High after Excercise

[kareeta]

Afternoon everyone

Not new the the forum or to Type 1..but new to this sort of problem. Have exercised in the past, but this am waking levels were 7.4 best result in a long time. Did a workout dvd with my son (didn't inject humalog just my morning levemir) and came to work. Checked my levels half an hour later and I was 21!! Felt shocking. Should I have injected before even though my levels looked good and I didn't eat? Felt rubbish for a good couple of hours, injected twice to bring me down 8u then 10 units an hour later..still around 10 now.

Thanks for reading
Karen x

 

[LizzieP]

Hi there,
You don't mention whether you had eaten anything prior to exercising. I have always been told never to excercise on an empty stomach (I am Type 1) as the liver's natural response to this would be to chuck out glucose to cope with the activity. That could be what happened. Also, it might depend on the kind of activity you are doing. I find that weights and any form of resistance training will cause a blood sugar rise for me whereas a long brisk walk or run will lower it. If you didn't eat, then maybe try again tomorrow by having breakfast first with your insulin (you might need to reduce it depending on what you are going to do, exercise-wise) and see what happens.
Good luck!

 

[kareeta]

Thanks Lizzie

I didn't have anything at all before exercising. I thought that 7.4 would be perfect to just crack on with :roll:

The exercise was Jillian Michaels (Biggest Loser) 20 mins fast cadio/weights mix. Knackering lol..can you say that on here??

Afterwards had 7 units humalog and 3 tablespoon of granola with semi skimmed milk.

Will try switching it round for tomorrow to see if it makes any difference. If not I doubt I will be able to continue the am exercise as I have not done much in the way of work this am!

 

[catherinecherub]

Not a type1 but this may help?

http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2010 ... diabetes-/

 

[kareeta]

Thankyou, that made for interesting reading.

Tried the same routine this am but had 4 units before exercise , no food, and was 18.9 after

So..will try my normal injection of 12 units tomorrow am before exercise, again no food, and see what happens

Karen x

 

[LizzieP]

Hi again,
I really think you should try again but *with food*. I am pretty sure that if you excercise on an empty stomach, your liver will compensate from the lack of nutrients it needs for the energy expended by dumping glucouse thereby raising your blood sugar. (Am I right here or am I giving Karen duff advice? ).

 

[janabelle]

Hi Karen,
If your best result in ages is 7.4 and you're sugars are going as high as 21 following exercise and no food, I would suspect your analogue insulin to be at fault. The levels you are reporting are not good.
I'm on animal insulin, after years on "human" insulin and horrendous 4 years on lantus(analogue similar to Levemir), with ups and down that didn't make any sense or have any consistency. I have recently gone for long jogs in the morning with no food prior to exercise and my results are as they should be; meaning my blood sugar lowers and stays at lower levels throughout the day. Exercise can cause raises in BG levels initially, but 21 is a bit high.
Analogue insulins do NOT do as they are supposed to for many people, and as the majority of patients are on them or being changed to them, there will be plenty of studies done, under the assumption that these medications are working as they should, which will come up with every theory under the sun why patients are having unusual responses. In the same way when patients report feeling extreme lethargy and muscle pains on these insulins, they will be diagnosed with illnesses suchas Fibromyalgia, CFS, etc;.or have it blamed on being diabetic, rather than these problems being recognised as side-effects of analogue insulins. That's my and many others experience anyway.
If your insulin was working as it should, like real insulin, your sugars should not be going as high as 21 after doing a workout DVD.
What does your doc think of your general control, have you been offered any support in getting your levels down?
Trouble is with most docs being ignorant of real "animal" insulins, and how insulin should be working, the tendency is to blame the patient when things go wrong
Hope that's not too much of a rant, but if 7.4 is your best result in a long time you need to see your doc.
Jus

 

[kareeta]

Hi Janabelle

Not a rant , that was very informative thankyou. I have been type one for 11yrs and the only time I get readings under 10 is when I am cutting carbs way back. I'm trying to be consistent with this, but have been working so much this year that its just been easier to grab a sandwich etc..

Anyway, The levels have risen this high three days running regardless or trying eating/not eating/injecting before/injecting after. I'm soo exhausted this week that I think tomorrow am's exercise may not happen. I'm certainly not feeling the benefit! Although of course I am aware there will be one/some?!

Hadn't even crossed my mind that the background insulin may be to blame. Have split my levemir for a good three years now and never really tinkered with it. My annual review is next month so I will be asking about animal insulin plus I have been reading with great interest the topics on Byetta to bring levels down but I don't think this is for Type 1's?
Thanks again

Karen

 

[Sue Morton]

Hi, It is true that your liver will dump sugar to provide the energy that you would have got from the food you eat before doing your execise.

Manufactures sometimes change their recipes and I recall seeing a message on here about genola that they had been eating for years but all of a sudden their BS was high. Unfortunatley manufactures do change their recipes and it may be that is the case here. But you really should eat (not loads) before execising as this will help with the energy thing and might stop your liver dumping sugar or less of it into you.

I have also read advice given on this forum not to do to much excerting execise but to be more moderate in your excesise this may be the way forward for you.

Good luck
Sue

 

[Tracey167]

Hi

I was also told not to exercise on an empty stomach and also just to reduce my humalog if i am exercising not to miss it completley. Probably where you did'nt do your levemir or humalog your body never had no insulin left and then you exercised which really is not gonna burn much sugar if you have no insulin in your body. Maybe do your long lasting insulin as normal and then your short acting after exercise for reduce short acting also do a glucose test before and after exercise

 

[janabelle]

I really am puzzled when I hear about this "liver glucose dump" thing??? Type-1 21 years and no experience of it whatsoever. The only time I ever went sky high for no reason was eating the wrong thing, or when I was on Lantus, it just did not work; coming off it and onto REAL insulin has proved that for me.
Karen had taken long-acting insulin(analogue ), and if it had been doing it's job her BG should not have risen to such high levels following exercise. There is no reason why any type-1 needs to stick to "moderate" exercise if they are on the correct diet and insulin regime, and monitoring BG levels before, during and after exercise is common sense.
Jus

 

[kareeta]

Hi everyone.

I'm not sure how we define moderate but I wasn't pushing myself in a daft way, I might not be the fittest person around , but I can cope well with 20 mins on the treadmill or a dvd, I do get a bit red and puffed out lol but I enjoy that.

I have never had this reaction before and as I mentioned , I have tried every which way and still been almost off the scale for the best part of a week now. I didn't exercise at all yesterday but was still 20 when I woke up and have stayed high teens despite low carbs and many injections.

Will just have to persevere I guess , I just hate having these 'surprises' even after 11 yrs , the hardest thing is lack of control - especially when you think you are doing so well...its unpredictable...well for me anyway

Thanks
Karen x