New Here - Avid outdoorswoman/diabetic
By CatD - Posted on April 7th, 2009
I am excited to see what I can find on this website. I am 39, have had type1 for 10 years, and I LOVE doing stuff in the outdoors. In the past year, I did two 7 day backpacking trips. One to the Canyonlands Maze District in Utah, and one in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming (over 10,000 feet the whole time). I am interested in finding out how other people deal with doing these kinds of things (as well as mountaineering, canoeing, hunting, cycling, xc skiing, snowshoeing, etc.). I wear an Animas pump and I live in Montana.
I look forward to looking at other people's blogs...
CatD's blog
• Login or register to post comments
• 517 reads
• Open the image gallery
• Printer friendly version
Hi,
I'm also new here, and I'm in upstate NY, but I'm wondering how you might deal with camping in bear country? Do you keep food in the tent at night with you? just curious if others are wondering about this issue.
thanks
Welcome to the site!
I'm not sure if you are addressing food storage in general, or food storage pertaining specifically to night time diabetic emergencies, so I will attempt to address both...
Actually, in bear country (others please chime in if you have anything to add/dispute), I never keep food in my tent. If I am camping in an area where I know the griz population is pretty healthy, I make sure I hang everything that has any kind of fragrance, as well as food. This includes chapstick, sunscreen, etc. If I'm somewhere like Glacier or Yellowstone, If I spill food on my clothing, I hang the clothes, too. I also hang my food bowls, utensils, etc. I don't always get that extreme, but I think some conservatism is warrented in areas w/ high griz populations. Also, you obviously can't hang your food if you are above timberline. There are a lot of different and sometimes conflicting opinions on what to do in these situations. It's definitely something to think about when choosing a campsite. The other thing I always do is keep all my food in ziplocks and store the whole mess of food in a big plastic garbage bag inside a stuff sack at night. This keeps other critters out, too, even if you aren't hanging your food.
As far as diabetic emergencies in the middle of the night go, I usually take a small container of glucose tablets in the tent, single or double sealed in ziplocks, depending on where I'm camping. The places you have to worry the most are where bears are habituated to humans - like the national parks and nearby areas. And I always have my bear spray and headlamp (or flashlight) in the tent, in a pocket where I can grab them quickly and easily if need be. Probably the most important thing is to just use common sense.
Anyone else have other ideas??
Cat
The classic diabetic dilemna - balancing the risk of a hypo in the tent w/out access to carbs vs. getting munched on by Yogi. Considering that I've had many more nighttime hypos than bear encounters in my tent (1), to me it's no contest. I always keep at least an unopened packet of Gu or Power Gel handy. If nothing else, this guarantees I won't need it. As Cat mentions, you have to consider all things but I'll always err on the side of some handy carbs.
Jeff
By the way, I am having a heck of a time getting my insulin pump dialed in. It was going well for a while, and then my body went through some sort of change. It's like starting all over again. Especially since I work full time, have a 9-year-old daughter, and fit in exercise where I can - no regular schedule. On the weekends, I tend to do all my extreme stuff - usually all day long. Anyone else here from Montana?
Hi Cat -
Nice top know you found us! Great pictures, too. Especially given that a few of us have been thinking about a summer visit to Titcomb Basin.
Cheers, dp
Hi Cat,
I am also from Montana (Bozeman) and have been a pumper for about 9 years, currently using a Medtronic. I've worn an Animas pump before and am somewhat familiar with the Animas 2020, having test driven it for a couple weeks about a year ago. I also tend to be pretty active on weekends and woefully sedate during the week. I use temporary basals a lot. Do you use them on your weekend jaunts?
Jeff
Yep, I use temporary basals a lot, too. One problem is that I tend to do things at the last minute quite a bit. My other big problem is if I get up early in the morning and eat breakfast earlier than usual. I have found that I can take half the normal bolus, crank down my basal rate an hour in advance, and still go from 150 down to 45 if I start out my morning activity doing something intense (like a steep hike, trying to keep up with my husband). I did a continuous glucose monitoring trial a few months back. I am very interested in the technology, but as I am a pretty small person, my site space is limited and I hate the thought of having to deal with two of them! I can totally identify with the "woefully sedate" work weeks! Have you been diabetic most of your life? By the way, I'm in Helena.
Now that you mention it, I can now say I have been diabetic most of my life. This September it'll be 30 years. I guess time's fun when you're having flies.
The CGMS technology is good stuff. I've used it off and on for the last year. The inconvenient part, in addition to essentially having 2 sites, is getting accurate calibrations in at the right times. I'm really looking forward to improvements soon.
I usually have my best bg control on long mountain days (hiking, skiing) using a temp basal. Yeah, there is that adjustment at the beginning of intense activity but after compensating for that, I'm usually good and consistent for a long time. The problem I often have is at the other end, when I get back to the car and for the next few hours where I tend to run high. Sometimes I'll compensate by bolusing a unit (or more) when I return to the car to adjust for the lag time - waiting for the basal change to take effect - and for simply being a bit insulin deficient.
Now that I think of it, I guess my BG is usually high after finishing a day of intense activity as well. Thanks for the tip on bolusing. I worry a bit, though, because I tend to have a delayed nose-dive. It seems like I will bottom out in the wee hours of the morning after a day of vigorous activity. It often seems like I'm overcompensating one way or another. I either over-correct, or underestimate... arghh...
I hear ya on the delayed nose dive. What Dp does after long active days - and I've also had some luck with - is doing a reduced basal (reducing 5-10%) for 6-8 hours while you sleep. Even 5% seems to make a significant difference.
I actually routinely use a post-exercise 20% basal reduction (night especially but sometimes extending into the next day). Insulin sensitivity is amazing even after 24 hours....Usually if my legs are feeling like I worked hard, continuing a reduced basal is a good idea. The nice thing with the Animas is that you can have a temp basal without the stupid hourly beeping. I have to actually program in a new 20% reduced basal for my MMM pump.
And I second Jeff's endorsement of the CGMS. I have found it extremely valuable, but like Jeff points out, not without its own user-challenges.
25 years of Big D for me this year, so I've been D for almost 60% of my life.
Thanks for the input. I've been trying out what you guys have recommended with great results. I am actually ending up in the 100 to 130 range in the mornings, which is incredibly unusual for me. I will probably go with the CGMS when Animas comes out with somthing practical. It will be time to switch out my pump in the next year or two, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.