I've been an athlete a majority of my life despite being diagnosed at age 4 with type 1 diabetes, but in 2010 I picked up an extremely demanding sport. Wrestling. I absolutely love it and want to pursue it in college. And an additional fact about me wrestling is being female. The practices are long and hard and I take part in loads of distance running, heavy weight lifting, and wrestling. My blood sugars have been whack from time to time but like some diabetic athletes in competitive sports realize is that allowing blood sugar to be sky high, weight loss is easy. All this past season I have been letting my blood sugar be extremely high and I know that are some very serious side effects but what are they? I'm scared to know the damage I've done to my body while pursuing this sports crazy dieting and demanding physical activity. And I find that when I do control my blood sugar, I gain weight in a snap! Even with proper diet and exercise if my blood sugar doesn't run high I can't maintain my weight for wrestling. What are the side effects of this? What damage am I doing?
My son is a 15 yo wrestler, diagnosed in 2010. He is a freshmen on the varsity team, with a record of 30-11 for the season. It is a very demanding sport. However, he has never played the game where he uses his Type 1 for weight loss. He has an outstanding diet and uses self control, self-discipline and understands the role nutrition plays in the sport, He also works out daily with weights, and has NEVER let his blood sugar go high. He manages it the way he should and is a role model in doing what is "right". His coaches also keep a very close eye on his blood sugar and are in constant communication with him. I find it distrubing that you are managing your Type 1 this way. You know what the risks of high blood sugar are and any athelete will tell your that what you are doing is wrong. If my son managed his blood sugar/diet this way, I would pull him from the sport.
In addition to wrestling, my son also participates in Mt.Bike racing, football, running, etc. He manages his blood sugar for all...it is possible to do, his A1c has been 5.1 for the past 9 months.
We have the "The Diabetic Athletes Handbook", I would highly recommend it for you to read! Best of luck to you!