This blog is not so much a comparison of these two insulins but a reflection of their different behaviours for me and how this has led to very different approaches with managing my type 1 diabetes whilst training.
To fill you in on the background I've had diabetes for nearly 18 years, 7 of these were on injections and 10 years after that have been on an insulin pump using Humalog in it and the remaining time has been on Fiasp insulin. Things were going along okay on Humalog, but in the past year and a half I started noticing a change in the way my blood glucose levels responded to food. This initially started as an increase in my carb to insulin ratio (the amount of insulin I give per unit, by the number of carbs I eat in grams), so I needed more insulin to keep things in check than I had before. Despite my ratio being the exact same for 9 of the 10 years, so perhaps it was just my body saying it was time for a change.
But then I started noticing that my glucose levels would rise and get spiky as I was actually eating, so it came up again during my consultation at clinic and my diabetes Consultant suggested trying fiasp to see if things would improve. After finding out about fiasp through a talk on upcoming research at Swansea University whilst at the T1 and Tech conference, I had a feeling that fiasp might suit my particular diabetes because of what I had been told about it's quicker onset and offset, which I thought would also potentially suit my training better. And so the trial began... but what started as a trial became a permanent move. But that's not to say it hasn't taken some getting used to, particularly with training because of Fiasp's alternative behaviour.
Whilst I was on the previous Humalog insulin, I would need to reduce my basal background insulin on the pump about an hour to 90 minutes before training and take on fast-acting glucose, then reducing it by a greater percentage when actually starting to train. This would mean that glucose levels would rise slightly when starting training and drop during, but not outside of safe levels. I then wouldn't see any after effects of the reduced basals after training and would eat my tea with an insulin reduction to replenish what I had burned off energy wise during training, within an hour afterwards.
However, fiasp behaves completely differently. I've noticed that the pre-training reduction occurs more effectively for me within an hour or so of training, depending on what my starting levels are. I choose to have fast-acting glucose for energy before training, as an athlete without diabetes might do, but am aware of the amount, as the same amount of carbs is now much more impactful on glucose levels than it previously was. My basal reduction during training is not as much as the Humalog, because I do see a response after training otherwise. Particularly if training is in the morning, a time when I'm dealing with the dawn effect and less insulin on board. But, during actual track training, I've never observed such stability in my blood glucose levels within the session.
I'm aware that what insulin suits which person's diabetes is an incredibly personal thing, particularly as when I have the pleasure of spending extended periods of time with fellow type 1s whilst travelling and having adventures. There really are differences in each of our diabetes and responses to the things that impact our T1D. But as the season unfolds, I'm looking forward to seeing the impact of other types of training sessions now on my diabetes.
0 comments:
Post a Comment