T-shirt Troubles

There is something odd that happens when running in a t-shirt.

Actually, I should probably clarify that a bit.

There is something odd that happens when running in a t-shirt if you have type 1 diabetes, wear an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor (CGM).

And you're me.

The t-shirt running season for me is usually fairly short. In the winter I run in winter running clothes that have nothing to do with a t-shirt. In the early spring I switch to shorts but keep a long-sleeved shirt for a few more weeks. Then it's shorts and a t-shirt but only until it's just barely warm enough and then I switch to my tank top that I wear all summer. Then reverse everything I just wrote as winter rolls back in again.

Last spring, I wrote about how running in a t-shirt seems to dislodge my insulin pump site and/or my CGM. I figured it was the back and forth flow of the t-shirt that did it since my tank top and my winter running tops are all snug and don't move. I wrote about how I was having to run home from work to change a leaky infusion site or having to re-tape my CGM back on because it was barely holding on. Then I stopped writing about that during the summer because it stopped happening.

Yesterday morning it was just cold enough that I put on my t-shirt. Not even thinking.

I ran 7k.

By 2.5k, the shirt had rubbed my CGM to the point where it was barely hanging on and no longer saveable. Since it had already lasted 9 days, I was ok with the sacrifice. Anything under 7 feels like a loss but anything over feels like a win. Still though, 15 minutes of running and my CGM, complete with extra adhesive, fell right off? That won't do at all during long runs and races when I rely on that to tell me what my blood sugar is doing.

I got home, tested my blood sugar and prepared to bolus for breakfast. At the last second I remembered that my site would often leak after running in a t-shirt to I lightly pressed a tissue against it while the insulin went it. I pulled it away afterwards and there was a tiny wet spot that smelled suspiciously like bandaids (insert bleh noise here).

I decided to push the infusion site rather than change it too and it did well all day - no unexplained highs but it did leak a bit with each bolus.

Surprising what one 7k run will do when there is a t-shirt involved. It cost me an $80 CGM site and almost another $20 infusion site. I should take that money and see if I can find a t-shirt that fits like my tank top.

Because I've been reminded that the t-shirt thing just doesn't work for this type 1 gal.