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Running and Type 1 diabetes

T

Tom-stick

Member
Messages
13
Location
Hampshire, UK
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
Hypos...
For anyone that run's with Type 1 diabetes:

I'm currently running around 40 - 50 minutes at a moderate rate and I'm experiencing dramatic sugar drops during/immediatley after exercise. Does anyone have any advise/tips?

I have done all the obvious stuff as advised by my pump team including carbing up before a run/reducing insulin etc but nothing seems to work!

Many thanks all!
 
Have you tried suspending your basal before you start your run?
When cycling, I suspend my basal 30 minutes before I set off to ast the length of the ride (so comes back on 30 minutes before I finish) and find this minimises any drops.

I assume you have no active bolus when running.
Do you take any water with you? If so, have you tried adding some week juice to your bottle so that you are adding some carbs as you run.
 
I too can drop when running - but weirdly only on evening runs and not in the morning... insulin resistance.

On night time runs I never run with active insulin on board, I aim to start with levels above 9/10 mmol/l, I suspend my basal an hour beforehand and I turn Control IQ off too as using the Tandem Slim. I also carry jelly beans as they are easier to keep in the mouth and I start to use these when dropping below 6 mmol/l as i can drop to hypo quite quickly from 6 mmol/l also as my CGM is working (behind the times at around 20 mins) so am normally pretty much near to hypo when I get a 6 mmol/l reading. I have to be careful as I run with my running club and so feel under pressure to not hold others up if I go low - sometimes I just have to pull out though.

What pump are you using ?
 
Hi guys!

I'm so sorry - I posted this a while back and completely forgot about it. Thank for your thoughts!

@In Response I haven't considered fully suspending my basal but have been dropping it by 80% an hour beforehand. I've been using Lucozade sport during my run and usually finishing the bottle which has defiantly helped but I'm still experiencing the rapid drops.

@Juicyj I have the Onmipod pump which is quite good. I get what you mean by having to stop though! I was on my first 10k run last night, was feeling awesome, but had a hypo at 8k so had to stop for a while ‍ What pump do you use?

Sorry again for the belated reply guys! Thanks for your input
 
Tom-stick said:
@Juicyj I have the Onmipod pump which is quite good. I get what you mean by having to stop though! I was on my first 10k run last night, was feeling awesome, but had a hypo at 8k so had to stop for a while ‍ What pump do you use?
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Hi Tom - am using the Tandem Slim with Dexcom G6, altho a looped system it's still hard work at times, particularly with exercise, tried the gym last night but went low, and then went low again an hour later, but went high all night, don't think the heat is helping either !
 
I run in the morning before break-fast, drinking coffee and cream before hand, and I have to take a correction to stop my blood sugars from rising too much. Evening runs are difficult. I have to eat fruit and dextro tablets to keep my blood sugars from falling.
 
Last edited:
I run 3 times a week, distances between 10k & 10 miles. I dont get issues becuase i dont eat a lot of carbs, so dont have much insulin on board. When i run i try to have a bg of about 6mmol, this stays pretty constant during the runs, but i have a couple of fruit pastilles 1g cho each & a glocotab with me in case i drop low. I drop my pump basal rate lower 30 mins before the run. Try dropping your carbs as this means you have loads less insulin on board. its called the law of little numbers.
 

How much do you reduce the basal rate?
 

Crazy isn’t it!!

It can be a nightmare to control sometimes with no rhyme or reason for it going up and down
 
I appreciate this is a very late reply to an old thread, but did you resolve this? I'm having the same issue and I'm finding that any carbs I take on - eaten or drunk, aren't absorbed. then when I've finished my exercise - perhaps up to an hour after I took the carbs they all absorb and my blood sugars rocket up.
 
Hi @Sideburnt - I find any carbs will take time to absorb - fastest is glucose (no digestion - straight through the intestine to stick to the red blood cells) - anything else takes time to strip the glucose out of it or convert to glucose molecules.

I tend to use Clif Blocks - easy to carry and eat when exercising and fast into the blood stream - the energy bars etc can be designed to be slow absorbing (which could be where you get the high later - plus if you drop very low your liver releases stored carbs, which could also be part of the high afterwards.

Set a high temp target before exercise to get your BG up, and keep the high TT till you finish - should offset to some degree.

Ideally if you drop you want fast and slow absorbing carbs - thought those can take a while to hit, so might be worth trying to head off the low before you drop into the low range - once it's on its way down, get some carbs in.
 
Not running, but riding - If I do a quick hour loop (so riding quite hard as it's short and it's probably to fit into my lunchbreak) I can't eat anything like a Cadbury/Nature Valley/etc breakfast bar (which might be palatable on longer rides and therefore might be stashed in my framebag) if there's less than ~30 minutes riding remaining as otherwise it'll make me go high afterwards, therefore Skittles it is if I really can't make it around.

I go high pretty much immediately if I have eaten one too late, and don't tend to have much reaction if not, though I won't need as much bolus as usual for lunch. We're all different though.

What sorts of things are you eating/drinking?
 
Are you using the control IQ exercise mode? I'm having issues with hypos on long walks but not convinced by the exercise mode.
 
I ran at 04.00 this morning in support of 2 running club colleagues who were doing a 24 hour challenge. Absolutely beautiful! Then ran 6 miles at 08.00 with club. No wonder I feel tired! No hypos or spikes!
 
EllieM said:
Are you using the control IQ exercise mode? I'm having issues with hypos on long walks but not convinced by the exercise mode.
Click to expand...
Agree exercise mode is not great, in fact I don't bother using it any more as did nothing for me, suspending Control IQ is the best way to manage exercise and depending on the activity/duration depends on how long prior to exercise I will suspend it, so gym/long walk an hour before, running for more than 1 hour I suspend 3hrs+ before, it's still not 100% but with extra carbs and stating levels at 10mmol/l+ it can be done.
 
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