Hi, just wondering if anyone can give me a range of where a BG should be for a 6 yr old before playing a game of youth soccer? He is on the Minimed 522 and uses Novolog. We are experimenting with what his BG should be before playing so he will not go so low during a game, but wow, what a difficult thing to predict and we have yet to find the right answer. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
The book, Think Like a Pancreas, breaks that down so spectacularly, I couldn't even try to reproduce the info myself (been a while since I looked at it). I highly recommend that book.
sandi
Thank you for the info, I am going to get it ASAP.
Patience
My son is almost 8 and has been diagnosed for 5+ years. He has played soccer for three seasons during the last two years. The first season his mom and I were on the sideline and then the last two seasons he played I was his coach. Soccer days (both practice and game day) can be tough. Usually, Jason burns a lot of sugar during a game. But, that is not always the case, and sometimes he can go high. I don't have any set standard for his BG before a game or practice. Although, I would like to see it at 150+ based on our experience (currently on Novolog and Levirmir). If he seemed a little loopy on the field I would ask if he felt low and sent him over to his mom for testing and treatment if necessary. At other times I might give him glucose tablets without testing. Personally, I would rather run my son a little higher during a game than to risk a sudden low. We would then check after game/practice and give insulin if necessary. Since every child with diabetes is different I think it really comes down to personal experience. If you are like us, there is no answer that works consistently. What works this soccer game will not work the next.
My 6 yr old plays soccor, swim team and lacrosse. We are the same - it is not consistent. For soccor and lacrosse we start at about 150. We check sugars during breaks and usually treat lows at least once with sugar and a peanut butter cracker. Sometimes though when we check he is a little over 200. We do not correct until about 1/2 hour after game as his adrenaline raises his bg and then it drops. For swimming practice (many laps)we always are working against lows and start at about 200. At swim meets though he raises to 300 or more right before or after a race and then plummets - it is very tricky to deal with the adrenaline and activity. We had a scary incident at a meet when we treated the high from the adrenaline so now we just wait a little and then treat highs. I guess it is a little trial an error figuring how much for each kid and each sport! Lots of checks - food on hand.
Christine
Thanks. We also have been trying to keep his BG 150+ before a game or practice. We have noticed that we need to test often and give lots of gatorade during the game. I took the advice of another and bought the book recomended in the last post.
Thanks again
My daughter plays basketball and hockey. We have found especially with hockey that her blood sugar can skyrocket before a game due to the excitement and adrenaline. What seems to work for her is to be sure and eat 3 hours before excercise (so that her insulin is almost done) and she will take an extra unit of rapid. We make sure she tests 30 min. before a game if a correction is needed. We always have bananas and juice on hand and she has gatorade on the bench. It seems easier to fix a low than to try and correct high during sports. If it is a tournament and she may have more than a game in a day we will set a temporary basal on her pump of 75% so she avoids low after her games. She gets extremely frustrated if she is high as she feels awful and can't play as she'd like to. Her biggest pet peeve about diabetes is not knowing what her body will do during exercise. Everyone is different but this is what we seem to have figured out for our situation - good luck!