Does anyone have experience with doing canoe trips with Type 1 Diabetes?
I went on a Killarney trip a couple years ago and had a bad experience mainly caused by me managing my blood sugars poorly which unfortunately led to ending the trip early.
I've a 4 day trip planned in Algonquin start of June and am trying to find other type 1 diabetics who canoe trip to ask advice from mainly on how to control blood sugar. Thanks for any replies :)
solo trip as a T1 that's pretty cool! how high do you run and how do you keep your sugars up?
on my Killarney trip I was around 15 for a day and half with minimal insulin. That was too high for too long and I ended up puking then my sugar dropped and I couldn't keep food down long enough to get my sugars back up. took glucagon and got princessed back to the access point
While on the move, it bounces anywhere from 5 to 15. The libre sensor is really nice to watch how it trends. I can’t say I ever get nauseous from having high sugars but usually my issue is running low when I’m doing that much activity. I can certainly feel the highs above 9 with dry eyes and mouth. Do you normally get nauseous from highs or could it be nauseous from something else like water that hasn’t been treated properly or food?
Normally I take 20 units of Tresiba and 1:3g meal ratio of Fiasp, 1:1 for correction. When I tripped I ended up lowering it to 10 units and 1:10g or 1:20g meal ratio. It’s important to watch how your body reacts and adjusting for it next time. A good chunk of my snacks were used in the first days figuring out where my body was. At night it would creep up but during the day it would always trend down. Mornings were 1:20g and 1:2 correction. In the evenings it liked to drop consistently. If I ran a low after supper, I would eat more (instant noodles 50g or hot chocolate 20g later in the evening) but not give any insulin. It usually took something like 2-3 hours after travel for my sugars to stabilize and trust it.
The worst was a 3km portage with double backing. I did not take any mealtime, 60g oatmeal breakfast + 80g sidekicks right before the portage. I spiked very high, above 20, but I knew it was going to plummet from intense activity and I was sitting at a 5 at the end. I think I barely have insulin at supper that night while chasing the down trend.
I pack lots of fruit gummy packs (Mott’s fruitsations) because they’re compact and react fairly quick and granola bars or celebration cookie packs to chase them. Probably 5 each per day, I think I came home with 10 each. My emergency is Tang drink mix, a box from the store has 3 packs in it that each have 90g/pouch. It’s also all sealed so after also keeping them in ziplocks, I worry much less about bears and animals at night. Some smaller meal snacks were instant noodle packs. Variety instant oatmeal for breakfast. Hot chocolate mix packs at night for an extra yummy boost. Sidekicks for dinner. Lots of water so your body can filter it all out. MIO drinks are nice to help get more water in you.
This is awesome thank you for sharing so much :)
I haven’t ever gotten that nauseous from highs but I’m also never that high for that long. I doubt it was the water as my friend I was with was drinking the same water and didn’t get sick.
Will definitely be using my libre and lowering my basal on my pump. What are your carb ratios normally? Did you double them for on trip?
And the tang mix sound like exactly what I’ve been looking for. Something with a lot of carbs to mix into water. The hot chocolate and gummies also sound like a great idea, I might use dex tabs instead of gummies but I’ll have to check the carbs in each.
Thank you again for all that info! Really helps with planning and making me feel more confident in being able to do this
Normal I take 1 unit for 3g carbs in the winter, 1:5g carbs in the summer. On the trip I was taking 1:20g carbs, sometimes 1:10g depending on the trends.
Huh, I’d never head/thought Of different carb ratios for different seasons that’s interesting.
Good idea having different ratios depending on how your sugar is trending, being adaptable like you said earlier seems like the key to staying away from lows.
My ratios are just what I’ve noticed over time. I’ve read it may be from higher fat intake around Christmas time but it usually lasts for me until spring/summer. When I left for my trip I was 1:3 and now after, I’m 1:5. Just funny things.
Adapting is certainly the key. It’s much much easier now with the sensors that give constant readings vs testing every 4 hours! Before the sensors I would have to let it run even higher and just feel for the lows. For a temporary trip, high sugar is far less a concern compared to going too low in the middle of nowhere or running out of carb sources from chasing so many lows. If I’m active and moving, I worry less about it being high. When we settle for the evening or in the morning before doing stuff, I work on correcting it back within range. I think lots of water helps your body achieve equilibrium too, which carb free drink mix like MIO certainly helps.
worried about going low I assume? I went on a trip with a buddy and he jsut did a finger poke every 4 hours and if he was low had sugar snacks. In terms of going low overnight due to eating less, some reduce the basal dose slightly as well
Reducing basal definitely, but they only tested every 4 hours? I would be panicking if I’m not checking every 5-10min lol but I also have a CGM
I always keep candy on me, and if I start running low on candy I call the trip off early. Do less insulin when you know you're going to be active etc. most importantly, check your blood sugar often.
CGM for the win! Will be checking often.
Really blows about having to call the trip off early sorry to hear that, I felt quite embarrassed when I had to do the same.
I’m hoping to not have to use my emergency sweets too often, planning to start the day going high with breakfast then staying high using granola bars or naan throughout the day
I still try to maintain safe levels, when I have high blood sugar I get very moody and irritable, not great when you're hiking or canoeing. You will find your body's groove though. Good luck!
I’ve done several. Type 1 for something like 18 years. Just did a 5 day solo trip two weeks ago. I don’t mind discussing it but I don’t know how many people would agree with the way I do it. It’s certainly adapting to the situation and I let my sugars run higher than normal.