sports.....and diabetes

High School Conditioning = very late nights for this mom!
 but the most important thing we decided early on is that we would not let Type 1 stop our kids from living the life they want to live!
They can do anything anyone else can!

So Craig started Baseball this week which included several days of physical conditioning.  Although he drank Gatorade throughout the practice and did not wear his pump the whole time, he still dropped around 11 pm each night. 

Here are some tips we try to use to keep this from happening..
He drinks Gatorade throughout to give him extra carbs. He also drinks water to keep hydrated and keep from highs due to the 110 degree weather!
He should be eating protein throughout the practice as well.  That would help with the after practice blood sugar crash that we experienced this week.
Although I tell him this, he is a teenager and well, who has time to eat when the whole team is conditioning?
I get it, he doesnt want to be sitting out or eating when everyone else is running or doing whatever, but when you have diabetes, sometimes you have to!

BUT, when he doesnt do these things, it causes me to get up several times in the night to fix his lows and make sure he doesnt crash too low! So after chocolate milk because he was 79..an hour later he was 89... so then he had a sandwich.  I checked him again 2 hours later and he was in the high 100s so he was good till morning.  It sure makes for a long night (especially because Madi was fighting highs of over 500!)

SO here are some tips to help your athlete get through practice and regulate those later nigh crashes:

• During the practice, consume extra carbs like gatorade, protein drinks ect.
• Eat things like jerky, trail mix, protein bars,  granola or favorite snacks to help sustain those good numbers rather than crashing right after practice.
• Craig doesnt wear his pump during sports because he has lows..some people experience highs so they keep it on..thats up to you and how your body works.
• After practice, make sure you have a good amount of protein and carbs so that when your body wants to crash, you have those carbs backing you up!
• If you wear a pump allow a temp basal.  Craig often uses a negative 20 or 30% basal. That means he is getting about 30% less basal for about 4 hours. It helps to reduce those lows.
• and very importantly, make sure coaches know your childs needs and that they need to eat and drink during practice! 

Good luck! Its a crazy disease that takes a lot of different aspects of detail especially with active kiddos!