Exercise and type 1

[PG1759]

I wanted to know if anyone is a regular gym goer, football player etc with type 1. How do you manage ?
I am 7 months in and still trying to get through a day without being too high or too low, which means the thought of running around on a football pitch for an hour, frightens the life out of me !
I really want to play football again and in talks with someone about playing again in January.
My question is - how should I deal with it ? The obvious thought process is for me to drink a bottle of lucozade before playing( ?)

Any advice ?

 

[ElyDave]

I wanted to know if anyone is a regular gym goer, football player etc with type 1. How do you manage ?
I am 7 months in and still trying to get through a day without being too high or too low, which means the thought of running around on a football pitch for an hour, frightens the life out of me !
I really want to play football again and in talks with someone about playing again in January.
My question is - how should I deal with it ? The obvious thought process is for me to drink a bottle of lucozade before playing( ?)

Any advice ?

You could take a look in this section fo the forum - http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/fitness-exercise-and-sport.33/, lots of discussions in there and personal perspectives.

I've gone through the same thing over the last 18 months,and reported most of it in my blog, so you could take a look there

You could also take a look at runsweet.com which has soem useful upfront details, but as you'll see does not have anything like an active forum.

Bebo will surely be along soon as well with her website, which I can't remember offhand.

 

[PG1759]

Thanks for that Dave. I have looked at your blog and it's interesting to read. I will have a more detailed look later today.

 

[tim2000s]

The only well known footballer I know of who had diabetes was Gary Mabbutt and his approach was to have a Mars bar before each half.

It's actually not too bad a principle. I think the key thing is not to worry about what might happen. As a T1 doing exercise, you are better starting high and allowing the exercise to burn off your sugars. If after the first half you are heading into lower (say 5mmol/l) territory, top up again at half time.

Basically test before, during a break and after and adjust insulin accordingly. Don't be scared to allow your bs to be slightly high during this process, as it is a voyage if discovery.

My experience is of running half marathons and cycling. On training runs I would carry glucose, and bg testing kit and test every mile to see what was going on. You soon learn.

You'll find it gets easier as you go along get, and whatever you do, don't be scared of exercising and letting your BGs get a little higher or lower. It's all part of the learning process and as long as you are testing and therefore in control, you will be okay.

 

[ElyDave]

The only well known footballer I know of who had diabetes was Gary Mabbutt and his approach was to have a Mars bar before each half.

It's actually not too bad a principle. I think the key thing is not to worry about what might happen. As a T1 doing exercise, you are better starting high and allowing the exercise to burn off your sugars. If after the first half you are heading into lower (say 5mmol/l) territory, top up again at half time.

Basically test before, during a break and after and adjust insulin accordingly. Don't be scared to allow your bs to be slightly high during this process, as it is a voyage if discovery.

My experience is of running half marathons and cycling. On training runs I would carry glucose, and bg testing kit and test every mile to see what was going on. You soon learn.

You'll find it gets easier as you go along get, and whatever you do, don't be scared of exercising and letting your BGs get a little higher or lower. It's all part of the learning process and as long as you are testing and therefore in control, you will be okay.

depends on how high you go, start getting above the 10-12 territory and you start compromising performance. Start getting down to the 4.x adn you risk rapid onset of a hypo that you won't feel.

 

[tim2000s]

I think that point about whether you will feel the onset of the hypo is not necessarily a fair reflection. I've always felt exercise related hypos, so ymmv. Likewise, I've only seen performance really drop off in >14 territory. That's why it is unfortunately a very personal condition, and while we can give advice on how to manage, setting specific levels and expectations can be very unhelpful for people.

 

[ElyDave]

I think that point about whether you will feel the onset of the hypo is not necessarily a fair reflection. I've always felt exercise related hypos, so ymmv. Likewise, I've only seen performance really drop off in >14 territory. That's why it is unfortunately a very personal condition, and while we can give advice on how to manage, setting specific levels and expectations can be very unhelpful for people.

Note my language, risk.

and *** is ymmv?

but agreed, people have different tolerances, but I'm not going qualify every statement I ever make on here with "this is my personal experience, other diabetics may differ, do not take any action based on what I say, always consult your doctor before doing anything at all".

 

[tim2000s]

Ymmv = your mileage may vary...

 

[ElyDave]

Ymmv = your mileage may vary...

I see, aka imho or similar

 

[PG1759]

The only well known footballer I know of who had diabetes was Gary Mabbutt and his approach was to have a Mars bar before each half.

It's actually not too bad a principle. I think the key thing is not to worry about what might happen. As a T1 doing exercise, you are better starting high and allowing the exercise to burn off your sugars. If after the first half you are heading into lower (say 5mmol/l) territory, top up again at half time.

Basically test before, during a break and after and adjust insulin accordingly. Don't be scared to allow your bs to be slightly high during this process, as it is a voyage if discovery.

My experience is of running half marathons and cycling. On training runs I would carry glucose, and bg testing kit and test every mile to see what was going on. You soon learn.

You'll find it gets easier as you go along get, and whatever you do, don't be scared of exercising and letting your BGs get a little higher or lower. It's all part of the learning process and as long as you are testing and therefore in control, you will be okay.

Thanks for that. I had heard Gary Mabbutt was a diabetic. I think the fear of hypo is where my concern is. I guess that there will be a lot of trial and error. Thanks for the advice- really appreciated

 

[moz1]

A good tip also is not to exercise when your bg is in the teens or you risk your bg going higher quite rapidly especially if you are taking carbs as well. It is a bit of a balancing act and good to have lucozade sport to hand for any bad hypos as well as some longer acting carbs. There is an Olympic cross country skier with T1, I cannot remember his name off hand but if he can cope with such a demanding sport...

 

[tim2000s]

And of course Steven Redgrave, the five times Olympic rowing champion was type one for the last two or three of his...

 

[ElyDave]

And of course Steven Redgrave, the five times Olympic rowing champion was type one for the last two or three of his...

I believe he was type 2, but injecting insulin as well due to the high carb diet he was on for his training volume

 

[ElyDave]

A good tip also is not to exercise when your bg is in the teens or you risk your bg going higher quite rapidly especially if you are taking carbs as well. It is a bit of a balancing act and good to have lucozade sport to hand for any bad hypos as well as some longer acting carbs. There is an Olympic cross country skier with T1, I cannot remember his name off hand but if he can cope with such a demanding sport...

THere's an interesting thread in sport and exercise section, about endurance training and keeping carbs to a minimum and avoiding blood sugar spikes. Worth a read. The reason BG can spike after exercise is because you're going anaerobic which releases both adrenaline and cortisol both of which will raise blood sugar.

For me, the key is why your BG is high, if due to illness I'd be wary of exercising heavily, if it was because I've got my bolus wrong, I've used aerobic exercise with a managed HR to lower BG several times. I always monitor my BG though, every half hour while running and every 45 mins on the bike

 

[tim2000s]

I believe he was type 2, but injecting insulin as well due to the high carb diet he was on for his training volume

You learn something every day. I thought he was type one/LADA type due to his insulin use. Obviously haven't read the autobiography!

 

[Dec_O]

All really good advice. I was diagnosed last year and had the same worries with football. The last few months I've started playing squash pretty regularly and just getting back into playing football again (5 a side games). Has all been trial and error really and at first was having quite a few breaks just to make sure I wasn't dropping quickly.

My routine is to check my levels before and eat a banana for a bit of a boost.

Just to be sure, I'll do a check halfway through each session of exercise and at that point, sometimes just have a small snack to get rid of the worry that I may drop in the 2nd half of playing. Like Tim mentioned earlier, I was sometimes compensating a bit too much and over snacking, therefore having pretty high levels but you'll work out what's best.

So far it's done the trick! The one thing I have messed up before, is not adjusting my insulin dose after excercise and dropped a fair bit

 

[tim2000s]

Yes, that's something I forgot to mention. Post exercise there is a discernible increase in insulin sensitivity and this can last a number of hours. It can also vary dependent on what you have done.

As a result, if I am exercising late in the day, I tend to eat more carbs before bed as I have found my bs dropping in the early hours.

 

[moz1]

I met a t1 on my DAFNE course who cycled 30 to 50 miles every other day. He talked about his muscles grabbing back the next day causing low bg not sure what he meant by that and didn't ask too much as was pretty much in awe of this!

 

[noblehead]

I met a t1 on my DAFNE course who cycled 30 to 50 miles every other day. He talked about his muscles grabbing back the next day causing low bg not sure what he meant by that and didn't ask too much as was pretty much in awe of this!

Not sure what he was trying to explain to you, but exercise can have the tendency to lower bg levels (and potentially lead to hypo's) for the following 24 hours due to our body replenishing its glycogen stores.

 

[Donna1]

Yes i am a regular gym goer and runner n i find this the same due to days of exercise n days inbetween, trying to get the insulin balance is hard im on novo rapid n lantus but my nurse has said the levemir is better for n makes more a difference with people who exercise.