Sports with Diabetes Type One ?

[lukey2k]

I am curious who is actively participating in sports with Type One.

I would like to know what precautions do you take

• Before you partake in your chosen sport.
• During the chosen sport
• After finishing

Reason for asking is I do several sports and back when I was on tablet form I would adjust my medication and take a few snacks with me , how ever being on insulin now I am worried of causing a hypo due to over doing it.

For example my blood sugars can go from 10 to 5 in around a hour of cycling then I start getting symptons of a hypo, tickling lips, version impairments etc etc.

Thanks in Advance

Luke

 

[runner2009]

Hey @lukey2k I'm type 2 or 1.5 on insulin And very active sports wise ( lifting and trail running ). Early on I had problems with hypos after an hour or so of exercise. Now not so much especially since gaining muscle mass - thank you insulin. I always take a bag of nuts and raisins with me and eat them. Also I take about 15 g of glucose every hour that I am exercising. That just seems to work for me.

Doesn't always work, but now I am stupid and usually don't take my meter and eat the nuts and raisins ( thinking of trying GU ) and if I'm high afterwards I either do more exercise or take a shot. Recently read that exercise didn't always have the same affect on diabetics because of certain genes

My advice would be to test and not to worry about over correcting and be sure to adjust as your lean muscle mass increases ( often not a problem with type 1s )

 

[lukey2k]

Cheers for the reply , I should not let it put me off then and should start getting out enjoying my sports again , will try a various things and see what works best for me

 

[runner2009]

Cheers for the reply , I should not let it put me off then and should start getting out enjoying my sports again , will try a various things and see what works best for me

Yes IMO for sure enjoy and test and be aware of hypos and the fact you might be hypo unaware. That's why I just take the 15g of glucose every hour. I can sometimes tell if my thighs feel unstable that I've got a hypo, but because I'm on a low carb diet often it is me running out of glycogen

 

[lukey2k]

I get the signs luckily when levels are dropping, I been running high for along time so when it gets below 6 I know , I will update my post with results of various things I have tried and people can comment and compare, hopefully

 

[runner2009]

Made me smile I remember too at the beginning I would feel low even though I was actually above normal. That for me is luckily gone. You know it is not good to start exercise if your BG is over 13.9. Sounds that exercise brings your BG down fast so again no worries about eating too much glucose - don't laugh for me its a treat.

 

[noblehead]

Before I give a reduced bolus dose with my previous meal, depending on the duration I'll take on board additional carbs usually in the form of a banana or oat bar., after finishing I just monitor my bg levels carefully and act accordingly.

If it's an activity that involves being active all day such as hill walking then a reduction of both basal & bolus doses is recommended to prevent and reduce the episodes of hypoglycaemia.

There's a really good website that was set up for people who have type 1 diabetes and enjoy sport, take a look of it Luke as there's loads of good advice that you should find useful:

http://www.runsweet.com/

 

[Kelsie]

Run sweet as suggested by noble is a really good website to look at. I am type one and extremely active, doing weight training and 400m/800m training on the athletics track. Before exercise, the meal before I reduce my insulin in take by 20% if exercising about 2 hours after. If not then I eat a slow releasing carb such as a banana about half hour before. I personally rather reduce my insulin than feed to counteract the insulin and exercise as your not always hungry! It takes a whole to know how much you need to reduce your insulin by, it's trial and error to begin with but once you've figured it out then it's so easy and makes exercise worry free without consciously thinking I must eat! I always take snacks with me just in case of course

 

[PG1759]

Hi, it's a subject that interests me 6 months in to being type 1. I am going to start football in the new year and haven't done much more than fast paced walking since diagnosis.
What I have noticed is fast acting insulin and exercise are not a great combo ! In my opinion I think it's the biggest cause of hypo during activity. I will be taking none before my exercise initially and have carbs to hand if I haven't eaten.

 

[Stephen89]

I play alot of football and In the past 2 weeks ive found that cutting my Quick acting (novo rapid) in half at meal time before football holds my bg steady also with a check during just to make sure but all good

 

[emiliano]

In my experience the risk of hypos is greatly reduced by eating a diet very rich in fat and poor in CHO. If you "teach" your body to burn fat rather than sugar you won't experience those nasty BG ups and downs so typical when you eat carbs and exercise a lot.

Back when I was eating carbs, I used to eat jam, bread or biscuits before running and after each hour I had to eat sugar or else my BG would drop. Now I usually exercise on an empty stomach and my BG would be nice and steady for all the duration of the run or whatever it is that I do.

Obviously I still get the odd hypo, so in my backpack there's always some sugar just in case, but normally if I plan to run for more than two hours I prepare me a concoction of almonds, coconut oil, dark chocolate powder, dried coconut and heavy cream, or some pemmican, which I share with my dog when one uf us two gets hungry...