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Exercise and going hyper afterwards

P

pipster78

Member
Messages
8
Hi there

I wonder if anyone can offer me some advice here. I am a regular exercise goer and until recently not such a regular BG tester, but now I am. That aside, I exercise before work most mornings starting with an acceptable reading of around 8. I do not have breakfast before and do not hypo during. My issue is that then by the time I test post exercise and therefore before breakfast I have readings of above 20. I do not alter my insulin for breakfast because of this and can recover to normal levels almost always by lunch. Is there anything you would suggest I do differently? I'm not overly concerned as it does not make me feel unwell and it may well be because of the adrenalin kicking in (some have said) but these hights will effect my overall HBA1C. Does anyone else have these sort of patterns?

Pip
 
This happens me as well. I've found eating a banana and having a few units of insulin pre exercise prevents it.
Days I'm inactive and not eating breakfast I have to take 2u of insulin (with normal BG reading) in order to keep it even, otherwise I end up high before lunch time. It's called the Dawn Phenomenon.
Hope that helps.
 
Hi Pipster,

i get this, it's a normal physiological response. When you exercise you use muscle glycogen & glucose in the bloodfirst, lowering BG, then start to use alternative fuel sources & your liver releases glucose. When we stop exercise this continues for a while - longer in diabetics than in non diabetics - therefore raising our BG. I cycled for 1h 45min yesterday, was 6.5 when I finished but rose to 14 an hour later! I usually do a short acting bolus just before I finish exercise to prevent this, but forgot yesterday. How much varies between individuals - other people have said 1-2u. To complicate matters you're likely to be more sensitive to insulin for up to 48hrs after exercise, so may need a lower correction bolus than you might usually give for a BG of 20. Did you say you do your normal breakfast insulin & this corrects the high without any extra?
If that's the case I'd try giving 1u just before or just after you finish exercise, then take 1u off your usual breakfast bolus - hopefully this will reduce the rise but not end up sending you hypo later.

Vicki
 
I was the same, I would exercise in the evenings only, would go sky high & sometimes hypo in the night, I tried everything, correction, no correction, snack, no snack, reduce basal etc something would work 1 time & then not again its so frustrating! And my HbA1c rose to 8%. I was not happy! Made me look like I did nothing for my diabetes, luckily my DSN knew I was very active & could sympathise with me. But because of all that I was put on a pump. 6 months later... Now I reduce my basal during the period of exercise & increase it about 2 hrs after for an hour. So far so good. Contact your nurse or GP. Maybe you should try a small snack before exercise like a banana or yogurt...


Diabetic warrior since 2005!
 
Thank you for your replies, hugely appreciated. If I don't look to try and correct this... my DSN might think I'm not trying hard enough.... and trust me I am. I think I will call the DSN again, but Vicki I am inclined to try your approach... but I am quite insulin sensitive so suspect I will need to then drop my breakfast dose as you suggest.

have a good day.

Pip
 
Hi Pipster,

I've noticed a similar pattern when exercising in the morning. I have breakfast first, but noticed that if I take too little bolus insulin I can jump from around 8 to the low 20's. Would be worth checking for ketones too if/when you hit this again; when my BG was rose to 20 I detected moderate ketosis. This supposedly makes the exercise a lot harder because your body has nothing to go on, and so has to burn fat, I haven't yet noticed this making a difference to my performance personally, at least not yet.

Hope you find a way to make this work for you. You may find different results when exercising at other times of day. Certainly I've found when I'm exercising early evening I can safely drop the insulin a bit without hitting ketosis.

As suggested already the effects of exercise will still be happening after the event, perhaps you could try having something in the morning with some insulin before doing exercise and then take a negative correction to your bolus later in the day? Having said that, I'm still working out what to do about this myself!
 
Hi all.

Just thought I would offer a little update. Haven't quite finessed it but the 2 units and a snack (banana) before exercise in the morning is helping enormously. Not perfect but away from the 20's which is a relief.

Thanks again.

Pip


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Hi Pip,

One thing you haven't said is what type of exercise you are doing and what intensity. I don't agree with all the advice above but I have been T1 for 5 years and run a lot. I have good experience in low and high intensity running and the difference is enormous!

Also, have you ever tested during exercise to make sure you don't hypo? I've had a hypo before by not getting sugar into me quick enough but thought it was just fatigue!
 
Hi apologies for the late reply...

I'm starting to get somewhere. No taking 2u pre workout with half of my breakfast (protein shake), and post workout and before second half, now only looking around 12mmol (massive improvement), so 2 hours after breakfast where it should be.

Exercise is generally all pretty high intensity.

Thanks for all the advice.

pip
 
Hi,
I'm spiking on c.100grams of bread at lunch time.
It was 10.2mmol's after one hour from starting eating the other day..I immediately walked briskly just over a mile up and down hill and two hours after starting my meal my blood glucose was down to 4.1mmol's.
I don't know what would happen if I tested after 3 hours from starting meal....perhaps it would come up again?
Also I don't know if my response is normal...it looks as though if i did a lot of exercise my blood glucose would go low and my liver wouldn't release sufficient stored glucose?
regards
Derek

Type 2 controlled by diet.
 
Hi Derek

I am also type 2 and suffer hypos mainly in the morning
But as for exercise I have a light snack before I leave I drink plenty of water while exercising and I always take my glucose tablets with me just in case
Good luck


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Exercise, especially heavy cardio, does spike your blood sugar. Mine goes over 300 on a US meter which is probably over 30 on yours. But 1hour after it can take a big drop. Watch what you drink. Sports drinks can spike it bigtime.

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Hi Pip,

I would try to avoid being too long on those highs 20 is definitely not good even if you don't feel unwell it will nonetheless affect your body and brain.

For exercising it depends on what you do as a form of exercise and this is pretty much a try and see thing, what we do know is that CV type of exercising will up your sugars due ot the andrenaline and hormonal responses it causes. Weight training can do the opposite and crash you. My sister was recently diagnosed (as a type 1.5) and what I have her do is some CV to start off with (about 10mins or so) then some light weight training in the 10-15 rep ranges. This pushes the sugars up and then reduces them back down to the more acceptable 8 range.

Failing that you could always your rapid acting insulin, but do make sure it doesn't fall back on its own first. That's what I initially started doing. Now I practically only do weight training so it's not an issue, hypos are!

Oh swimming is the exception for me to this rule it tends to lower them and keeps on lowering them for the next 24hrs or so. Very annoying...

Hope that helps,
Frankie
 
I play soccer a couple of nights every week, and recently my insulin has been shooting sky high FOLLOWING exercising. I'd check prior to leaving your home, at say 8ish, and my sugar could be fine.
[link removed]
 
I do Brisk walks two or thee times a day. which is very good. Also find that my sugar levels seem to steady themselves more than when I did exercises. It might help someone to know this. :wave:
 
Hey pipster, pleased to hear its starting to work well for you. I've just started morning boot camps and I'm experiencing similar effects. Re your post on the 6th, how many grams carbs are you having pre/post? And are you using your usual ratio of carbs to insulin that you would on a non active day? Thanks


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Hi Netty
Thanks for your suggestion, I shall follow your advice because I do feel shaky at times when I exercise and a glass of soya milk helps when I 'm like this and working in the garden at home.
regards
Derek

 
I thought i would revive this thread. I had a rather significant spike tonight after a really strenuous work-out. Prior to taking my BG reading I also had eaten a pear, after not having had eaten any fruit for about a month. I didn't know if the exercise, the fruit, or a combination of both had caused the spike. I then had some full-fat yogurt/sour-cream and my BG came down to the lowest its ever been, not a hypo though. I just thought this was all a bit unusual, so I wanted to post on it.
 
As a general rule, exercise at varying intensities will affect our BG levels differently.
Steady, lowish intensity cardio will lower levels.
High intensity or competitive sports will raise levels.
Weight training depends on the reps, intensity and individual. It can raise or lower levels.
There will always be exceptions but this is a good rule of thumb. The trick with exercise is test often and adjust meds/diet as required.


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