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RyanAnk

Type 1 diabetic AFP student questions

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Hey everyone, I am a type 1 diabetic and just recently started my AFP training. I just completed my 4th AFP jump yesterday and when I was going up to do my 5th, I decided to not jump because my blood sugar spiked very high in the climb to altitude. I wear a CGM and am able to check my BG while riding up which is an awesome thing. I don’t however wear my insulin pump because I wasn’t sure what the quick change in altitude would do to it. So I unhook it just before I get into the plane. I felt a bit foggy around 8k and checked and I was shooting straight up and already at 250. Usually if I was at a stable 250 I would feel safe with it, but with the very rapid rise I felt like maybe exiting would be a bad idea. Does anyone have any experiance with having a BG that’s too high to jump? Or because it’s spiking and the altitude it makes you feel funny? I was mainly worried because I was always taught don’t ever do excerise if you’re very high, and I didn’t want to make my first mistake with that one in freefall. I’m a well controlled diabetic as well, (a1c 6.3~7.3, I know it can be better!), and I’m very hypoglycemic aware. I also carry gummies in my jumpsuit Incase I have a BG crash as well. Going low on the ride to altitude it’s much more clear of a “what to do” protocol. But the going very high very quick is what I wondered about if anyone has experienced that too. Also does anyone have issues wearing a minimed paradigm 751 while jumping? I’m contacting Medtronic to get an answer from them but I wondered if anyone in the community had one as well! Thanks everyone! 

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On 8/17/2019 at 1:23 PM, RyanAnk said:

I don’t however wear my insulin pump because I wasn’t sure what the quick change in altitude would do to it.

I have done tandems with many people that have insulin pumps and have never had anyone have a problem. The main thing is to make sure it's in a place on your body that the harness won't interfere with it.

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Hi!  I'm T1 30+ years, skydiving 5 and wear my 670G under my jumpsuit.  When I was in AFF stress and would cause my BGs to rocket but now I've pretty much got it figured out. I don't feel terrible with hi bg so would jump even if it was soaring but you have to do what works for you.  Low is another story, I won't jump if my bg could go low in the near future. Nice job not letting it hold you back!  

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Great to know the pump doesn’t malfunction under the pressure changes. I was worried of a crazy mis-dosage because my brain thought a liquid under pressure changes could drastically change flow. My sugars do spike from the adrenaline rush so I’m slowly working on how to level those out by a small dose before gearing up. Thanks for the info!! 

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