Okay I guess I better post the conclusion to this story or everybody is going to lose interest...not like anyone actually reads this blog anyway. So last time I discussed my diabetes, insulin pump, and how my previous glucose control strategy was garbage. This time I will describe my new and improved strategy.

The biggest problem with my old strategy was that unlike a normal person that will produce more insulin when needed or release more glycogen as needed my insulin production is constant and controlled by my pump. Thus normal people can take gels every 45 minutes and their body will adjust insulin in between to compensate. For me this method results in a roller coaster of high and low blood sugar levels. High after consuming the gel and low in between. This is obviously not a good strategy.

My new plan is a more level intake of glucose. I do this by consuming clif shot bloks (or sometimes gels) every 10-15 minutes. The shot bloks work great because 3 bloks have the same amount of carbohydrate as one gel, so 1 every 15 still gives the same amount of carbs per 45 minutes as consuming an entire gel. I feel that this method prevents the high and low blood sugar levels and maintains my energy levels better as well.

As for adjusting basal insulin levels during exercise I am still working on this. For non-diabetics basal insulin is the background insulin that the pump puts out throughout the day. Because insulin sensitivity increases with exercise I have to reduce my basal insulin when exercising. Currently I have be adjusting to around 30% of normal levels during exercise and it works pretty well. The problem is when I have additional insulin in my system. With the additional insulin I have to either reduce basal levels more or eat an extra shot blok or two.

Well that is my d-skills story. I am continuing to learn how to deal with diabetes and running, but I think things are going pretty well right now. I definitely need to work on pre-run/race blood sugars. Especially early morning runs which lately have been a mess with very high blood sugar levels followed by too much insulin compensation and then consuming a ton of extra glucose to recompensate. So things are not perfect but getting better. Stay tuned for more tales of diabetic woe and triumph.