Blood reading go high after exercise !

[philfatkid]

A bit of a strange one, I'm type 2 on insulin for nearly a year now, my diabetic nurse is very happy with my control, average bloods reading over the last 90 days is 7.0 mmol/L estimated A1c is 6.5 49 mmol/L, 3 weeks ago I started a new regime of exercise (had a problem with my knee before) gym twice a week, seniors exercise class at my local community centre once a week, all well and good, I also started walking football 3 weeks ago, after my 1st session I noticed my bloods went up to 13 mmol/L, this was with nothing to eat before the session, I thought this may have just been a one off occurrence, but last week and last night the same thing happened ??? nothing to eat since lunch time, the walking football for 1 hour from 6pm, and again bloods went high, I'm at a loss, I will phone my diabetic nurse this morning, but it usually takes a couple of days to get back to me, so I was wondering if anyone else has come across this ?

 

[JoKalsbeek]

A bit of a strange one, I'm type 2 on insulin for nearly a year now, my diabetic nurse is very happy with my control, average bloods reading over the last 90 days is 7.0 mmol/L estimated A1c is 6.5 49 mmol/L, 3 weeks ago I started a new regime of exercise (had a problem with my knee before) gym twice a week, seniors exercise class at my local community centre once a week, all well and good, I also started walking football 3 weeks ago, after my 1st session I noticed my bloods went up to 13 mmol/L, this was with nothing to eat before the session, I thought this may have just been a one off occurrence, but last week and last night the same thing happened ??? nothing to eat since lunch time, the walking football for 1 hour from 6pm, and again bloods went high, I'm at a loss, I will phone my diabetic nurse this morning, but it usually takes a couple of days to get back to me, so I was wondering if anyone else has come across this ?

The thing is, you didn't eat and you were active. That makes your liver think you need extra energy, so it dumps some glucose into your system to help you out. Only problem being, you can't burn it off effectively, so it's not much of a help, more of a hindrance, really. See it as similar to dawn phenomenon. If you have a little protein or something before you get stuck in on the field, you might not see so steep a rise. Stick some babybells in your pocket, that could be enough to let your liver know you don't need any assistance.

Edited to say: have them in your pocket to eat before the match, not just have them there for the duration of the game.... I'm not saying the liver is psychic.

 

[KennyA]

A bit of a strange one, I'm type 2 on insulin for nearly a year now, my diabetic nurse is very happy with my control, average bloods reading over the last 90 days is 7.0 mmol/L estimated A1c is 6.5 49 mmol/L, 3 weeks ago I started a new regime of exercise (had a problem with my knee before) gym twice a week, seniors exercise class at my local community centre once a week, all well and good, I also started walking football 3 weeks ago, after my 1st session I noticed my bloods went up to 13 mmol/L, this was with nothing to eat before the session, I thought this may have just been a one off occurrence, but last week and last night the same thing happened ??? nothing to eat since lunch time, the walking football for 1 hour from 6pm, and again bloods went high, I'm at a loss, I will phone my diabetic nurse this morning, but it usually takes a couple of days to get back to me, so I was wondering if anyone else has come across this ?

I'm another walking footballer and I get the same thing. I've not used a CGM while playing in the last couple of years so I don't know what is happening these days, but certainly any strenuous exercise that raises adrenalin (and trying to keep up with the 50 year old kids does that) will (on previous evidence) provoke my liver into making glucose for me, because it thinks I probably need it.

In other words it's normal and it's down to your liver making glucose, nothing to do with anything you ate or didn't eat.

Thanks - you've actually reminded me that I need to repeat the CGM wearing during sports soon to see if anything has altered.

 

[KennyA]

One thing I forgot - the highs you see during exercise - how long do they last after the end of the game? Do they drop off quickly or stay elevated for hours?

 

[philfatkid]

One thing I forgot - the highs you see during exercise - how long do they last after the end of the game? Do they drop off quickly or stay elevated for hours?

It doesn't stay high, because i take my insulin and have my evening meal after football.

 

[philfatkid]

Ok,
I've not been for a couple of weeks, but started back tonight, bloods readings before i started were 5.6 afterwards 15.1 my next question is , what can I do about it, surely I cant take any insulin before I play and run the risk of having a Hypo ?
Confused ???

 

[Antje77]

Ok,
I've not been for a couple of weeks, but started back tonight, bloods readings before i started were 5.6 afterwards 15.1 my next question is , what can I do about it, surely I cant take any insulin before I play and run the risk of having a Hypo ?
Confused ???

We can't give dosing advice on the forum, that's between you and your diabetes nurse/doctor.
I take it you're on two types of insulin, basal and bolus (a long acting you take once a day, and a short acting taken before meals and for corrections), is this correct?
How do you decide on your doses of mealtime insulin and corrections? Do you use fixed doses for your meals or do you adjust your doses depending on what you eat and on what your current BG is at?

There are things apart from food that can make our BG rise. This is usually because our helpful livers think we can use some extra energy and dumps glucose in our bloodstream.
It happens in many people right after getting out of bed (liver getting you ready for the day with an energy boost, useless if you're diabetic), in stressful situations, or when doing relatively intensive exercise. But there are many more factors that can make us rise or drop outside food.

To my thinking, glucose is glucose, no matter if it comes from food or from my liver, and glucose needs insulin to be used instead of sticking around in the bloodstream.
Often, I only find out afterwards so it needs a correction. But after years of playing this game there are a couple of situations where I take some insulin beforehand for a liver dump of glucose just like I would for food.
In my case it's for getting out of bed (unless I'll be swimming first thing in the morning, which drops me); before visiting the dentist (I'm scared so my liver gives me a glucose boost to fight or flee the lion); before intensive exercise (which makes me rise, moderate exercise makes me drop, we're all different); and for my yearly endo appointment (which always makes the alarm from my sensor go off, even though I love my endo).
I experimented very carefully with dosing for those things, seeing what happened with the mallest dose first and testing a lot.

If you play football regularly, it might be very much worth talking this over with your diabetes nurse!

 

[philfatkid]

We can't give dosing advice on the forum, that's between you and your diabetes nurse/doctor.
I take it you're on two types of insulin, basal and bolus (a long acting you take once a day, and a short acting taken before meals and for corrections), is this correct?
How do you decide on your doses of mealtime insulin and corrections? Do you use fixed doses for your meals or do you adjust your doses depending on what you eat and on what your current BG is at?

There are things apart from food that can make our BG rise. This is usually because our helpful livers think we can use some extra energy and dumps glucose in our bloodstream.
It happens in many people right after getting out of bed (liver getting you ready for the day with an energy boost, useless if you're diabetic), in stressful situations, or when doing relatively intensive exercise. But there are many more factors that can make us rise or drop outside food.

To my thinking, glucose is glucose, no matter if it comes from food or from my liver, and glucose needs insulin to be used instead of sticking around in the bloodstream.
Often, I only find out afterwards so it needs a correction. But after years of playing this game there are a couple of situations where I take some insulin beforehand for a liver dump of glucose just like I would for food.
In my case it's for getting out of bed (unless I'll be swimming first thing in the morning, which drops me); before visiting the dentist (I'm scared so my liver gives me a glucose boost to fight or flee the lion); before intensive exercise (which makes me rise, moderate exercise makes me drop, we're all different); and for my yearly endo appointment (which always makes the alarm from my sensor go off, even though I love my endo).
I experimented very carefully with dosing for those things, seeing what happened with the mallest dose first and testing a lot.

If you play football regularly, it might be very much worth talking this over with your diabetes nurse!

View attachment 72209

That's very helpful, thanks for that. I have, through trial and error discovered how much insulin to take depending what I eat, my average bloods are 7.5 mmol/L my diabetic nurse is happy with my control, but i may have to consider taking some insulin just before football, watch this space.....

 

[Antje77]

watch this space.....

Definitely watching!
There's a fine line between being bold and careful. If you decide on experimenting, by all means err on the careful side. This is something you do often, doesn't matter if it takes 10 or 20 games to get it right.

 

[SimonP78]

Quite a lot of people take insulin before sport to avoid going hyper. Quite a few runners need to do this, I also need to do this if I ride in the morning (FotF)/or it's a long ride and I'll get nerves-induced hepatic glucose. I seem to remember reading that one of the T1 rugby players needed to take bolus pre-match for similar reasons.

The danger is that the insulin will probably last longer than the nerves/hepatic contribution, so I'd start small and work up and also ensure you have something to eat (err on the side of overtreating while you practice) if your BG starts to fall as the combination of exercise-induced heightened insulin sensitivity and IoB can make you drop very quickly (but if you stop the exercise the drop will also stop, so it's not really something to fear too much!)

 

[becca59]

I’m another that needs insulin before exercise. My morning swim before breakfast always needs a dose. I see all these people advocating a walk after lunch to keep levels in check. For me it has the opposite effect. Very annoying.

 

[SimonP78]

I’m another that needs insulin before exercise. My morning swim before breakfast always needs a dose. I see all these people advocating a walk after lunch to keep levels in check. For me it has the opposite effect. Very annoying.

Walking works fine for me to reduce BG (though I guess if I were nervous about the walk perhaps it wouldn't), hard exercise tends to leave it reasonably flat (until my liver gives up helping after a couple of hours), but comparatively gentle (though still fast - I don't tend to hang around!) walking works well.

Do you always get a BG rise when walking, no matter the time of day?

 

[Outlier]

Do you always get a BG rise when walking, no matter the time of day?

Question not addressed to me - but I do.

 

[becca59]

Afraid so. It tends to go up or remain stubbornly the same. My go tos for reduction in glucose. are vacuuming, gardening and looking after two grandchildren if my experiences yesterday were anything to go by. I ate my weight in Jelly Babies as I don’t think I sat down once.