It has been said that you cannot play sports with Type 1 Diabetes, which is completely false. This may be difficult, but it is definitely not impossible!
Growing up I always had the passion to play sports. I was always an active kid, involved in multiple sports teams, and being diagnosed with diabetes never stopped this. As mentioned in the My Diagnosis blog, two days after being diagnosed I went and played in my ice hockey game.
I was on my first soccer team at the age of five, and absolutely loved it. Then when I was eight I decided I wanted to play ice hockey as well. Growing up I loved being busy and playing sports. Most of my life I was on two soccer teams and two ice hockey teams all at the same time. In high school I played for my varsity soccer team, varsity hockey team, and lacrosse team. Even now I am still playing ice hockey at the collegiate level. Diabetes never stopped me from what I loved to do, and it shouldn't for you. Of course it makes things difficult managing my numbers with the immense amount of exercise, but it is all manageable.
What I learned is that I needed to make a routine to make sure my numbers stayed in range when I was exercising. Obviously each person's routine will be different dependent on their body and sport, but for me I found a way to make sure my diabetes was taken care of so I did not have to worry about it as much when I was playing. I found for me I felt best, performed best, and would not drop low mid exercise when my numbers were between 150 and 180. To make sure my numbers started here I would have some free carbs, preferably protein as it gives less of a sky-rocket then fast drop trend, within the hour before exercising. Each sport I would check my numbers an hour before I would be playing, then again a half hour before to make sure they were still in my preferred range. Additionally, with most games, I will check after warming up and then again half way through for soccer or after each period in ice hockey. If my numbers were to drop low I would have glucose, or if they started to head in that direction I will often have some form of protein. What I learned that if my numbers started to increase most of the time this was due to adrenaline. I often would not correct, unless there was a large increase, and even here I would only give a portion of the suggested amount of insulin. I would do this because I found that after exercising I often dropped low. Almost every time I exercise I find that I drop low immediately afterwards, after a few hours, or even throughout that night. To counteract this I will often give free carbs after, or now with the insulin pump (which will be described in more detail below) I would set a temporary basal. It took me a very long time to find my routine, and even today I am altering it when necessary.
As I mentioned earlier, the insulin pump has made playing sports so much easier for me. I have been on an insulin pump for just under eight years now and it took me awhile to get comfortable playing sports with a device on my body, but after some time I forgot about it. The first insulin pump I got was the OneTouch Ping. This pump does have a wire, which did give me some struggles. Playing competitively, I was always nervous wearing this pump as I feared someone would grab it by accident, or it would unclip from my pants when running. I soon decided I wanted to remove it when I was playing games, which obviously screwed with my numbers as I was not getting the necessary basal for that period of time. To still receive this missed insulin I would give the appropriate units at half and at the end of the game. Due to this not being the most logistic way to manage diabetes when playing sports, when the OmniPod insulin pump came out I switched. This pump does not have a wire, but instead is just a device that sticks to you. I fell in love with this pump as it allowed me to still get the necessary insulin when playing and even had a feature that let me alter the amount of basal I was receiving for that period of time. As mentioned earlier, I use temporary basal's when I play sports. This feature allows me to decrease my insulin for portion of time so I will not drop low during exercise. In addition, I after a day of heavy exercise, I often put a temp. basal on all night to make sure I do not have low blood sugar then as well. Devices like these really help me when playing sports because I was able to customize my routine to my needs.
Lastly, a device that I find extremely helpful with sports is Dexcom's Continuous Glucose Monitor. This device allows you to see your trends at any moment. This is extremely helpful when playing sports because you are able to monitor your numbers before, during, and after working out to allow you to keep your numbers in range. It will notify you when you are out of your range, as well as notify you 20 minutes before a low based on the trend of your numbers. I love this device because it takes away a large amount of stress because my numbers are at easy access and I can make sure they are where I want them to be.
This all may sound super overwhelming, but trust me through a routine it makes everything easier! There are so many diabetic athletes around the world, and some even play professionally. Diabetes should not have the ability to stop you from doing something you love. It may make things more difficult for you, but that is just giving you the opportunity to show how strong you are.
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