How a Diving Incident Taught Me to Manage Hypoglycemia

I beat my type 2 diabetes by losing 35 pounds and maintaining a regular exercise routine of walking 3–5 miles per day or the equivalent in swimming or pool aerobics.

A scary diving incident

I had a hypoglycemia episode 2 years ago when I was SCUBA diving for the local aquarium and made three 30–40 minute dives in four hours. At the end of the final dive, I felt a little tired and thought, "I should grab a snack, but let me sit down and get these boots off."

Next thing I knew, someone was trying to fit an oxygen mask on me, and someone else was calling EMS. I insisted I was okay, but protocol required a trip to the ER. On the way, they did a finger stick and my glucose was 42! Whoops! The ER staff got me a sandwich (roast beef with no mustard, YUCK) and a ginger ale. My glucose came back up to about 85 and they decided I was okay.

Creating a safety protocol

The aquarium staff was trying to build a policy for diving with diabetes, and I found a protocol from the Divers Alert Network that basically says to check glucose 60, 30, and 15 minutes before a dive, and don't dive unless glucose is no less than 150. Don't dive longer than 50 minutes, and check glucose again right after the dive.

I found I burned 70–90 points in the course of a typical working dive, and about the same on a 3-mile hike or one hour of water aerobics. I keep a tube of glucose tablets handy for an immediate boost back to around 80–100 mg/dl. Been working well so far.