Hi
@terrier3, Apologies for being late to the party!! Posting as s a diabetic on insulin and not as professional advice or opinion: My BSL certainly shoots up during and remains high for 2 hours plus after vigorous exercise.
The reason given to me for high BSLs during vigorous exercise and sometime after was that the
adrenaline released in this form of exercise causes release of stored sugar from the liver.
Part of the flight or fight reaction. And football, being combative or at least competitive, fits this pattern. And any exercise involving fierce concentration , a form of stress, will also do it (e.g. rock climbing ,(
@helensaramay has commented in this in another post).
And whereas in a non-diabetic, insulin is automatically released to prevent this glucose from spiking the BSL too much, we diabetics have to anticipate this and find ways to best deal with this without the benefit of our pancreas gland's function.
I was also told that for some of us the BSL instead stays about the same or drops during this time. Generally we fit one of these three patterns* and that determines what form of strategy we need to deal with exercise.
But .. it seems that we are all likely to see a drop in BSL some 6 hours (+/-) after the exercise as the muscles, having drained part or all for their in-house stored glucose, plus used amounts in the blood stream thanks to our liver (think of muscles as engines with a fuel (glucose) tank alongside, separate to the liver , and when that fuel is low after exercise , the muscles (engines) repair themselves and then 'syphon' glucose back into their fuel tanks from the universal fuel (glucose) distributor which is the blood stream). For some reason that appears to be or is maximal around the 6 hour mark (^ hours is only a general figure)
So ensuring that we allow for this 'refuelling' we need to adjust things to avoid hypos after the exercise.
For some who fit the drop in BSL during exercise pattern (see three patterns* above)
with suitable advice from their health team they eat suitable food beforehand and top up afterwards with some food PLUS make adjustments for the fuel syphoning approx. 6 hours later, and for others,
again suitably advised by health team, it maybe food an hour or more after exercise PLUS the 6 hour provision and for me, it is ensuring I do not eat food/sugar beforehand, keep before exercise BSLs in the low figures as per
@helensaramay and watch BSLs carefully, and
again with suitable advice, adjust my insulin to prevent hypos around the 6 hour plus mark. I can vouch for the increase in insulin sensitivity from exercise for up to 24 hours in my case.
Another proviso: For some 'mysterious' body chemistry reason, if one starts vigorous exercise with a BSL > 14 mmol. the liver releases more glucose and the BSL just goes way up, I feel sore and gain absolutely no benefit from exercise, just feel sick with a high BSL to contend with.
From my experience and the pattern I have, I indulge in less vigorous exercise as this has less effect on my BSL during exercise.
I also noted that any form of excitement (upset, shock at hearing bad news, watching an exciting movie with send my BSL as the adrenaline, whatever the cause for its release sends the BSL up. I have to actually increase my insulin in anticipation of attending a movie, watching an exciting TV show. One of the trials of diabetes!
Best of luck with your sport.
