Exercise better than Insulin

jameshallam

Well-Known Member
Messages
109
Background info:
T1 Diagnosed 5 months ago
Carb Counting: 1:20 at breakfast, 1:10 after 1pm
8 unit of lantus in evening
Still Honeymooning


I came back from a skiing holiday a couple of weeks ago (first time skiing with Diabetes). I was snowboarding for about 8 hours everyday, mostly on red/black/off piste so pretty tiring. I didn't have to take any insulin with breakfast (pan o' choc) or lunch (sausage n chips, pizza etc)! I also had to top myself up with chocolate inbetween meals. I then had to take 1:20 in the evening - normally high carb rice, pasta etc.

I was shocked by how little insulin I was on, and I had better control whilst on holiday than i do normally! (I work in an office, so don't do a whole lot of exercise in a normal day).

It seemed to me like the body is a lot better at controlling it's levels than i am manually. It has obviously lost the ability to do this with its beta cells but still manages very well during exercise.

It was almost like a bit of a break from diabetes - only injecting 2 times a day (still testing quite often tho'). It felt pretty good to 'burn' of the carbs, rather than inject to cover them.

It may just because I am still honeymooning. But I'm going again in March, so fingers crossed :)
 

Celtic.Piskie

Well-Known Member
Messages
288
Dislikes
Whole-wheat past and rice, tastes horrible. Cats, spiders, and people who think nick jonas is a musician.
Yep, honeymooning.
Your body is still producing it's own insulin, mine isn't. No matter how much I exercised, i'd still need insulin as my body doesn't make any at all, and you can't survive on none.

I usually drop my novoo by 2/3 units / meal when i'm skiing, and sod the carbs.

Your beta cells aren't dead yet, and this is why you can still do this.

Glad to hear it, and hope you enjoy ! Where were you btw? I used to work in Verbier, some great off-piste stuff.
 

shedges

Well-Known Member
Messages
432
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Defo honeymooning - I was snowboarding over Christmas and without my insulin, I'd have been:
1. Very high
2. Very weak

Yesterday I forgot to take my insulin and snack before going to the gym... and really knew about it. Was rubbish compared to my usual standards. Probably lifted half the weights I do normally.
 

bazippy

Member
Messages
16
Excercise does lower blood sugar but in order for it to do so you need insulin. insulin gives the body the chance to absorb the energy from the food. so when u have no insulin you go high due to the body not absorbing the insulin so it floats in the blood stream causing damage!
but insulin works alot better with excercise and needs less then the usual amount. but of course this doesnt mean you need none. guess your holiday will make you realise the importance of excercise and it reminding me to get my bike out!
 

hanadr

Expert
Messages
8,157
Dislikes
soaps on telly and people talking about the characters as if they were real.
You need a LOT of exercise to have that good effect. 30 minutes in the gym twice a week won't do it.
Hana
Do you have time when you are not on holiday?
 

phoenix

Expert
Messages
5,671
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
I find even a short amount of exercise can lower blood glucose levels immediately , so good for a short term fix.
To lower insulin needs overall I find it has to be regular, every other day works well but if I miss two days I find fasting levels rise and I need more insulin for meals. If I exercise eveyday like a ski or backpacking trip then I can reduce insulin by a lot.
There was a very small study published this week which concluded that 'Many of the improvements in metabolic health associated with exercise stem largely from the most recent session of exercise, rather than from an increase in 'fitness' per se," That seems to fit in with my experience.
Unfortunately you can't 'bank' it.
The researcher J Horowitz of the university of Michigan leads a team doing a large amount of work in this area so although it was only a tiny study with 9 subjects it's part of a much bigger research project.
see short video about his work
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/university-of-michigan/768-exercise-and-insulin-video.htm