Experiences from a winter camp for teenage diabetics

Experiences are described from a winter camp, where the main purpose was to show the campers how to handle diet and insulin in connection with strenuous, repeated exercise. Twelve diabetics, aged 12-17 years attended a 7 days long winter camp. The relative decrease in the daily insulin dose vs. pre-camp dose was 11.8 +/- 1.6% (mean +/- S.E.), and the relative increase in caloric intake was 31 +/- 4%. The balance of diabetes was in most cases fair to good at the start of the camp and remained unchanged. No severe hypoglycemias occurred. The physical fitness index improved during the camp (t-test, paired comparison, P less than 0.005), and the campers gained self-confidence.