Crazy bloods when exercising- jet lag, temperature?????

[bluepotter81]

Hi

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of this…..

When I do my long run in the UK (~2 hours), I usually reduce my basal to 50%. I’ll eat some toast and banana before the run and might eat 1-2 gels while running. I may sometimes take 0.2 of a bolus for a little extra insulin.

When I’m abroad - say the US, with an 8hr time difference and different climate - on the same run, my bloods spike in a crazy manner. I reduce my basal to 50%, eat some toast and banana and go running. My bloods however go crazy high, in a sustained fashion. I’ve had to take 6 units of bolus just to try and level them out. Btw the 6 units is 30x the 0.2 units I’d take back home. If I did this back home I’d be dead in about 1km!!

I cannot help but feel there is something fundamentally going wrong in my body.

I have absolutely no idea.

I would also be very apprehensive to just take 6 units of bolus before the run.

Thx

 

[JoeeoJ]

Hi there,
could it simply be that the average temperature in the environment forces your body to burn more more or less food and if you eat the same amount and qualtiy your body reacts not as you assumed it should? So keep eye on that, may be that could be a partial or even the explanation.
This is just my 5 cents. Hope it helps.
Thumbs up !
Joe

 

[Melgar]

I would say your body is interpreting the changes to your environment as a stressor and, therefore, responding with raised blood sugars. It's all there: time difference; higher or lower ambient temperatures; possibly different foods at unusual times (different types of ingredients); even a different elevation affecting your oxygen levels, a different environment making you more alert, it doesn't matter if you perceive it as a good thing or a stressful thing, it's still a change . If I change my environment, from rural to the city I feel 'on the boil' the entire time. I should also mention that with an 8 hr time difference your hydration levels will change. If I travel between North America and Europe I'm thirsty as I don't drink at the same times.

So you are running (another stressor) in that 'different environment, and there is always that rush of Adrenaline (epinephrine) before a race, I would say that's a mix of stressors. I was a runner, these differences would certainly have impacted my running times as well as my blood sugars.Edited to insert another sentence.

 

[bluepotter81]

Thanks @Melgar and @JoeeoJ. Appreciate the advice. As ever, nothing is ever simple with diabetes. Been Type 1 for over 20 years and I still get bewildered by changes.

I think it probably is added stressors at very different times which my body has not adjusted to yet.

It’s just hard to predict. I just know the one day I start by increasing my basal by 100%; that one day I I’ll notice affected by time zone/climate impact and then inevitable hypo will happen.

Trial and error; trial and error; trial and error……ad infinitum