mentioned above and in previous posts, I am slowly adjusting to pump therapy. I actually enjoyed being able to go through the 3 course-menu lasting more than 4 hours at the confirmation party without having to either inject several times or risking to bottom out between courses. The next big test for me will be a trip to Prague next week. I am going to a conference on calcified tissues, presenting a poster with some of the results of my Master thesis - details will follow :-) The nurse provided me with a pump certificate today to circumvent problems at the detectors in the airports. They are actually still working on making this certificate more convenient. For now it is just a bunch of papers that can be cut into smaller pieces and fitted into plastic covers about twice the size of a credit card. Most of the pages are in Danish, though, being more like a short guide to the pump user. The language of the certificate written in English is quite poor and not that informative yet, but I guess that it does contain the most important information about the pump being a medical devise that is not to be taken away from me, and a referral to the Endocrinology Unit at the hospital in case of doubts.