To Ski or Not to Ski, That is the Question

As Oprah Winfrey said, “Skiing is the next best thing to having wings.” That’s not the way that I ski, I am a beginner, and do not want to fly while I ski. But I’m happy to watch others fly! The trip I planned with my friends would provide me with plenty of opportunities to watch them fly.

Planning a Ski Trip

It was wintertime and I have some friends who always go skiing multiple times each winter. I’m not as good, nor do I go skiing as much as them, but I was still invited! I hadn’t been in a while, and decided this was the time to go!

It was going to be over the weekend, we would carpool, and had all bought lift tickets. We were ready to go. All we had to do was wait for the weekend to come. That’s the hardest part.

A Few Days Before the Trip

The ski trip was at the end of the week and I couldn’t wait to go. But something weird was happening with my blood sugar. Something that hasn’t happened before, or since. I figured out that whenever I would eat, I would NOT inject myself, and my blood sugar number would not go high.

This perplexed me and I had no idea what was going on. I tested this weird phenomenon by eating a very carb filled dinner and a large piece of cake for dessert (totaling over 100 grams of carbs). After this meal my blood sugar number only went as high as 160. It should have been well over 300, but it wasn’t.

What Was Going On?

This happened for two days before I reached out to my doctor. I told him what was going on and what I was doing about it. His response was to just wait and let him know if it keeps going on. This was NOT the response I was hoping for.

I never got a real answer, he thought it was weird but since it didn’t last too long, I shouldn’t worry about it. UGH! Sometimes doctors don’t have all the answers, and it can be incredibly frustrating.

What Insulin Was I Taking?

Although I wasn’t injecting my fast-acting insulin, I was still injecting my regular dose of long-acting insulin each day.

I felt so weird not injecting any fast-acting insulin. It felt wrong. My whole life I have been told by my parents and my doctors to always count carbs and inject accordingly. I was ignoring this and my blood sugar number was doing great.

In addition to reaching out to my doctor I also reached out to a friend of mine who also has type 1 diabetes. I wanted to know if she had ever had something like this happen to her. She hadn’t and also thought it was strange. I was running out of ideas.

Maybe I Was Cured!

I knew my diabetes didn’t just go away, but after a few days I was joking with my friends that I was cured and didn’t need my insulin anymore. Some of my friends believed me and it was sad when I had to tell them that I was only joking. I just didn’t know what my body was doing.

Getting Ready for the Ski Trip

The weekend was drawing closer and I was getting ready for the ski trip. I had been skiing before so I had all of my snow gear ready to go. My goggles, hat, gloves, snow pants, layers, socks, and jacket. I also had my fingerstick, glucose, snacks, and insulin. Learn more about what to pack when traveling here: Packing List Blog Post.

When I was packing up my diabetes supplies it got me thinking about whether I should actually go. Whenever I have skied in the past, my blood sugar number tends to drop while I’m on the slopes. While skiing, I always need to take glucose periodically to help prevent any lows.

With what was happening with my blood sugar number recently I was contemplating if going was the best idea.

Do I Stay or Do I Go?

I was waffling back and forth. I really wanted to go skiing. It had been a couple of years since I’ve been, and this was the perfect time to go. And I would get to go with my friends and watch them fly down the slopes. But my diabetes was being weird and confusing (how rude of my diabetes).

Reality started to set in. My diabetes had been acting weird for three days and I had no idea when it would start acting normally again. It had been three days and the next day was Saturday, the day of the ski trip.

I really didn’t want to go low on the slopes and need to be rescued. I hadn’t exercised in the past three days while my blood sugar numbers were acting strange. So, I had no idea what that would do to me.  

Cancelling my trip

Because I didn’t know what skiing would do to my blood sugar, I ultimately decided not to go skiing. I had to let all of my friends know that I wasn’t going anymore. Most of them understood why I wasn’t going. But this whole situation was strange, and I wish I knew what was going on with my body.  

Making a decision like this is never easy. I had been looking forward to this trip for weeks and at the last minute I had to play it safe and not go. I didn’t even get a refund on my lift ticket. 

When you have diabetes, sometimes there are things that you can’t/shouldn’t do. Or at least things that you need to be extra careful of. Your safety and your life are most important.

If you want to read about a time I went cross-country skiing you can do that here.