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Exercise and pumping

nikkid

Well-Known Member
Messages
139
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi guys
I've been on my pump since May 2015 and had just really sorted my basal rates. I started going to the gym in January and how things have changed!!! My bloods are more stable since I started to exercise and I need less basal insulin for at least 24 hours post exercise.
How does everyone cope with keeping levels steady during exercise? I have reduce basal rate for around 1.5 hours prior to exercise and eat a banana before going to the gym also. I still find that whilst exercising my bloods drop so I have a bottle of lucozade that I drink during the workout. I have found that with this approach around 30 mins post exercise my bloods shoot up and finding this really frustrating as I feel if I didn't take in that extra glucose during exercise I would pass out on the floor!!
Any advice much appreciated
 
It's fairly simple. Reduce the amount of lucozade you drink during the workout @nikkid. You are over correcting. You could also reduce your basal rate a little further in advance, and finally, you could reduce it by more than you currently do.

All of these options would work. In extremis, if you must drink an entire bottle of lucozade in the gym session (a small one contains about 65g of carbs) then you will probably need a bolus when you are done.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi
I'm a rower and so is constantly in the gym ! It sounds like your over compensating way to much hence the bs spike afterwards. If your going to stick with the lucozade then you definitely need to be drinking less. Before you start exercise I normally go for a blood sugar of around 10-13 depending on what type I'm doing !
It's going to be trail and error to see how much you actually need.
Sometimes actually switching your pump of for a bit works, so if I'm doing a very long workout then I do tend to switch all basal of 30/40mins before but obviously this has to be done very carefully, I.e bloody sugars every 15 mins to make sure your not to high !
Hope this helps
Also it depends what energy drink your having as you shouldn't be having any with caffeine in them and a lot do without telling you !
 
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