hiking with type 2 diabetes

[neo]

just some advice. for insulin, unless freakishly thin, 1/2" needles hurt less then quarters. they get below the nerve endings.

this is what i use neo

http://www.opticlik.com/home.do

[alalskaman]

this could be an interesting and informative thread...I used to take oral medications ( Orinase, Tolbutamide, Glipazide, etc.) and was always going hypoglycemic on the trail. Every 45 or 50 minutes would have to stop and eat dried fruit or other sugary stuff to raise blood sugars up. And would then often go unpredictably high, especially at night in camp. Not good for the bod to be up at 200 plus. Now am controlling the disease with only a lowcarb diet...and I find that I can keep blood sugar levels very stable and just about right on the trail, BUT, the big BUT, is that I must go very slowly. And I cannot take anything for "quick energy." A handful of dried fruit, now, without insulin-producing meds, just shoots me up to high levels, without adding any "zip." So I just go slowly...walk about 2 to 2 1/2 miles, rest for a bit, then do it again. Eat a normal meal every 4 or 5 hours. Can do this all day. But cannot do any super-sugar fueled sprints up a mountain pass. I suspect insulin would enable me to use sugar as fuel...but as long as I can knock off 18 mile days without having to carry meds, I am pretty happy. We diabetics don't have a normal metabolism, not by a long sight. Glad to be able to ramble, though... Bill

[neo]

this could be an interesting and informative thread...I used to take oral medications ( Orinase, Tolbutamide, Glipazide, etc.) and was always going hypoglycemic on the trail. Every 45 or 50 minutes would have to stop and eat dried fruit or other sugary stuff to raise blood sugars up. And would then often go unpredictably high, especially at night in camp. Not good for the bod to be up at 200 plus. Now am controlling the disease with only a lowcarb diet...and I find that I can keep blood sugar levels very stable and just about right on the trail, BUT, the big BUT, is that I must go very slowly. And I cannot take anything for "quick energy." A handful of dried fruit, now, without insulin-producing meds, just shoots me up to high levels, without adding any "zip." So I just go slowly...walk about 2 to 2 1/2 miles, rest for a bit, then do it again. Eat a normal meal every 4 or 5 hours. Can do this all day. But cannot do any super-sugar fueled sprints up a mountain pass. I suspect insulin would enable me to use sugar as fuel...but as long as I can knock off 18 mile days without having to carry meds, I am pretty happy. We diabetics don't have a normal metabolism, not by a long sight. Glad to be able to ramble, though... Bill

i went from two 4 mg tabs of amaryl a day to 1 mg of amaryl a day
i also use 10 units once a day of lantus insulin. i eat a meal or a good snack
every 3 hours,but i hike 20 + miles a day