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Exercise, No Food, High BS!

Marigayle

Marigayle

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I just took a long walk to our local Aldi and coming back we had quite a heavy load even though I took my shopping trolley. I was starting to feel weak and nauseated from the exercise and since I hadn't eaten, I was sure I was hypo. Shaky, sweats, weakness. When I measured my blood glucose, it was a whopping 9.3. Can anyone explain this? I was diagnosed 10 years ago and I have been controlling my Type 2 diabetes with diet only.
 
Hello and welcome.

What sort of levels do you normally run at, and how long before your shopping trip did you last eat? If your body was in fasting mode and you then exercised, your liver probably dumped glucose in your system to give you the energy you needed.
 
I normally try to keep the bg levels between 5 and 8. If I eat a carby meal they can rise up to as much as 12. However, my diet is usually low carb. I wanted to get out before it rained so I only had a cup of coffee with a bit of milk before we left. I don't usually do that so when I felt hypoglycemic, I was surprised at how high it was. I'm sure you're right about a liver dump. I only associated that with high fasting glucose numbers. Thanks!!:)
 
Yes, liver dumps can happen at any time when your liver thinks you need more glucose, which it will do if you haven't eaten for too long. Best to have your meals evenly spaced if possible.
 
I appear to get a liver dump when my levels are still over 5 and it's normally about meal time so up my levels go up!
 
Hi I understand about the liver taking action when sugar levels are low and I know I've asked this before so apologies, but why if the liver acts this way do any of us experience hypos? Thanks Carole
 
Blood sugar depends heavily on hormones, so it's possible to see substantial increases if stressed or even if exercising depending on intensity (for example, think like a pancreas describes one athlete seeing BG drop during training but go up during ranked matches).
Hypos are primarily a result of too much and *fixed* insulin (when you go for a run, a healthy person would respond by releasing less insulin but your insulin is fixed by the lantus dose you took the previous evening, so you end up going low). "Liver dumps" may eventually lift you out of a low but it's not fast enough to prevent hypos.
 
Hi AlexMBrennan, thanks for your reply that certainly makes sense. :) The fine tuning that happens naturally is absent in us :(
 
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