New to this - my first post

[Bon83]

Hi @Bon83,

I completely understand how you must have felt, and am very sorry to hear of your experience; it's very positive that you managed to identify the cause of the hypo in that case. It's a strange thing - once you've had an experience like that, the lasting effect is more routed in anxiety than in diabetes, and it can completely put a stop to anything else in your life. You're absolutely right to take glucose with you when exercising - but have you also considered some kind of CGM? I use the Dexcom G5 - which sets off an alarm if your sugars are going low. It has been a game-changer for me - and for those worried about hypos at night, it's great to know that it'll wake you up if your sugars reach a certain level.

Thanks for the support I was a bit disappointed with my care team at the time because they knew I liked exercise and didn't really tell me anything about how insulin is affected by so many different things! I think it was lack.of knowledge that led to my hypo experience - I feel for you having something happen so suddenly! I believe knowledge is definitely power so I have read loads on exercising with insulin and do lots of controlled experiments for running. This has given me more confidence in my blood sugars. But I know they are too high most of the time and I need to jump my last hurdle of carb counting - it seems daunting and I have put it off for a long time

 

[himtoo]

Hi @himtoo,

Thank you for the kind welcome - in answer to your questions:

- no, I'd taken my background in the morning - the hypo happened in the evening, after I'd got home from the gym. I take a split dose, so hadn't yet taken my evening dose;

- at the time, my background insulin was Lantus (had been for 15 years since diagnosis); a few months after this, I changed to Levemir on my consultant's suggestion.

Thanks for the links; very interesting to read, and I've heard similar things about Lantus. Over the years, like any other T1, I've had many "unexplained" highs and lows, and I'm sure it's quite possible that, at least on a few occasions, it may have had something to do with the Lantus. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience - are you still on Lantus? Thanks for your kind words too - I will also try to help others if I can.

Hi there @Odin004
no I am not taking lantus anymore -- I switched to a pump 21 months ago.

glad to have you "on the team" -- I am sure your experience will be helpful to many members.
all the best !!

 

[Odin004]

That's my pleasure @Bon83,

I'm new to this forum myself, but I've noticed that many people do seem to be disappointed by the lack of information they receive from their care team - it's quite unbelievable that people can be told to take insulin, without any guidance as to the circumstances in which the dosage might need to be adjusted.

I'm lucky to have a great consultant, who indulges all my queries and hypothetical scenarios - but I know others don't have that luxury. I quite agree that knowledge is power, and very pleased to hear about the reading and experiments you've done - I've always been in favour taking a scientific approach.

With diabetes, you really do have to be your own expert. Exercise is great for diabetics in many ways, and an experience like this can really put you off it, which just compounds the problem. Re the carb counting - don't be daunted - again, it's just a logical approach that's needed. Doing a DAFNE course would be a great introduction to it!

 

[donnellysdogs]

Welcome!
I know how hypo's can badly knock us psychologically.

I used to have severe ones every July. I hate Julys each year! I almost lost my driving license in July 2010. The effect of that was that I was given up a pump within 2 weeks and even tjough I had to come off pump 2 years ago the July hypo syndrome remains with me.. (my name for it, there isnt actually a syndrome!) however, now I am aware of it so I have avoided it for all but 1 instance since 2010. Even since being back on MDI since May 2015.

However, I still dread July!!

 

[Odin004]

Hi @donnellysdogs,

Thanks for sharing your experience - how interesting that it only affected you in July....perhaps something to do with the hotter weather, making you more insulin sensitive? You're absolutely right about the psychological impact of a bad hypo - associating July with hypos just goes to show how powerful the mind is. I'm glad you managed to keep your driving license, and have largely avoided any further bad experiences!

 

[Bon83]

I am hopefully going to get on yhe dafne course soon - I have applied for it. As you say probably like others I quickly realised that I wasn't going to get the answers I needed from the diabetes team so started my own research. Now I don't expect the nhs staff to know all about the complexity of exercise but at the time of diagnosis a bit of info about low level exercise would have been nice - I find walking and light exercise causes more of a rapid drop than the intense stuff. I felt I let myself down tonight I left my spinning class 5 minutes early as I felt a bit off - when I tested I wasn't low but I had totally got it into my head that I could be. I had done this class so many times and kept telling myself I was ok but it was like a nagging in my head. I'm currently trying to 'move on' now without getting hung up on this minor set back!

 

[Odin004]

Hi @Bon83,

Really glad to hear you've applied for the DAFNE course - I'm sure it will help a lot. I agree that the staff may not know all the detail - but one would hope you'd at least get a good pointer in the right direction! In the end, it will only be self-experimentation that will provide more specific answers, as people respond to exercise in different ways. In general, you're quite right about light exercise - it's quite common for this to lower sugars more immediately; heavier/more intense exercise may lower sugars later in the day, or at night.

You didn't let yourself down at all by leaving the spinning class early; you were most probably experiencing anxiety at the thought of going low - and very unhelpfully, the symptoms of anxiety/panic can be identical to those of an actual hypo - it's called "hypo-anxiety" - it's very real indeed, and is more common than people realise:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Life-with-diabetes/Hypo-anxiety
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/emotions/anxiety-over-hypoglycemia.html

As mentioned before, I'd recommend you consider using CGM (even for a short while as you re-adjust to things) - I use the Dexcom G5 - a quick glance at your phone will tell you your blood sugars, and in which direction they're moving; without the need to stop exercising to do a finger-prick test. I can be quite expensive, but definitely worth it, at least in the short term. Happy to help in any way I can.

 

[Bon83]

This has made good reading thanks for your advice