Going high with exercise

EllieM said:

@Antje77 are you willing to tell the class instructor that you are diabetic andmay need to stop for insulin, hypos etc. (Just a due diligence thing really, I always tell mine).

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Everyone is very much aware of that: the first lesson I hadn't silenced my high alarm because I expected to go low, and I did a fingerprick halfway through the lesson because I didn't believe my sensor, and the second lesson I did a quick fingerprick plus an injection during a 2 minute break where we all sat in a circle and were having a drink. Didn't bother to turn around to inject either.

jonathan183 said:

I find the rise in blood glucose with exercise is smaller after a couple of days in a row ... but might be difficult to maintain the 'running from a lion' pace

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A couple of days in a row???
NOOOOOOO!

I'll try with insulin first!

VashtiB said:

Well I'm another that has a spike if I do anything but very low intensity exercise. It's something that really messes with my head. I really really dislike spikes

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I suppose I would be completely frustrated with this spike if I was diet controlled.
Being on insulin means that I have much more tools in my box to try and work out a way to exercise and beat the spike as well!

VashtiB said:

We have just moved our exercise equipment into a spare room so the goal is to start on the treadmill or cross trainer again.

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Please do, and don't hesitate to report on here, I'm completely in awe with anyone with the self discipline to do something like that at home!
And with the new puppy, you can also add some ball throwing (and picking up) and other dog training exercices for more variation while walking, and for more fun for both you and the dog.
What's his name?

VashtiB said:

I find it best to do the treadmill or cross trainer in the morning before my brain wake up enough to remind me that I really hate exercise.

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That time before coffee is some kind of limbo, it isn't quite real and I use it for morning chores!
When sailing (for work) I often did some of the stupid chores on my way from my cabin to my skippers cabin and coffee in a nice not-quite-there state.
Woe to the skipper who took my fiddling with ropes, sails or fenders as a cue that I was ready for work and could be asked/told to do stuff!

Zhnyaka said:

To be honest, when a person who has a lot of pets and works as a sailor calls herself couch potato, I feel like an amoeba that rarely leaves the house at all

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Ah, but I only work as a sailor very occasionally nowadays!
And we sail with groups of paying guests, who have paid to do the sailing stuff like hoisting sails and winching up leeboards.
So most of my work can be done with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other...

Often, a good part of my day is filled with keeping a lookout and guiding one of the guests in steering the ship. If I do my job well, the ship is almost completely 'voice controlled', I simply tell the guests which ropes to pull!

Rachox said:

This is yesterdays graph, first spike of the day dawn phenomenon and breakfast. Last spike of the day evening meal. But the biggest spike in the middle is swimming 14 lengths non stop and I don’t swim very fast!

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Not fair, is it!
Doing all the right things, including stuff that is supposed to drop you and still spiking.
Even if it's a mild spike that no diabetes nurse would be impressed with (more likely they would laugh at you for complaining about it), doing the healthy thing still kept you above 6 for 4 hours.
Not likely to harm you in any way but I would still be annoyed with it if it was me!

MrsA2 said:

But isn't that the body doing what it's supposed to? Sending glucose (energy ) to the muscles when called upon.

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Of course it is!
But that glucose is pretty useless to me without the insulin, and going above 10 doesn't give me energy but rather makes me sluggish.

In @Rachox case, that glucose/energy didn't get used up until hours after the muscles asked for it either. Non diabetics do not stay over 6 for hours after swimming some laps, the extra glucose the body (rightfully) provided couldn't be used.

MrsA2 said:

Sometimes I think us diabetics get so used to thinking bg is bad that we forget it's necessary for life, and has a purpose

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As for my own rise to over 11, this does not happen in non diabetics, especially not without food. It does have a purpose but that purpose is not met if the glucose sits in the bloodstream rather than being utilised.

Had another session yesterday, different trainer, different exercises, muscle aches in all new places today.
No idea what all those muscles are called, but I just found out they're exactly the ones you use when grating cheese. Good thing I grate cheese a lot, or the muscle ache would likely have been worse.

This time I took a modest amount of insulin 25 minutes before starting, and added some more halfway through when I hit 11 again.

Still, while the peak is as high as last week, it lasts shorter so I'll try injecting a bit earlier and a bit more next time, walking the tightrope of timing between insulin action and liver dump.
I don't really mind peaking if it lasts this short, but it does make exercising hard, feeling like I'm working through syrup. Not what I want when the exercise itself already makes me feel I just want to lay down and not move.

I'll get there, although maybe not before hitting a hypo from mistiming, we'll see.



Bonus points for the new trainer.
After the lesson I told him how the second half of the lesson was harder because of BG much higher than I'm used to, and he asked what type I had, never assuming I'm T2 because of age or weight. (More clued up than my GPat the time I guess.)
He seemed to know what he was talking about too, and had a good laugh over me promising to share my winegums if I got the timing wrong next time, not worried at all about possibly having to deal with a hypo in one of the people training with him.

I've never needed help for a hypo thankfully, but I'm pretty sure this trainer won't make a fuss if I take a time out and tell him to leave me alone, no talking while hypo, which is a very good feeling.

(edit: ignore that hypo later in the day, that was a stupid miscalculation, nothing to do with the training.)