Question for Hunters with T1D

[540-Virginian]

I know there are a few of us on here with T1D or who are parents of someone with T1D. I first want to say THANK YOU to all of you who private messaged me earlier this year when I shared my new diagnosis. You all gave me a lot of hope and determination that, although different, hunting could still be a big part of my life. At first I couldn't imagine going hunting by myself. But six months later, I've gotten much better at both managing and understanding what life with T1D is like. So I'll definitely be in the woods this fall (granted not going too remote and being more conservative with my exertion).

I'd appreciate if anyone could share how shooting an animal impacts your blood sugar (or if your know how it impacted a family members BS)? I'm talking about that big buck or bull in the scope and your heart raises.

I know stress can spike me - I had a large presentation once that spiked me from 150 to 350 - but I also know some increased heart rate stuff drops me .

This fall will be the first time hunting with T1D and I'd be great to know what could happen when I'm about to make the shot. Thanks!

I just ordered my Tandem Tslim X2 BTW - gets here next week! Can't wait to be able to control my basal during exercise. THANKS ALL!

 

[go_deep]

Every T1 is different. When my son has a big exciting day he'll crash, like 6-8 hours later. My son goes to the Barbra Davis Center in Aurora Colorado, world renowned T1 center. They recommended on a big physical day to aim for a BG of 200 in an effort to prevent lows.

 

[540-Virginian]

Every T1 is different. When my son has a big exciting day he'll crash, like 6-8 hours later. My son goes to the Barbra Davis Center in Aurora Colorado, world renowned T1 center. They recommended on a big physical day to aim for a BG of 200 in an effort to prevent lows.

That crash later is a bitch. So I got a new Endo 3 months ago - she's both a type 1 researcher at a the university and type 1 herself! She's been a phenomenal coach and really helped me better understand and manage my stuff. If only she hunted lol. She does hike a lot so she's helped with that.

Thanks for sharing. I'll aim to have my sugars higher while hunting regardless if I'm sitting or standing. I'll have to remember to eat when gutting/dragging/packing - thats my fear is during excitement I'll forget. I put a granola bar in my little pouch with gutting supplies to remind me.

 

[go_deep]

That crash later is a bitch. So I got a new Endo 3 months ago - she's both a type 1 researcher at a the university and type 1 herself! She's been a phenomenal coach and really helped me better understand and manage my stuff. If only she hunted lol. She does hike a lot so she's helped with that.

Thanks for sharing. I'll aim to have my sugars higher while hunting regardless if I'm sitting or standing. I'll have to remember to eat when gutting/dragging/packing - thats my fear is during excitement I'll forget. I put a granola bar in my little pouch with gutting supplies to remind me.

According to my son's watch we walked just over 10 miles last Saturday, he probably had around 150 carbs and didn't get dosed for a single one and still crashed late that night.

You'll get it figured out, just keep tweaking.
Good luck this fall!

 

[hoff1ck]

Backpack Hunting With Diabetes, By Cody Hoff

Meet Cody Hoff (@hoff1ck) Cody grew up in Michigan's Thumb area, hunting anything that was in season every day he could. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 18, which really sparked his interest in medicine. Cody went to Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA to obtain his master's...

www.rokslide.com

This is an article I wrote last year, but we had some good discussion in the thread too. Just a heads up. Feel free to shoot me a PM or post here with anything specific too. Not saying I know everything, but have been at it a while both personally and professionally so can likely help out in some fashion.

 

[hoff1ck]

Backpack Hunting With Diabetes, By Cody Hoff

Meet Cody Hoff (@hoff1ck) Cody grew up in Michigan's Thumb area, hunting anything that was in season every day he could. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 18, which really sparked his interest in medicine. Cody went to Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA to obtain his master's...

www.rokslide.com

This is an article I wrote last year, but we had some good discussion in the thread too. Just a heads up. Feel free to shoot me a PM or post here with anything specific too. Not saying I know everything, but have been at it a while both personally and professionally so can likely help out in some fashion.

Disregard, see you had already been posting there as well. Way ahead of me lol.

 

[Ram94]

I don’t think the high heart rate and excitement of having an animal in your scope will be long enough in duration to spike your blood sugar a noticeable amount, or it hasn’t for me. As far as high exertion hunting in general, I normally set my basal at 50% of normal, and turn on excercise mode on the Tslim. My hunting partner and I, ended up hiking 25 miles in one day headed out this year. 15 hours of tough slugging and having the Dexcom and a good stock of snickers bars kept me going and pretty close to in range the entire day.

 

[Jmort1754]

I crash with any type of activity. I try to manage by suspending / halving my basal on my pump and watching my Dexcom to manage level and not a drop.

 

[FrankAbagnale]

I personally wouldn’t try to shoot for a higher BS. When I’m hunting and hiking I cut my basal by 60%. I just make sure to bring plenty of things to treat a low. I’ve used a Dexcom for the last 6ish years and it is by far the best thing I’ve ever done. I also use the X2.

Please reach out to me any time. I’ve been type 1 for 26 years and my last a1c was 5.8. I’ve been able to keep close watch and good control.

 

[gabenzeke]

I've been T1 for just shy of 30 years now. Also run a tandem tslim. For me, any time I start sweating, I've noticed a pattern that whatever my BG is doing is accelerated. So if the cgm on the pump says it's going up, it'll go up faster. The same is true of decreasing. I usually just make frequent use of temp basal rates to help. Though I've never noticed a significant change resulting from an animal encounter alone ...it's always the pack or drag out that has the more significant impact. I've also found that if I have a big drop due to physical activity I will frequently have another drop a few hours later. Just watch the cgm, that thing is a game changer. When I was first diagnosed the meters were huge, took a ton of blood to get a result, and you had to wait two full minutes for the thing to finally spit out a reading. A1Cs used to run around 8 in those days and docs said that was pretty decent. Now I'm pissed if I get above the low 6's. The technology just gets better and better, BUT, it's still not perfect. Case in point....the tandem has a sort of screw in point where your infusion set will connect to the pump itself. Watch that thing and occasionally check that it is tight especially as you hike through brush. I had it come loose once while deer hunting and didn't notice it for a couple hours. It caused me to go into DKA and had to stay in the ICU for a couple days. That said, I've used a handful of pumps over the years and tandem is my current favorite. I'm eagerly watching the bigfoot biomedical trials and it looks like that one will be better yet. Feel free to pm anytime about diabetes. Happy to share any wisdom I can.

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