High blood sugars before running

Lambey

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi Bebo321,

Last time I saw my DSN she raised the question of using a pump with me again, as she feels my control with exercise would be much better and asked me to research insulin pumps. We had talked about use of pumps a couple of years back, but I was very against the idea of being attached to something 24/7. However, after much research and hearing accounts of people on Team BG, Sporty T1D, pumpers and You Tube I have come to the conclusion that the pump is definitely the way forward. I'm still having very erratic BGs around exercise and have found that this is impacting my HBA1C - it is getting worse the more exercise I do, now it's up to 8.5 from 8.1 six months ago! (drastic action now needed :eek:). I've got over the issues I had with wearing something all the time and now see that pumps are not nearly as big or difficult to conceal under clothing as I had imagined. I'm due to meet my DSN in a couple of weeks time - I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks for your advice.
 
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valleyboy

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi there Lambey, I hope the running and cricket is going well. I've just read your travails at getting your blood sugars consistant. I think I would echo a lot of the other comments. It really comes down to testing, testing and more testing. I am still in the honeymoon stage but have learnt so much in the last 11 months. From being diagnosed one day after running a marathon last October and thinking that was it for running and triathlons I have built up a list of things that have worked and those that havn't. I certainly have loads to learn and every day is a learning experience but I have gradually gone from doing 1K on a treadmill back to doing open water triathlons and longer runs. All I can say is there are loads of variables that seem to have an affect. Temperature, intensity, nerves, tiredness.....

From what you say you have a good handle on things. Things that I have found to have helped though include the following:-

- keeping the same level of insulin but avoid training within two hours of taking fast acting insulin as the effect can be quite dramatic in lowering blood sugars if exercising withing two hours
- I was also having highish readings all afternoon but now try and keep fairly steady blood sugars 2-3 hours after lunch and before I exercise. If blood sugars are a bit on the low side ie 4-6 then I will eat extra carbs 20 minutes before I train.
- usually for a 5K run I would aim to start at a minimum blood sugar value of 6-6.5 - generally a 20-30 minute steady run should not need to much if any extra carbs
- Often I will take a 20g longer lasting (ie banana/ceral bar) and a quick swig of lucozade prior to a longer run or if the levels are around 6 and it's a long time since lunch
- I usually take a bottle of Lucozade with me and sip that and for a 5K or 10K this should be enough to keep level maintained. However I am on a relativley low basal figure so this will change I am sure in time. When I was initially on higher levels I was finding that after 25-30 minutes running I would take approx 1 jelly baby (4grammes) per mile seemed - this seemed to suffice for anything up to half marathon distance.
- The type of exercise will have an affect - I live in the hills of North Wales and run a lot in the hills of Wales and Cheshire so a lot of the exercise is anaerobic ie not enough oxygen getting into the muscles and the incomplete breakdown of glucose means blood sugars will rise. Likewise sprint work will cause a rise in blood sugars initially. Adrenaline seems to have a massive affect and before my first race post diabetes I was 13 and most races since I have started aroud 10-12 which I put down to nerves!
- Anaerobic exercise can have a lag effect - the glycogen stored in the liver and each muscle which is used during vigourous exercise is utilised during sprinting/steep hills. This stored glycogen is converted back to glucose to provide energy which will raise blood sugars initially but will later on lead to blood sugars dropping if they are not replenished in my experience. I always try and eat something relative carby after training - with normal insulin dose.

I apologise if you know most of this - and I am sure there are more experinced people on here. I am more than happy to share my experiences if it helps. Best of luck with the cricket and running!
 
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Bebo321

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,001
Type of diabetes
Family member
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Hi there Lambey, I hope the running and cricket is going well. I've just read your travails at getting your blood sugars consistant. I think I would echo a lot of the other comments. It really comes down to testing, testing and more testing. I am still in the honeymoon stage but have learnt so much in the last 11 months. From being diagnosed one day after running a marathon last October and thinking that was it for running and triathlons I have built up a list of things that have worked and those that havn't. I certainly have loads to learn and every day is a learning experience but I have gradually gone from doing 1K on a treadmill back to doing open water triathlons and longer runs. All I can say is there are loads of variables that seem to have an affect. Temperature, intensity, nerves, tiredness.....

From what you say you have a good handle on things. Things that I have found to have helped though include the following:-

- keeping the same level of insulin but avoid training within two hours of taking fast acting insulin as the effect can be quite dramatic in lowering blood sugars if exercising withing two hours
- I was also having highish readings all afternoon but now try and keep fairly steady blood sugars 2-3 hours after lunch and before I exercise. If blood sugars are a bit on the low side ie 4-6 then I will eat extra carbs 20 minutes before I train.
- usually for a 5K run I would aim to start at a minimum blood sugar value of 6-6.5 - generally a 20-30 minute steady run should not need to much if any extra carbs
- Often I will take a 20g longer lasting (ie banana/ceral bar) and a quick swig of lucozade prior to a longer run or if the levels are around 6 and it's a long time since lunch
- I usually take a bottle of Lucozade with me and sip that and for a 5K or 10K this should be enough to keep level maintained. However I am on a relativley low basal figure so this will change I am sure in time. When I was initially on higher levels I was finding that after 25-30 minutes running I would take approx 1 jelly baby (4grammes) per mile seemed - this seemed to suffice for anything up to half marathon distance.
- The type of exercise will have an affect - I live in the hills of North Wales and run a lot in the hills of Wales and Cheshire so a lot of the exercise is anaerobic ie not enough oxygen getting into the muscles and the incomplete breakdown of glucose means blood sugars will rise. Likewise sprint work will cause a rise in blood sugars initially. Adrenaline seems to have a massive affect and before my first race post diabetes I was 13 and most races since I have started aroud 10-12 which I put down to nerves!
- Anaerobic exercise can have a lag effect - the glycogen stored in the liver and each muscle which is used during vigourous exercise is utilised during sprinting/steep hills. This stored glycogen is converted back to glucose to provide energy which will raise blood sugars initially but will later on lead to blood sugars dropping if they are not replenished in my experience. I always try and eat something relative carby after training - with normal insulin dose.

I apologise if you know most of this - and I am sure there are more experinced people on here. I am more than happy to share my experiences if it helps. Best of luck with the cricket and running!

Sounds like you're doing a great job valleyboy! Another potential advocate for TeamBG perhaps?
Another thing that you may have noticed too (if you are doing competition events) is that the better and more controlled your BGs are in the days running up to the event, the better you will perform on the day.
Hope you've joined the Sporty Diabetic Type 1's Facebook group (link from www.Teambloodglucose.com). Lots of people out there looking for sensible advice and it sounds as though you have a lot of valuable experience.:)
 
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Lambey

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi Valleyboy, thank you so much for your advice. I'm still very much experimenting with exercise and adjusting doses / carb intake. I have found that leaving my original doses and exercising 3.5 - 4.5 hours is working better for me when running in terms of avoiding huge highs, but even this and taking on 20gs of carbs is still erratic. Sometimes BGs work out great for runs of between 5 and 8K but on other occasions they can be awful without doing anything differently in terms of time of exercise, duration, intensity, carb / insulin adjustments etc. At least BGs are more predictable when I play cricket (they are consistently awful!) - they will be fine on normal doses / meal intake until adrenaline kicks in. Yesterday for example normal injections (7 units, 2 more than was actually required for carb intake), started pre-match training before game, all still fine - BG of 8 before game started (1hr later), went into bat, nerves kicked in and by the time I had finished, BG was grim at 17.5. Other days - I can be out for a duck and then stand in the field for 40 overs without hardly touching the ball and all is fine with the sugar levels. Sadly you just can't predict how busy you're going to be.
I had my DSN appointment last week and I'm now in agreement that a pump is probably the best way forward for me - we have been messing and tinkering with doses over last 4 and half years and my HBA1C continues to get worse with the more exercise I do. So hopefully, fingers crossed I will be able to have fun working this all out again on a pump - I'll keep you posted.
Thanks again
 

Alice233

Active Member
Messages
27
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
You body felt it needed more energy and so the liver released extra glocose.
 

Stevo500

Active Member
Messages
26
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi Lambey,not sure if your still havinh problems with your exercising and bg results,like you I took up running around a year ago and had similar problems too you still do sometimes, I generally run in the evening after tea so half my tea insulin before heading out which seems too help.i run around 5 to 6 miles everytime roughly and find taking a sports gel or something half way my bg is good when I get home,I did also buy a book, diabetics athlete handbook by sheri r.colberg which helped a lot, actully explains what happens when us diabetics excercise and offers tips and things, plus not overly medical in explanation . you should pick it up on amazon fairly cheap.if intrested.
 

Bon83

Well-Known Member
Messages
292
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dear everyone commenting etc

I'm afraid I cannot offer any advice here as I am currently experiencing difficulties with running myself! I have always done exercise classes such as interval training, spinning and other things and I love swimming. Before being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about a year ago I was doing these classes with uncontrolled blood sugar and probably ketones - it was awful! Then I discovered insulin made it so much easier but I quickly learnt that it was dangerous when I had an awful hypo walking home from a Pilates class. Since then I probably run my blood sugar too high when exercising as I'm so afraid of being low. I got in a sort of routine with classes but then wanted to start running. I experienced the drop that running can provide even when you're rapid insulin should have worn off - 16 before 6 after, in the evening. However another time I went out with a reading about 15 ran very slow and laboriously then when I checked it was now 19 and rising no wonder I was slow. The current issue I am having is with surprise lows! I think it is very useful to know how much effect exercise and circulation boosts have on rapid insulin -I also seem to have issues with the after effect of running a full 24 hours later I dropped to 2.7 as I had too much rapid insulin at tea time and could not get it up for ages. I have tried having no insulin with a meal before a run but having no insulin in my system seems to make me very sluggish?

It is very comforting to know others have these struggles as I was beginning to think I needed to give up any hope of running a longer distance and certainly not off the beaten track as I hoped! The health officials I see don't seem to have much knowledge of serious exercising with insulin use so any advice here is much appreciated. I don't currently re fuel during runs but I think I'm going to have to-I get self conscious which I know is ridiculous testing using tabs etc. Also I want my running and exercise to keep weight down so don't want to have to eat all the time . I also take my long acting insulin at night it is called abasaglar - a lot of people on the forums seem to take it in the morning is that right? Thanks again for all your inspirational stories and making me feel I am not alone
 

copepod

Well-Known Member
Messages
735
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Website www.runsweet.com has lots of detailed information about physiology of exercise with type 1 diabetes, plus case studies for various sports.
 

Engineer88

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,130
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Morning guys, I'm following with interest as I've just started couch to 5k.

Started Friday evening and I cannot believe the difference I'm seeing in my bg. My insulin sensitivity has sky rocketed.

Yesterday I removed my pump while I ran at intervals (40 mins) and saw a drop from 9.9-6. assuming those of you who are saying you shouldn't see a drop are mega fit as the was no way I had insulin on board. I have CGM so I can see exactly what is happening and when, and am so glad I have this!