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Intense workout, hypo hours later...

M

meechster2000

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Can anyone help me?

I've just started doing roller derby the last couple of weeks and Monday night I skated hard for 2 hours. I drank a load of water during the session and a bottle of Luozade as I knew I was burning sugar up like there was no tomorrow. Came home, had pasta and garlic bread, early night and was then hypo about 6am. Can anyone help me with what I need to do to stop the hypo coming at stupid o clock when all those lovely carbs have burnt off?

I have to confess I had left blood kit at work so didn't check.

Taking humalog and lantus.

Thanks! Michelle
 
I'm not an expert by any means but a similar thing happened to me when I started the gym, always a hypo the next morning! I reduced my basal insulin slightly and it seemed to help. Though of course I am not a specialist nurse or anything but its something to consider if you are comfortable adjusting your doses :-)


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Hello Michelle,

Likewise with Jubblyjo1601 :shifty:

Here's some questions / suggestions:

1) The 2 hours may be burning far more carbs than the lucozade replaces;
2) Get a second meter and keep it at home as spare;
3) Did you bolus for your meal? If so, then perhaps you need to reduce it or not bolus at all;
4) Have some porridge / Weetabix before bed or reduce your lantus that night IF your BG's stayed very low throughout the next day.

I hope this helps,

Conrad
 
When you exercise your body produces hormones that makes your cells more absorbent by bringing more insulin receptors to the cell's surface. This increases your insulin sensitivity, so you require less insulin. This increased absorption can last up to 48 hours, but everyone is different in this regard. Interestingly, the drug metformin mimics what exercise does to cells by causing more insulin receptors to the surface.

So what you can do is either reduce your fast acting insulin after you have exercised and your long acting if necessary. Or you can increase the amount of carbs after you have exercised. The hypo at 6am was because your Lantus was too high. When I exercise I reduce my Lantus by 20% for two days and then I put it back up to what it was. You will need to experiment to see what amount and duration you need to change it by.
 
I used to have the same problem after my twice-weekly morning 10km run. I was very surprised because my hypos came in the night, which was so long after the exercise. When I spoke to my diabetes team about this, they suggested two things: changing my long-acting insulin dose to the morning rather than the evening, so that the peak of the insulin's effectiveness was during the day; secondly to have something like a banana or a piece of toast before bed. The reason they gave is that when you have done intense exercise, your body recovers at night time when you are resting, so your blood sugars will dip during the night.

Roller derby sounds great!
 
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