Went to the 4pm Bikram Yoga Class yesterday. Needed a hard workout. It’s been a long winter. I hadn’t been in awhile. Decided to go at 2:45pm. Checked bg….106. Ate a lunch about an hour ago and still had quite a bit of insulin on board -5.32units. Took my pump off. Drank a bottle of water. Need to hydrate. Put a bottle of gatorade and 2 more bottles of water in the freezer. I was not in an ideal situation to go to class. I know I had over bolused a bit for lunch with that last bg reading. Decided to hop in the shower. I find it good to take a long hot shower before a Bikram class. Got out of the shower. Packed my 2 towels, gatorade, water, yoga mat, extra shirt and sweat pants to change in to after. Ok it was 3:30pm and I had been disconnected for 45 minutes. Tested again – 96. Still had 3.1 units on board. I was going low and it would be risky to go into a 90 minute Bikram class like this. Decided to drink about 5 oz of Simply Lemonade. I would drive down to the studio (10min drive) and I would test again before getting out of the car. At that point I would decide whether to proceed or to bail and come back home. I really needed the workout. But there is a part in my brain that always says DO NOT GO INTO THAT HOT BOX OF A ROOM. I got to the studio around 3:50pm. Checked bg – 132. 2.4 units on board. I had been disconnected for an hour. I decided I would be ok because I had a gatorade if I happened to go low. Before I go on a few stats and a little history:
My basal rate: .950 units per hour. My I:C ratio: 11 MY IFC: 40 Medtronic 670 pump.
Age: 57. Date of diagnosis November 1976. Been practicing yoga for 20+ years.
Went to a month long 200hr yoga teacher training program to deepen my practice in 2006.
A lot of my work utilizes yoga principles. They seem to be universal.
Ok. Enough of that. The studio is on the third floor of a 3 story building in downtown Ithaca, NY. The weather was cool but sunny. One way to enter the studio is via the emergency stairs on the side of the building. Very steep. I took that route and upon entering I was breathing hard. Boy am I out of shape. Got set up in the room. Bikram is in a heated room. Ideal temp is 110 degrees and humid. The class was packed. Must have been 33 people lined up in 3 lines staggering to ensure a view in the mirror. When it is crowded like this it usually gets pretty hot.
If you have never done Bikram Yoga let me describe it a bit. As I said, room is hot. There are 26 postures most done in 2 sets with a very brief rest in between. You need a mat, 2 towels, a water and a gatorade if you are diabetic. I bring my fanny pack in with all my stuff because I am obsessive compulsive about leaving my pump, keys, wallet in the car or in a locker room. I know. The heat can be an issue for the insulin. Something to be aware of. I disconnect from the pump most of the time. It was easier before I got on the pump, of course. I had a Dexcom when they first came out about 10 years ago or so. I hated it at that time for 3 reasons. 1. It was another infusion site in my body and after so many years of injections and pump ports I really didn’t need another one. 2. The receiver came off during Bikram classes. The adhesive melted. 3.) I had more lows on the Dexcom because of my Obsessive compulsiveness. It drove me crazy.
So, the class starts and I really wanted to pee before it started but there was so many people in a line that I decided to forego. It got hot fast. I weighed myself before driving down. 185.5. I knew I was going to lose some water weight. I need to lose about 10 lbs to get to ideal weight. What better way?
I have probably been through over 2500 Bikram classes in the last 20 years. This class was in the top 10 of being the hottest. It was brutal. One goal of doing a Bikram class is to face the situation whether it be the pose or the heat and stay with it. You don’t want to leave the room unless absolutely necessary. I have probably only had to walk out of Bikram class maybe 5 times total. At least 7 people left this class for different periods of time. There were a few poses that I went into child’s pose as a break.
Made it through. Felt like I was going to boot a few times but I worked it out. It was 6:10pm and I was ready to drive home. Checked bg -124. Insulin on board .32. I re-connected and I intuitively knew I should probably bolus a unit or two but decided to wait until I got home. Basal was running normal now. Got home. It was now 6:30 pm. I was approaching 48 hours with my infusion site. Good time to change out. Love when I can take it off and take a shower and then put a new one in. Checked bg again before doing this. 157. Bolused 1.25 units and peeled her off. Got in the shower. Put a new site in, primed it and bolused another unit because I was going to eat soon anyways. Weighed myself. 181.5. Lost 4 lbs. Cooked up some left over Ribeye from dinner the other night with some toast and salad with chunky blue cheese dressing. Put a beer in the freezer. Nothing like a cold beer after that 90 minute torture chamber experience. Got to be careful though. Got to make sure I drink enough water and no more than a beer or 2. Bolused for dinner. It’s always a guess. There was some left over bernaise sauce that has a lot of sugar in it. And I had been disconnected for over 3 hours earlier. And you know how that works. Checked two hours after eating – 227. Oops. 2.3 units on board. The math says I should be ok but I know different. Oh, I forgot to mention the mayo I put on the steak too. I had a lot of fat grams working. Bolused 2 units. Increased basal to +20% for 2 hours. Checked at 11pm, s hours later and 168 with 1.87 units on board. I should be good to go. Slept all night without waking up. Woke up at 6:30am BG -101. My favorite number. The number for the Arch Angel Michael!