Diabetes and Pool

acedotcom

acedotcom

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi Sarah,

When I was watching you play and win at Capone's recently, I didn't realize you were a diabetic. As a fellow diabetic - I take humalog 3 times a day before meals and lantus in the evening - I was wondering if insulin and diabetes and the consequent high and low glucose levels effect your play as they do mine and what, if anything, you do to make sure they don't.

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can supply. :)
 
I'm not an expert, consult your doctor,,,,,,,,,,

I have type II diabetes; I've often said the biggest problem with diabetes is actually "knowing" that you have the disease. I occasionally, usually in warm weather, have problems with low blood sugar. The meds I take have a strange side effect; when I do a lot of physical activity, especially in warm weather, my sugar drops like the proverbial 'rock'.

Low blood sugar is recognized by extreme agitation and profuse sweating, at least that's how it manifests itself in me. Sometimes I also get tunnel vision (can only see straight ahead). You can imagine how this affects your pool game.

If you are near a diabetes support group, they are/can be a wealth of information. I have found out more info from other diabetics than my doctors have ever told me. What works for one person, may be harmful to others.....been trial and error for the last 15 years.......j
 
Thanks! That's what I was looking for - how low blood sugar effects you. For me, it screws up my vision, not clarity so much, but depth perception. It also makes it difficult for me to concentrate and, worst of all, it causes my hands to tremble. Naturally, when this happens I have a snack, but by the time it takes effect I might be out of the tournament unless I had a very lucky draw.

I've had my fill of nutritionists, etc - they know nothing about pool. As far as managing my diabetes goes, I'm doing pretty good. My last two HA1C's have been 6.5. I just have to manage it better when I'm going to play. :)
 
ace,

Sorry it took so long to get back to you on this. I have had an insulin pump for about three years now. Before that I was also taking Lantus and a mix of humalog and regular about five times a day. I still have the swings in my blood sugar even though I have the pump but it isn't as bad as before. I would definitely recommend the pump to anyone.

As for the effects of low bloodsugars on me, they are very similar to what you described. Usually after a low I need about 15 to 30 minutes to start feeling better, depending on how low I was. I get shaky, disoriented, careless, cold sweats, and so on. One thing that I learned when I got the insulin pump is that alot of times when you go low you tend to over-treat the low. It only takes 15 grams of carbohydrates to bring your blood sugar up. I was never aware of that before and would end up eating a candy bar and drinking a juice or regular soda. Afterward I would feel terrible. That could be something you are doing as well. Once I started treating my lows the proper way I didn't notice the "hang over" affect like I had when I was over treating.

With high blood sugars I never used to notice the difference so much but I found that after I got better control with the pump a sugar of 180 felt like 300. I would get tired and my vision a little blurry not to mention the constant thirst. The only way to treat that is with insulin or to be careful what you eat before your match.

Good luck with everything and let me know how everything goes.
Sarah
 
Thanks for the advice, Sarah. Glad the pump is working for you. My problems mostly occur when I play at night after I've had my last shot of humalog and last meal. I know that last shot will bring my sugar down in about 4 hours, so I have a snack before I go out to play pool. Usually, it's not enough. I bring something with me just in case, but I don't bring a monitor. So, if I think my bloodsugar is low, I'll have a little snack. But, it seems it's never enough. You know how it is, nobody wants to wake up with a reading of 250 or 300, so I err on the low side. Then there's the confusion caused by the shakiness. I actually thought I was choking for a while but one night I said to myself, "Why would you be choking, you're playing in a lousy $10 tournament?" I had a few cookies and lo and behold I was as steady as a rock, or as steady as an old rock. I'm going to try increasing my carb intake before leaving the house, and if I need an additional boost I'll take it in the 15 carb increments you recommended. :)
 
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