High Blood sugar after exercise

[VikWig]

Hi all,
This is the first time I've ever posted on a site like this but I am getting really fed up and thought someone may well have an answer for me.
I have Type 1 diabetes and have done for many years. I exercise for about 8-9 hours a week (a mix of gym work, classes and running). Since I began running seriously I have struggled with my blood sugar levels. For example, this morning I tested my blood before going out for a 9km run - it was 7.8 so I was happy that I'd be fine to run without any other input. I tested my blood again when I returned and it was 20.4! I had just run 9km with no solid or liquid passing my lips so why was my blood sugar so high all of a sudden?
This has happened many times and leads to discomfort (dry mouth, etc) on the run. It has been suggested that I take blood testing equipment/insulin with me to see what's going on when I run but I feel that this would be an extreme and time-consuming measure as I am running comparatively short distances.
Can anyone suggest what's going on and/or any solutions?
VikWig

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hi VikWig

Welcome to the forum 🙂

Exercise affects everyone differently (typical eh!?) but you are not alone in your experiences. Depending on the type of exercise, its duration and intensity - and also depending on the amount of active insulin you have circulating your body might get and give mixed messages. If the muscles are requesting energy (glucose) and there is insufficient insulin to process it and 'unlock the cell doors' the liver can panic that the requirement is not being met and release glucose from its stores - so your levels rise. Sadly the liver often can't see when enough is enough and continues to dump.

One member here finds they need a small carb snack after exercise to halt the rise. I find I need lower doses of insulin. Absolute opposites, but the same condition!

Exercise may also make you more sensitive to 'active' insulin - so you may find you need to adjust doses before or after exercising.

The website www.runsweet.com has lots of info and suggestions for exercise with T1

 

[Julia]

Hi Vikwig,
Welcome to the forum.
This is a common problem!
Are you running when your background insulin is starting to run out? I do a lot of endurance exercise (cycling and running) and my blood sugars like to rise at the end of exercise! Seems worse first thing in the morning. I take more insulin immediately after finishing exercise - easy for me as I am on a pump - I set 200% basal for an hour.
Have you seen "the diabetic athlete" by Sheri Colberg? Worth a read and available on amazon etc. Reading that made me realise I was not alone with post-exercise highs.
Anyway welcome to the forum. Looking forward to hearing more from you!
Julia

 

[Robster65]

Hi vikwig. Welcome 🙂

The Sheri Colberg book is very good. I'm no athlete but have found it very informative and useful in the past.

I would also recommend taking blood testing gear with you every time, regardless of the distance. Without it, you've no way of knowing what might be happening. I used to try and guess my BG but have since learnt that I can be very wrong. I hope you manage to combat the highs.🙂

Rob

 

[Pigeon]

Hi VikWig, yes I have had that happen too. The Sheri Colberg book was really helpful, try to get a copy of it.

I've found that I need some quick acting insulin on board when I exercise, even though it seems counter-intuitive at fist. So now if I'm going for a run 1st thing I'll have something like orange juice before hand and take half the normal quick acting insuin with it. Then have some glucose with me in case I go too low on the run. Like you, I don't take testing kit with me on runs (too much clobber!) but I have found from keeping a diary of what I tried I could see what worked and what didn't and make things better.

Stick at it, you'll get there!

 

[Medusa]

my guess would be that you are setting off with a sugar of 7.8 that was on an upward curve...... maybe worth testing on a day when you dont run but do everything else the same to see what the at rest levels are and then start making little changes to see what happens then.... like a little experiment with it

 

[imtrying]

Hi Vic, I'm sure the others will be able (and already have) given a much more technical answer than me, but I have just recently gone through this myself.

So, in simple terms (because that's the extent of my knowledge!!), this is what I do to maintain my levels:

I exercise after work (about 7/7.30pm), either in the gym or high intensity workout classes.

At about 6.30pm I will test and make sure I'm around 8. No matter what, I know I need to inject insulin as my body needs active insulin to stop my levels going into the 30s (which is what they were doing before), so whether it's that I'm 12 when I test, and I need to do an adjustment dose, or whether it's a case of already being 8 and having to inject a couple of units and eat something small.

Then just before the class starts, I take 3 or 4 swigs of Lucozade. When I finish the class or workout my levels are usually around 5 or 6.

When I get home, I test again (usually started to climb already) and eat dinner. For my dinner, I carb-count and reduce my insulin dose by 30%. (I found that despite my levels rising post exercise, if I injected the full dose, I would hypo during the night).

Usually before bed I am slightly high (9s or 10s) (made worse as I go to bed so soon after exercising and eating), but levels in the morning are usually 6 - 8.

As others have said, it is very much trial and error, but it's worth it for when you do find what works for you! I hope what I've written about my personal experiences helps a little.

I hope you manage to find what works for you.

 

[keith97]

You may find the December 6th entry on this blog useful - http://notmedicatedyet.com/blog/2011Dec.html
(scroll all the way down) - and indeed the rest of the site.

It was a response from Tom to my similar questions. I'm still experimenting with before during & after snacks, but getting there.