August 12, 2002
Exercise and Sports
Question from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA:
When I know my eight year old son, diagnosed at the age of 15 months, is going to be in a active activity (like the water park, or baseball), it seems that no matter what he eats at the time or even just before, will raise his sugars. So, I am constantly poking him to see if he’s going low, and he will hang out in the 80s-90s mg/dl [4.4-5 mmol/L], even after eating puddings, juice, and pop tarts. I understand that these are great numbers, but when I know he’s going to be playing hard for some time more, I keep stuffing his belly to keep him at those numbers. Of course, by the next morning, he will wake up with a high number. I know why but, how do I keep him going while playing and not see these effects the next morning? He will eat good foods before playing, but really gets tired of me poking his finger every half hour. Please help.
Answer:
There are multiple solutions to your problem. If your son is going low during active activity and uses an insulin pump, then using a temporary basal rate at least one hour prior to and during his activity will help. If he is on injections, then decreasing the rapid acting insulin for the meal prior to his activity may help.
Pretreating for an anticipated low during the activity like you’re doing is a good idea. It is important to avoid eating too much to treat a low — otherwise you risk having the resulting rebound hyperglycemia. I would focus on using no more than 15-30 grams of carbohydrate to treat the activity low unless you’re not seeing resolution of the low in 15-20 minutes. Don’t forget that 80s-90s mg/dl [4.4-5 mmol/L] are okay during activity.
MSB
