Type 1 Is it normal for Hypos to cause this?

[Vanchatron]

I'm 32 years old and have been a Type 1 Diabetic since I was 9. I manage my condition quite well, although do have the occasional blip every so often. I have been bodybuilding since the age of 16, and currently train 5 times a week with weights and cardio.

Unfortunately there are times when I'm in the gym working out, and all of a sudden I'll lose all motivation to carry on. It seems to come all of a sudden as well, and I can never put my finger on what's causing it exactly. I'm the kind of person that will usually never allow myself to run out of motivation for something I'm trying to succeed at, and even if I'm not feeling like working out on a specific day I'll push myself to go anyway, and usually when I'm into the swing of things I'm fully focused and ready for anything.

Carrying on from above, I find that sometimes when I'm in the gym working out I'll suddenly begin to just go through the motions with little to no effort, and everything becomes a massive chore all of a sudden. I love working out, and to feel like this all of a sudden is a real ego damager as I start to wonder what on Earth is going on in my head for this to happen. When this happens, no matter how much I try to dig deep and find the motivation to carry on, I usually have to cut my workout short and go home, which in turn makes me even more miserable as I tried my best to keep going, but was unable to find the mental strength to do it.

I make a note of my blood sugar when this happens, and looking back over my diary I can see that EVERY single time this has happened in the past my blood sugar has been in the range of 1.5 to 4.0, which for me is hypoglycemic.

So long story short, do hypos cause this kind of mental "weakening" where you don't wanna do ANYTHING, let alone carry on working out? I've always known what hypos do to me physically, but only recently have begun to realise that a lot of it has an impact on my state of mind at the time as well. Is there a reason why hypos effect you mentally & cause your current state of mind to change and become almost lethargic? I was always aware of the physical impacts of a hypo, but never understood how it could effect a person mentally as well, and WHY. I hope I've explained it well enough, and would love to hear some opinions on this.

Thank you.

 

[EllieM]

So long story short, do hypos cause this kind of mental "weakening" where you don't wanna do ANYTHING, let alone carry on working out?

Yes, I find this one of the major problems in treating a hypo, specially at night. I can lie there thinking " Ï ought to get up and treat this hypo" but be almost incapable of actually doing this, as getting out of bed feels like too much effort. Remember, your brain is being starved of energy, your body is pumping out lots of stress hormones, it is totally normal to be affected mentally by a hypo. It isn't a mental strength issue, it's a biological one.

When I go to the gym I take my meter and glucose and test before and half way through (unless I'm sure I'm OK). Though weight training normally makes my levels go up, I have real difficulty differentiating between
1) I feel like … because the workout is exhausting me and I'm working flat out
2) I feel like … because the workout has caused my levels to rise
3) I feel like … because the workout has caused a hypo.

Am going today with my new Dexcom G6 (self funded because I am incompatible with the libre and am sick of not knowing where my levels are going, particularly at night), so hope that the alarms will forestall any hypos or hypers.

My recommendation would be to access a cgm if you can (I appreciate this may not be possible), or just make sure to test during the workout between sets. It's best to avoid hypos whenever possible, they make you feel like ... and if you have too many it can affect your future hypo awareness.

Good luck.

 

[Vanchatron]

Thank you very much for your response, it makes me feel a lot better now. I have an unfortunate way of beating myself up if I fail to do certain things (cutting the gym short being one of them), and I tend to blame it on other factors instead of the hypo. Probably because it's too easy to blame the hypo for it, and I end up thinking it was just me "not being man enough". But I'll keep it in mind from now on, as I wasn't aware it could cause such effects on your state of mind like that.