Exercise confusion

[Gillogi]

Hoping I can get some good advice about exercising and type 1

I've been diagnosed a couple of year and managing to carb count although I didn't get much tuition on this. Anyway I have managed to keep my Hba1c under 8 until about 6 months ago when it crept. Up to 9.3 and now doing regular checks with GP and DSN.

I decided I needed to start upping my exercise to see if this helps and just started running a couple of weeks ago. I keep getting conflicting information about snacking beforehand or whether I should be having lucozade during and after run

I started well but then my daily reading spiked before bed and were raised again in the morning. It also seems to take 3 hours until after my run to normalise out. I only want to leisure run at the moment to get my fitness up before I think about anything more but in addition whilst I am running I get pain in my leg muscles from a surge in lactose which stops me from carrying on my partner is doing this with me and isn't diabetic with poorer fitness but no pain at all.

Hoping that someone can advise of correct method to help as this is first time I've asked as wanted to try to deal on my own but getting fed up of docs not being too helpful and conflicting information.

 

[ButtterflyLady]

Hoping I can get some good advice about exercising and type 1

I've been diagnosed a couple of year and managing to carb count although I didn't get much tuition on this. Anyway I have managed to keep my Hba1c under 8 until about 6 months ago when it crept. Up to 9.3 and now doing regular checks with GP and DSN.

I decided I needed to start upping my exercise to see if this helps and just started running a couple of weeks ago. I keep getting conflicting information about snacking beforehand or whether I should be having lucozade during and after run

I started well but then my daily reading spiked before bed and were raised again in the morning. It also seems to take 3 hours until after my run to normalise out. I only want to leisure run at the moment to get my fitness up before I think about anything more but in addition whilst I am running I get pain in my leg muscles from a surge in lactose which stops me from carrying on my partner is doing this with me and isn't diabetic with poorer fitness but no pain at all.

Hoping that someone can advise of correct method to help as this is first time I've asked as wanted to try to deal on my own but getting fed up of docs not being too helpful and conflicting information.

Welcome to the forum.

I'm not type 1 but I imagine the T1s reading this would ask you what sort of insulin regime you are on, ie which types of insulin, at what sort of dosages and when. This may help them suggest some possible reasons why your HbA1c crept up about 6 months ago. Did you make any major changes to the regime around that time?

What foods do you typically eat over the course of a day? Did this change about 6 months ago?

There is also a free online carb counting course that you might find helpful - someone will have the link, I think it's called Bdec.

I'm sure the T1s will have some ideas about your exercise questions too.

 

[copepod]

Two good sources of information about sport / activity with type 1 diabetes:
www.runsweet.com
www.teambloodglucose.com
You need to consider how long between last short acting insulin and exercise, whether it's aerobic or anaerobic etc.

 

[tim2000s]

As @CatLadyNZ mentioned, what insulin regime are you on? That helps us to give advice.

Secondly, the key to exercise is to test and know where your bloods are before, during and after, and this is more important with running as many of us find it has a major reduction effect on bg levels.

There isn't really a correct method but if you tell us what you've been doing and some detail about what you've found, we can tell you how it relates to our experiences.

 

[Gillogi]

Hi thank you for the advice and site references I will look them up. I'm on lantus and nova rapid fast acting doing 1 - 10g carb ratio. I did fall ill about the time my sugars went haywire originally so that seems to have upset the balance.

 

[Juicyj]

Hi thank you for the advice and site references I will look them up. I'm on lantus and nova rapid fast acting doing 1 - 10g carb ratio. I did fall ill about the time my sugars went haywire originally so that seems to have upset the balance.

As quoted above, test beforehand and afterwards and also take glucose with you on your run.

I run and cycle but depending on the length of exercise this should determine what action needs to be taken and based on the intensity of the exercise too.

If I run for 20 minutes which is generally what I am capable of doing then I take basal as normal and if over say 6 mmol/l then don't do anything else and just test when I get back, if I am below 6 then will probably just have a jelly baby and run. Once you start you will then be able to record patterns with your exercise which will both increase your confidence but also tell you how to manage your diabetes for your next run, assuming you do this regularly it will help reduce your BG, exercise is so good for everyone but particularly insulin dependent diabetics as helps stabilise BG, please also remember to test regularly after exercise also as your body will drain the glucose in your blood to repair and build muscles for up to 12 hours possibly longer.

Have fun on your run