Exercise

[OliviaGirvin19]

Hi. I’ve been type 1 diabetic for 21 years. On an insulin pump. Anytime I do any kind of exercise, I go low. I’m on my walking pad a lot these days. I reduce my insulin, eat a snack beforehand, use temp basal and I’ll still go low. I treat and then later I go up to 15. Now, I corrected when I was 15 and dropped very low. So in the future if I am running higher after exercise, should I just let it run high? I just hate sitting out of range! I know I’ve said about lows, but other times when I do HIIT exercise, I run high. So again my question is, after exercise should I let himself run higher as opposed to correcting and going low?

 

[EllieM]

Hi @OliviaGirvin19 and welcome to the forums.

That does sound tricky. Can I ask what pump you are on and whether it is closed loop?

I'll tag @Juicyj who is both on a pump and pretty knowledgeable about exercise.

What sort of snack are you eating? Could it be being absorbed too slowly and/or just be more than you need? Or the hypo treatment be more than you need?

I would definitely ask my clinic for advice on this but hopefully some of the T1 pump users on here will have some experience to share.

Good luck.

 

[Juicyj]

Hello Olivia,

There's quite a few things to consider with exercise starting with the type of exercise, as the type will impact your BG levels differently depending on the impact, if it's high impact aerobics or running at pace then you are likely to release cortisol which will elevate your levels, low impact does the opposite, time of day has a part to play as does insulin on board, weather or temperature, and hypos within the previous 12 hours. There's alot to consider..

My golden rule for exercise is to start with no active quick acting insulin on board and to start with levels over 9 mmol/l, the rest is a case of trial and error and monitoring results. However my goal is to avoid the hypo as this stops exercise.

I weight train and run, both crash me, so I run in the morning when insulin resistant and less likely to go low and weight train at night after dinner with a reduced bolus and then keep glucose on me in case I crash, sadly haven't mastered weight training over an hour before crashing, but as I use a Dexcom I can stop when I see a downward arrow at 6 mmol/l.

There is just a little bit more to consider with exercise but it's about learning what works and what doesn't but never letting T1D stop you.