Hi guys. I am really struggling(type 1 diabetes) . I am on 15 units of slow acting inulin for the day and 4 units of fast acting for my evening meal. I am 50 this December. I was a generally fit person but now I feel so lethargic and flat all the time. Psychologically this has hit me really hard. I used to run but the last few times I have done it (3miles) my levels drop right down. I could do with help keeping them up. Please. I just wish I could get back to feeling as strong as I used to. I lost over a stone before diagnosis. I know I have to get used to it and my levels are generally OK according to my diabetic team not carb counting yet but I believe that will be happening sometime soon. Any help will be greatly appreciated guys. Thank you
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Diabetes one year on
- Thread starter spence
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Inka
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Diabetes can be a pain when you want to exercise @spence It sounds like you’re only on fast-acting before your evening meal? That makes my usual method of reducing the bolus injection of the meal before you exercise no use to you. I’m on a pump not injections so I don’t know if reducing your slow/basal insulin for exercise days would help?
Also, start off small. Run 1 mile and see how it goes. You could try eating glucose/carbs before you exercise and during if needed. What time do you have your basal injection? You might find it easier to exercise at certain times of the day than others eg if I exercise before breakfast, I find my blood sugar doesn’t drop as much.
Also, start off small. Run 1 mile and see how it goes. You could try eating glucose/carbs before you exercise and during if needed. What time do you have your basal injection? You might find it easier to exercise at certain times of the day than others eg if I exercise before breakfast, I find my blood sugar doesn’t drop as much.
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Sorry to hear you are having such a tough time @spence
Sounds like your team are tryng to be quite relaxed and take things steady so as not to overwhelm you, but this can have difficulties of its own.
Diabetes and sport / exercise / activity can take a bit of juggling but it definitely CAN be done. There are well known ultra athletes like Roddy Riddle who have managed the Marathon Des Sables alongside other things
Plus a host of ordinary people with T1 who manage to find a way to accommodate the needs of their T1 alongside whatever fitness, weights, sport etc they love.
A T1 friend of mine ran the London Marathon on Sunday.
It can really help to access one of the T1 education courses like DAFNE or BERTIE which have sections on strategies for exercise and how to adjust doses for them. There are online versions available, though the face-to-face aspect of all meeting and discussing together can add a lot of benefit.
Some clinics prefer to wait a few months before referring for education courses (especially if the Honeymoon Period is making dose adjustment more challenging)
Good luck with everything. Hope things start to get smoother soon.
Sounds like your team are tryng to be quite relaxed and take things steady so as not to overwhelm you, but this can have difficulties of its own.
Diabetes and sport / exercise / activity can take a bit of juggling but it definitely CAN be done. There are well known ultra athletes like Roddy Riddle who have managed the Marathon Des Sables alongside other things
Plus a host of ordinary people with T1 who manage to find a way to accommodate the needs of their T1 alongside whatever fitness, weights, sport etc they love.
A T1 friend of mine ran the London Marathon on Sunday.
It can really help to access one of the T1 education courses like DAFNE or BERTIE which have sections on strategies for exercise and how to adjust doses for them. There are online versions available, though the face-to-face aspect of all meeting and discussing together can add a lot of benefit.
Some clinics prefer to wait a few months before referring for education courses (especially if the Honeymoon Period is making dose adjustment more challenging)
Good luck with everything. Hope things start to get smoother soon.
Bruce Stephens
Well-Known Member
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So not much fast acting insulin, which means reducing it for the meal before you exercise probably isn't feasible.
Presumably you have Libre, Dexcom, or something similar so you can see your levels over the whole day (and night), and 15 units of slow acting insulin per day is about right?
If you're taking (say) Levemir in two doses and have only mentioned the dose you take in the morning, maybe 15 units is really covering you for meals too (and it might end up simpler to use a lower dose and take fast acting for your meals)?
It's also entirely possible you're still making some of your own insulin, in which case maybe the best you can do is add food as @Inka suggests.
As always, it helps to talk things over with a DSN, so certainly do that next time you see them. They'll most definitely want to help you to resume exercise!
rebrascora
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Hi.
Really sorry to hear that one year down the line you are still really struggling and perhaps not getting as much support as you need.
Which insulins are you using?
Do you have Freestyle Libre (the arm sensors for monitoring BG levels)? If not, ask your team or your GP to prescribe it. As a Type 1 diabetic you should be automatically offered it, so do ask and be persistent until you get it. It will make a massive difference to your confidence particularly when exercising.
The DAFNE intensive education course or whatever your local equivalent is, is usually recommended after 6 months. Have you been offered such a course? I know Covid has made these courses less accessible and caused a backlog but do ask your DSN to refer you onto one. There is also the BERT1E online course which you could do at your own pace, which will help you to understand things a little better but ultimately, we are all different and you have to experiment on yourself (with one eye always on keeping safe) so that you find what works for you as an individual. Start carefully and build up gradually. Some people top up with carbs as they go along with exercise and some people have carbs before they set off or some people find a protein rich meal a couple of hours before will provide them with a steady trickle of glucose during exercise. I tend to find I am mostly OK during/after exercise, but I need to reduce my evening basal (slow acting) insulin otherwise I hypo through the night. If you are on a once a day morning basal you can't do that either. It may be that you need to push for a change of basal insulin to one which is more flexible or reduce the dose of the one you are using and use a small doses of fast acting (bolus) insulin with all your meals rather than just evening meal and then reduce that mealtime dose before you are going to exercise.
The key will be to ask your team for more help and education with this and if necessary be a bit (politely) pushy.... and to do a bit more research yourself (like BERT1E online) so that when you get a DAFNE course, you will get the full benefit from it.
Really sorry to hear that one year down the line you are still really struggling and perhaps not getting as much support as you need.
Which insulins are you using?
Do you have Freestyle Libre (the arm sensors for monitoring BG levels)? If not, ask your team or your GP to prescribe it. As a Type 1 diabetic you should be automatically offered it, so do ask and be persistent until you get it. It will make a massive difference to your confidence particularly when exercising.
The DAFNE intensive education course or whatever your local equivalent is, is usually recommended after 6 months. Have you been offered such a course? I know Covid has made these courses less accessible and caused a backlog but do ask your DSN to refer you onto one. There is also the BERT1E online course which you could do at your own pace, which will help you to understand things a little better but ultimately, we are all different and you have to experiment on yourself (with one eye always on keeping safe) so that you find what works for you as an individual. Start carefully and build up gradually. Some people top up with carbs as they go along with exercise and some people have carbs before they set off or some people find a protein rich meal a couple of hours before will provide them with a steady trickle of glucose during exercise. I tend to find I am mostly OK during/after exercise, but I need to reduce my evening basal (slow acting) insulin otherwise I hypo through the night. If you are on a once a day morning basal you can't do that either. It may be that you need to push for a change of basal insulin to one which is more flexible or reduce the dose of the one you are using and use a small doses of fast acting (bolus) insulin with all your meals rather than just evening meal and then reduce that mealtime dose before you are going to exercise.
The key will be to ask your team for more help and education with this and if necessary be a bit (politely) pushy.... and to do a bit more research yourself (like BERT1E online) so that when you get a DAFNE course, you will get the full benefit from it.
Thank you for your reply. I take the slow release insulin in the morning 15units and the fast acting 4 units with my evening meal.
Hi. Thank you for your reply. Yes I now have the libre sensor which is a great help.
Thank you for your reply. His has really helped me
Inka
Well-Known Member
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- Type 1
@Bruce Stephens makes a good point above: if your slow insulin is a little higher than you need because it’s also covering the carbs in your breakfast and lunch, you might be better off reducing the slow insulin and having small amounts of fast insulin with breakfast and lunch. That might help.
Eating extra carbs before exercise is usually helpful. You might have to have more than you’d think, depending on the exercise.
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