Insulin pump and exercise

Hi Chris,

I dont have food before hand, i just use my temp basal rate and reduce it to about 60% depending on what exercise im doing. And i do it over 3hrs. so set it an hour before you exercise(so basically its working before during and after exercise). But obviously if your working out for longer then it needs to be reduced for longer. You must always reduce your temp basal rate as i found this out myself, that your sugars will be fine just after you train..but it will drop about an hour later.

Sorry if this sounds confusing i find it hard to express things well :roll:

Hope it helps a little x

Hi Chris

There are lot of variables involved, so unfortunately I don't think there's a one-size fits all approach to pump therapy and exercise, however, this is the great thing about the pump, that it allows the kind of flexibility that basal-bolus injection regimes can never provide.

There is a lot of trial and error involved and you need do to consider whether your exercise on the day is going to be predominantly aerobic or anaerobic as this will greatly influence your strategy. The duration of the session is also relevant. Testing before, during, and after your workout is essential in my opinion.

For myself, I largely train intensely/anaerobically and find that my blood sugar often goes up during the workout or just after it, so I keep the pump on, keep a close eye on things and am always ready to bolus if necessary. Once my blood sugar is down to a reasonable level post-exercise I will reduce my basal rate to 80% for anything up to 12 hours (sometimes longer depending on how hard I trained) because muscles continue to draw glucose from the blood to replace glycogen stores long after the exercise has ended.

If I train aerobically, I'll test well beforehand and make a decision based on the result. The danger of reducing your basal rate too much before the session is that you might not have the insulin on board to provide your cells with the energy that they need during the activity, so it's a fine balance. If the activity is not going to last longer than 30 minutes and my sugar level is around 8 or 9mmol, I find just removing the pump 30 minutes before and leaving it off until I'm finished is sufficient to keep things stable. Again, I always keep my monitor handy and often test in the middle of the session just to see what's going on. Post-aerobic activity, I don't find the same need to reduce basal rates as severely and will generally just knock it down to 90% for about four hours but review my blood sugar at the end of that period and modify the rate again if necessary.

Can't stress how much this is something that you're going to have to experiment with because it's taken me a good while to find the right solution and even now I can get it wrong sometimes.

Best of luck.

Hi Chris, as several of the others have said everyone is different, plus of course it depends if you're doing an-aerobic or aerobic exercise. I think the gym is anaerobic from what I recall. I havent been to the gym for a few months but when I did, I used to drop it to 40% an hour beforehand and have say a bananna on toast or some ryvitas beforehand. I actually hated the gym so was only in there about 40 mins or so, but would then keep a temporary basal on for the next 4 hours or so of 80%. BTW, I went to a very good presentation given by a doctory who works at Buckinghamshire health authority who just deals in sports for type 1's and what to - he looks after all the top professional athletes like steve redgrave etc. Anyway, I heard an excellent talk he gave where it explains all this, if you drop me your email address I can send it to you. Let me know.

sallymac65 said:

Hi Chris, as several of the others have said everyone is different, plus of course it depends if you're doing an-aerobic or aerobic exercise. I think the gym is anaerobic from what I recall. I havent been to the gym for a few months but when I did, I used to drop it to 40% an hour beforehand and have say a bananna on toast or some ryvitas beforehand. I actually hated the gym so was only in there about 40 mins or so, but would then keep a temporary basal on for the next 4 hours or so of 80%. BTW, I went to a very good presentation given by a doctory who works at Buckinghamshire health authority who just deals in sports for type 1's and what to - he looks after all the top professional athletes like steve redgrave etc. Anyway, I heard an excellent talk he gave where it explains all this, if you drop me your email address I can send it to you. Let me know.

Click to expand...

Hi Sallymac

Just to clarify, gym workouts can be aerobic or anaerobic depending entirely on what you do and the intensity with which you do it. For example, a moderate intensity session on an elliptical trainer would be classed as aerobic, whereas a weights workout would usually be considered anaerobic. The former involve training for longer periods at lower hear rates and the latter for shorter periods at higher heart rates. The difficulty for us diabetics is how to strategise when your session includes a combination of both.

Hope that helps.

Hi Dowuchyalike, yes indeed they can, although I spose I never got onto that stage with the gym. If you want a copy of that presentation I can send it to you, I didnt read the gym bit thoroughly but you might find it useful. Let me know, SAlly

Hi Sally

Hope I wasn't telling you what you already know or coming across as a know-it-all. I'm a personal trainer, so I've made it my business to be as educated as I can with regards to exercise and type 1 diabetes in order that I can keep my own blood sugars stable throughout the wide range of activities that I find myself participating in in an average week.

I'm always interested in furthering my reading, so sure, I'd love to read the presentation. Is it in digital format and can you attach it to a PM?

Cheers