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Spikes after Sport

Sawds

Active Member
Messages
31
Location
UK
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I was diagnosed type 2 about 4 weeks ago and have managed to consistently got my levels down to between 4.5 and 6.5 since then by cutting out a lot of carbs from my diet.

I am 34, not overweight and have always been active and fairly sporty but my diet I have to admit has probably let me down. Although not anymore as the perk of this condition is it has made me far more healthy than when it comes to food than I have ever been.

I am a little concerned though as hockey season has started again and as something that I have done for over 20 years I do not want to stop. My issue is that after I have played my levels spike (15.6 and 10.4 straight after playing), is this normal? I know that Adrenalin can affect levels and I am pretty competitive!! I do find that my levels drop to normal within and hour but the problem then is that they continue to drop to hypo range! Before diagnosis I think I had this problem as quite often an hour and a half after playing I would have what I know now is hypo symptoms which I would treat by binging on sweet treats until I felt normal. I have a sandwich now and in a way pre-diagnosis experience has actually helped my with hypos but my question is has anyone else had the same issue after high intensity exercise? I do not plan to give it up but wondered whether there is any way of reducing the spikes or preventing the hypos?
 
I'm type one, so not exactly the same, but am also a keen hockey player. Whilst playing evening games over the summer league I found that would spike (19 once) after games. The advice I was given on this forum was that it could be because your liver dumps a load of glucose in response to exercise. For me, having not had insulin since lunch, I had nothing on board to lower blood glucose. When I play in the mornings, my breakfast insulin covers it so I don't get a spike. Sorry I can't advise for T2 - do you take any medication? Also worth looking at the runsweet website which advises about diabetes and sport.
 
To reduce my spikes I had a small amount of insulin and carbs before game
 
I take Gliclazide twice a day but as I said it used to happen to me pre-diagnosis for probably about 3 years, I always thought it was down to not eating before a game but it was probably a symptom of poor level control, however I do find it strange how my insulin production must level me out quite quickly after a game even after a spike. Maybe I should eat more carbs before a game and see if that slows down the spike and the quick come down from that spike. Then again maybe more carbs might lead me to spike even higher! It’s a confusing thing to control when exercise is said to be good for you?!
 
It's a bloody minefield! I'm a biology teacher and would like to think I've got the mind to understand the hormonal interactions. To be brief, I don't! Pop a couple of jelly babies in at half time. I always drop low after a game, but usually not until the night time.
 
I’m just glad I have some experience of it prior to diagnosis, it’s actually a blessing knowing what hypo symptoms are like as I treat them really early! It takes about an hour and a half to go from a spike to a hypo so thankfully that seems to be pretty consistent. Just got to work on balancing it better I guess, only played twice since diagnosis so still early days. Thanks for your perspective.
 
Big spike today, up to 15.1 after my game from 6.1 prior. Hoping this comes down as quickly as before but is this normal! Playing against a team I hate probably didn’t help as my adrenaline levels were way above normal and although competitive anyway I was even more so today!! On the other side of things I am actually probably fitter than I’ve been for years which is ironic!!
 
I found I get a big spike if I run hard and keep my hr over 140+ for a while. It sucks cause I was feeling really fit. My solution had been to keep my hr under 140 then the spikes are much smaller. Not the solution Iike but I am going revisit it soon once I figure out if I will need drugs or not. Metformin could help if I take it. I was also going to try running longer to see if I can use up my reserves and I am going to try a shot of vodka to see if that stops my liver from dumping glucose.
 
Hiya,

I am a converted phys junkie and have (currently) kicked this mother into touch!

I don't test perhaps as frequently as others, but overall my hba1c numbers (which is the long game here) are showing I dont have diabetes (currently). I enjoy pushing my body further than I have done for years - and am significantly fitter than most of my age cohort.... if your numbers drop within the hour .... keep going... enjoy a banana beforehand - I do!

Best wishes
 
I was disappointed to find that Runsweet advice is all addressed to T1s. It doesn't seem to have anything to offer to those not using insulin.
 
Weird I found this today. So I'm 17 T1D on insulin and having this problem from some while. My blood sugar would spike up to 300 (17-18) at the end of my basketball games which usually lasts 2 hours. Now last week, although my performace during the game was very good, my glucose after game shot up to 510 (29) followed by recurrent hypos throught the day. After this Ive been closely observing my glucose level during my games and I found that these spikes occur whenever I play with high intesity for long periods. Maybe these spikes happen due to physical over exersion. Yesterday I limited my game to a 31 point match, my glucose before was 167 (9.2) before and post game was 103 (5.7) so I guess this approach worked although it sucks that you cannot give your best.
 
My problem is that if I lower my intensity I might as well retire because it’s not in my nature.

I like the shot of vodka idea if that was genuine but the weird part is how quickly I go from a spike to hypo levels?

What is worse an hour of spiking or dealing with a hypo? For 2 or so hours every Saturday I’m happy to deal with it but is there something else I should be doing?

If I eat more before then I’ll spike more and if I eat less then I’ll no doubt hypo more. As I’ve said previously I had hypos after playing pre-diagnosis for about 3 years but didn’t know that’s what they were, dealt with them by eating truck loads of chocolate back then as that was what I craved but now deal with them far more sensibly! I actually don’t think there is a balance.
 
just keep up your intensity, later is the day you´ll lower a lot, I have the same problem..well no I don´t really hypo , but I think that building muscle and doing endurance training does lower insuline resistance over time, both by changing the metabolism in the bodies cells but also when building new muscles tissue that is healthier than muscles that are decaying by never beeing used..

my insuline resistance has lowered a lot by high intensity excersicing and by deliberately building mucle
 
it is your levels of adrenaline that hightens your blood glucose... but do keep on doing it ... how about eating something in the middle of your training sessions ?
 
Freema said:
it is your levels of adrenaline that hightens your blood glucose... but do keep on doing it ... how about eating something in the middle of your training sessions ?
Click to expand...
I agree. I am currently struggling with the problem of how to fuel my running training sessions without spiking (I don't seem to have the hypo problem, just feel really blah while trying to train.) I have decided to eat a small amount of chocolate DURING but not BEFORE training. How much to eat, and whether this will work, I don't yet know. I read that exercise uses about a gram of carb per minute, but I'm going to assume that I have quite a lot of carbs already sloshing around in my blood and just eat a little after each mile. I have also read that even the smell of chocolate helps people train faster! It is really hard to find advice on this topic. Every time I think I have found something, it starts talking about taking insulin, which doesn't apply to me.
 
Let me know how you get on, it’s I weird thing when exercise is good for you but yet it causes short term spikes that clearly can’t be good!
 
This will intereste greatly. I like to train in the gym, mostly lifting and gaining muscle.

Will have to look at testing just before, during and after to see what my bg is, hopefully will be able to gauge spikes, drops etc
 
I just went for a run and didn't hold back to my normal under 140 HR. God it felt good. I'm not monitoring at the moment (not much to see when I was wearing a libra with my diet) but want to try and figure this out. I may just say stuff it and exercise harder even if I can't get rid of the spike. I have given up enough but I think I may draw the line here! I'm going to put another libra on soon and will see what I can figure out and post here.
 
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