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Need help with exercise and increased risk of hypo

M

mully10

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
LADA
Good afternoon,

I have had late onset auto immune (1.5) for over 10 years now.
To be honest I havent been the best diabetic overdoing sweet things, but my levels have been ok because I am still producing some insulin.
Hypoing was never a problem because I struggled to keep it down.

I have now turned over a new leaf, cut out most sweet things and have been going to the gym regularly.
I am now struggling to get my blood sugars high enough so when they drop through exercise I dont hypo, its really difficult.

I have tried adjusting doses and the like but still need to get my blood sugars up to about 13 ( in old money) before I go or else I will crash.
It seems a little counter intuitive eating stuff before you go to the gym, but its the only way I can make it work.
I am enjoying the exercise and all its benefits and dont want to not do it.
Can anybody give any sage advice on how I can deal with this, or is it just a matter of eating more an hour before exercise.

Thanks!
 
Hello @mully10

Can you give us some background to how you treat your diabetes - are you on injections/pump, do you use a continuous glucose sensor, what insulins are you taking ?

I take insulin via a Tandem Slim pump, so an hour before I exercise I turn Control IQ off and I always ensure I have no quick acting insulin in my system before I start, I aim to start with levels at 9 mmol/l + to ensure I have a good buffer, I use a Dexcom G6 so can see the direction of my glucose, if it's an arrow going down then I take 15-20g of carbs, otherwise no need. I run so can burn through my BG levels quite quickly in the evening, but am generally good for an hour if I follow this plan.
 
Last edited:
Hi Juicyj,

I use injections and have a librelink sensor on my arm.
I was formerly using background and fast acting, but with my improved health and control background gets me through the day.
So I suppose from your answer it is pretty much as I thought, I need to identify and take carbs to last in the gym.
I tend to go for an hour and a half doing cardio and then weights. As i said, if I went with 9 I would hypo after doing my cardio.
I also seem to have the added problem that I need to take carbs an hour in advance, as less than this doesnt allow my sugars to go high enough.
Its quite a challenge.
 
@mully10

Hi, I have a different type of diabetes, but I inject and use a Libre. The approach I take with cardio is to reduce my meal-time insulin in advance of exercise (I can’t advise you by how much, but it will be trial and error to an extent) and to sip orange juice during exercise to keep my Blood glucose “topped up”.

Take care that your BG may drop faster that the Libre can show I.e. you can have a hypo before the sensor warns you. As a precaution, rather than rely entirely on symptoms, I also temporarily set my hypo alarm to trigger early (in my case around 5.0).

I also have an issue that my BG will have 2nd drop about 11 to 13 hours later (may not apply to you) - often overnight. So I reduce my evening basal injection too.

There’s more info in the following article, although it’s American so you’ll need to convert all the units to make sense of it:


It’s worth getting specific advice from your GP/Diabetes specialist.
 
Hi @mully10 I agree with Ledzeptt - don't rely on the Libre for readings as it's not a good measure for when BG levels are moving more rapidly, the delay means you can be going low before actually registering on your sensor, so using your scooby senses or a BG meter is best.

As you're on injections, just ensure that your last injection was over 4 hours beforehand, I find any residual quick acting in my system tends to drop me quickly so no active insulin on board can help prevent this.

In regards to carbs eaten for gym work avoid glucose as these can deplete quickly too, try and use whole grains/oats/pasta they stick around for longer, then top up with glucose in the gym, drinks are the easiest to keep levels topped up.

Yes it is a challenge but it's also very rewarding when you've had a workout and found a successful strategy to avoid the lows, I do the gym once or twice a week, I do enjoy it but for the same reasons as you I find it challenging, lifting weights seems alot easier than avoiding hypos...
 
Thanks to both of you for your advice, I felt a little overwhelmed to be honest.
I did reach out to my diabetic specialist, but the info felt a little wooly.
You have endorsed what I was trying to do which was reducing background insulin in the morning and trying to eat slow burn carbs an hour prior to going, it feels quite wrong to be letting my bloods run higher to accomodate, but thats the way it is.
I think the fruit juice in the gym is a good call, dextrose tablets make no impact when I am in the gym, only after I have finished.
much appreciated.
 
Are you saying that if you reduce your morning basal (background) insulin your morning levels run high, or is the high the result of the long acting carbs an hour before you go to the gym?

You mentioned above that you go hypo after your cardio workout? How long after, is this still during your gym session? You could treat (i.e. eat something fast acting) after doing the cardio and before continuing, which might avoid running high beforehand and running low afterwards.

It would be interesting to know roughly what you're doing and for what duration. If you're not doing multiple hours, then it ought to be possible to tune your insulin and intake to avoid both highs and lows (within reason, this is diabetes, so it's different every time)

I'm interested to hear that dextrose tablets make no difference while exercising, they ought to be absorbed quite quickly, but we're all different. I dislike the taste/texture so stick to Skittles, though I used to use OJ too. One thing to note is that digestion is delayed during exercise, so you do need to use fast acting carbs once you start exercising.
 
mully10 said:
Thanks to both of you for your advice, I felt a little overwhelmed to be honest.
I did reach out to my diabetic specialist, but the info felt a little wooly.
You have endorsed what I was trying to do which was reducing background insulin in the morning and trying to eat slow burn carbs an hour prior to going, it feels quite wrong to be letting my bloods run higher to accomodate, but thats the way it is.
I think the fruit juice in the gym is a good call, dextrose tablets make no impact when I am in the gym, only after I have finished.
much appreciated.
Click to expand...
My dad had to do that he was type 1 to stop hypos at night
 
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