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Fear of exercise

Lynz84

Lynz84

Well-Known Member
Messages
344
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi All

The time has come for me to get fit and lose some weight to be healthy. The problem is, Im actually a bit afraid in case I suffer serious hypos and night time hypos. Has anyone else experienced this?
I obviously dont want diabetes to control me but I also dont want to be caught out with low sugars. Any advice anyone?
 
I run and find my insulin sensitivity is much higher and I have had to lower my basal (yet again) due to both warm weather and getting back to the running from a short break.

There was some fantastic advice I was given by people on the forum for exercise (I will post it when I find it). When running for the first 30-40 mins I notice minimal effect on my bg, its after then I need to top up on some carbs. I just have some luco sport handy.

The after run is the next low bg I get, once I've calmed down and showered I tend to plummet a little and mostly time it with food with minimal bolus to cover it.

I could go on but start slow and work up until you are confident. Thats what I did. :)
 
Lynz84 said:
Hi All

The time has come for me to get fit and lose some weight to be healthy. The problem is, Im actually a bit afraid in case I suffer serious hypos and night time hypos. Has anyone else experienced this?
I obviously dont want diabetes to control me but I also dont want to be caught out with low sugars. Any advice anyone?
Click to expand...
I was only diagnosed type 1 last year in November, and I was a little concerned myself about resuming training in the gym. I have used the same gym for over three years and started using it after a serious operation to regain fitness and mobility, and they have GP certified fitness trainers.

The main thing I do is get a new training programme every eight weeks, a day that takes into account type 1 diabetes and how different types of exercise affect it.

Resistance work or weight training will raise your bg levels, but the sugar gets stored in the muscles and used up within an hour or two, which can then send you low. Cardio has the opposite effect and brings bg levels low, so a little careful planning avoids issues.

I would suggest having a small amount of carbs before exercising, lucozade sport is useful too as it's isotonic. What I do is eat 6g of carbs before I train, do ten minutes or so of cardio, then my resistance work. I then take a bg reading to check, and follow that with ten minutes of cool down cardio and finish with stretches. I might then have a small amount of carbs a half hour later so my bg doesn't go low, and I have never had a problem.

Sorry that's so long winded, but what type of exercise are you planning to do? Then I may be able to point you in the right area, but I do recommend finding a gym that has GP certified trainers.
 
I can relate to what you're saying as exercise isn't something I'm keen on anymore either. By me just doing my grocery shop I risk hypos, burping my head off, barely able to walk from the pain, get to the checkout and can barely talk. All of my symptoms are mostly triggered by movement. Exercise is movement so it puts me off. My family tell me to get out and go for a walk as it will do me good... they have no idea what it does for me... and it's not good. But I do have to find a way to exercise safely I suppose. With diabetes though you can at least take quick acting carbs with you. With my other stuff nothing helps. I hope you're able to find something that works. :)
 
Have you seen this @Lynz84 ?
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/fantastic-opportunity-for-keen-exercisers.105546/

I did this course in May, and got so much more confident as to what I could put my body through despite - and because of - being Type 1. It was brilliant.

They opened the booking for the October one this week, but if they're full you can put your name down to be advised when registration for May opens.

It's run by a pump company but you don't have to be a pumper to attend. Have a look at the link in that post and see what you think.

In the meantime, I find that trial and error are the way to work out carbs, insulin and timing both pre and post exercise - I started exercising regularly when still on MDI and worked out that 1u insulin before my porridge 20 mins before swimming kept me safe but not too high, and depending on my fasting BG I would have to alter the timing depending if I was highish or lowish beforehand.

I threw all of the factors in to an imaginary pot and tried to ration myself to dealing with just one of them at a time (dose, timing, grammes of carbohydrate, intensity of exercise) and ruling things in or out as I was going.

Still haven't nailed it, but I'm a work in progress. These days (started on a pump last Oct, and having to start with a whole new set of factors as a result!) I play with temporary basal rates to lower or raise my basal rates according to what I'm up to.

And thank goodness after a lot of hard work I am confident to go to parkrun or for a swim without necessarily knowing anyone else there, and still be fairly happy that I won't be in any danger.

:)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ElkBond said:
I run and find my insulin sensitivity is much higher and I have had to lower my basal (yet again) due to both warm weather and getting back to the running from a short break.

There was some fantastic advice I was given by people on the forum for exercise (I will post it when I find it). When running for the first 30-40 mins I notice minimal effect on my bg, its after then I need to top up on some carbs. I just have some luco sport handy.

The after run is the next low bg I get, once I've calmed down and showered I tend to plummet a little and mostly time it with food with minimal bolus to cover it.

I could go on but start slow and work up until you are confident. Thats what I did. :)
Click to expand...

Could not have said it better...cardio including running will increase your insulin sensitivity, resistance (weights) will help you get strong and massively improve your core.

Remember you can't outrun a bad diet, so couple diet lifestyle with both cardio and resistance. Start slow and gentle and just gradually increase it:)
 
Thank you very much everyone!!!! Really appreciate all of your posts and all are very helpful :-)
 
It fine and totally understandable to be nervous of exercising causing hypos.

It's not fine when it's stopping you doing exercise that you actually want to do. Maybe more information (so the animas sports weekend @Snapsy mentioned, or there's a book called the type 1 diabetic athletes handbook - you don't have to be an "athlete" for it to be useful!) would help give you confidence? Knowledge is power and more information on how to deal with exercise as a type 1 might give you confidence that you have the tools to avoid hypos caused by exercise (less insulin, more carbs at its very most simple) and that you can deal with a hypo if it does happen (this is why there is a jar of jelly babies next to my treadmill - I don't often crack it open, but knowing its there is reassuring).
 
I get nervous too. You just never know when the hypo is coming so test test test and test again. Not fun. My other biggest concern is the fluctuations in bs. Isn't that just as bad?

Loved being able to exercise off some bs when I was T2. This is a whole nother playing field as T1.
 
My personal advice @Lynz84 is to just get on with it, I find procrastinating delays the process, be prepared, decide what type of exercise you are going to do, test before, exercise and test again afterwards, confidence will only improve once you realise you can do it. Exercising like swimming, cycling is pretty straightforward, try 30 minutes to start with, then build on that, I cycle, swim and do Pilates and total tone exercise classes, I find that as long as I'm say 8+mmol/l to start with I can do an hour no problem, I don't tell anyone I am type 1 as just want to get on with it, always keep a bag of jelly babies close to hand but touch wood, no issues with hypos. Check out runsweet.com for details on different exercises and using insulin. I used to feel the same as you but just got on with it, also it's so enjoyable to feel the endorphins from exercising, great for your mental health too ;)
 
I have no idea if this interests you at all, but I overlaid my 25 min run that I have not long completed with my Dexcom for that 25 mins, its a bit small but the line is my pace, the brown bit is the incline.

You can see how stable I sit the whole run despite a drastic change in activity. There was minimal sips of Luco sport just to ensure I am topped up nearer the end (even though I don't see a drop until 35-40 mins in.).

Just thought this would be of interest, as I myself was terrified of getting back to my running. I bought a tonne of luco sport, thinking I would need to glug it constantly, in fact I am still on that initial supply.

When I do a longer run I will try and do the same and see how it compares, its interesting for me too!
 

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