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Hello! T1 hoping to run again

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J

jhsn

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Type 1
Hi everyone, I’m Joe, I’m 32 and I was diagnosed T1 on the 7th January. It came as a bit of a shock but my health care team have been great, I’m set up with my insulin (levemir and humalog) and generally finding the adjustment ok! The current lockdown has actually helped in that respect as it has been easier to keep to a routine as I cant

I’ve joined the forum to talk to people who aren’t my health care team or family, particularly those who might have advice around getting back into running (generally I used to run 5-10k) and if it is possible to play football (5/6 a side).
 
Hi Joe and welcome

It is possible to do pretty well anything (I am sure there are professional rugby players who are Type 1) but it does take a little more thought and planning and a bit of trial and error to figure out what works for you. Levemir is probably a good basal insulin in this respect as it allows you more adjustment for increased and occasionally decreased exercise. Are you on a split dose of it? ie morning and evening injections? I find that when I am exercising regularly I have to dial back my evening dose but the daytime one usually stays about the same. I got to the stage a couple of months ago that I was able to do away with my evening basal injection altogether and have a bolus free evening meal and still drop a bit low through the night but it wasn't a huge problem and I cut back on the exercise a bit and ate later in the evening. That worked for me but everyone is difference and we need to be prepared to experiment and figure out how to achieve what we want to do as individuals, always with a keen eye on keeping ourselves safe.
Do you have the Freestyle Libre sensor system for monitoring your BG levels or are you relying on finger pricks and a BG meter. The LIbre is a huge help with regard to exercise because you can scan so quickly and easily and check regularly during exercise to see what your levels are doing and top up with carbs if you are getting a bit low.

Anyway, I have waffled on enough for now. Look forward to hearing more from you and hope you find the forum as helpful as I have over the past 2 years since diagnosis.
 
Welcome to the forum Joe.

As @rebrascora has said you can indeed do pretty much all that you did before your diagnosis, it just takes a bit more planning and organisation.

In these early stages you are likely to be in what is called the Honeymoon Period. During this time your pancreas will have a few beta cells which have not yet been destroyed and these will sometimes add in a bit of extra insulin on top of what you have injected. It is a case of testing and adjusting throughout.

For exercise it is a case of working out what works for your level of activity. The adjustments you can make are a combination of increasing your carb intake before, during and or after the activity, and adjusting your insulin doses. It is worth noting when your exercise is taken in relation to meals. For example if I exercise just after a meal I will often reduce my Bolus at the meal before. If I am exercising before a meal I am likely to need extra carbs.

I found using the Libre, a flash glucose monitor, gave me a lot more confidence when exercising and adapting my management of Diabetes. It not only shows your glucose level but also shows the trend of your levels which helps when making decisions about what to do.

It is a case of trial and improvement, keeping a close watch on your levels, but well worth the effort to enable you to get back to your normal activities. As you say the current lockdown gives you a chance to settle your carb adjustments and get used to things, find out what to do for your running, before taking up football again.

Keep in touch and ask any questions that you have. Plenty of experience to tap into on here.
 
Welcome @jhsn
Type 1 diabetes should definitely not stop exercise. I do it quite a lot with some running, cycling, weights and, when not in lockdown, climbing.
My advise would be to take it easy at first and find out how your body reacts to exercise. The advice from @SB2015 about reducing bolus and increasing carbs is great but ... one thing about diabetes is that we are all different. We all react differently to different types of exercise. You may find your running causes your blood sugars to go low but you could also find your running causes them to go high, depending what sort of running you do.
For example, considering my cycling, if I race along a flat road on a nice cool day, my blood sugars go down. If I push myself up a steep hill against the wind on a rainy day, my blood sugars go up. And, if I go for a leisurely pootle along the tow path with my friends, my blood sugars are not affected.

Hence my advice at first is to take it easy, take lots of measurements, carry insulin, hypo treatment and a phone with you ... or go with someone else.

The other thing to remember is that following exercise, we often experience lows as our liver replenishes glucose stores. This can last as long as 48 hours after the exercise so you may need to reduce your insulin (or increase your carbs) for a day or two afterwards. Again, testing is key to work out ho wit affects you.
 
Hi Joe, there's a website called run sweet which hopefully you will find more than useful.
There's no reason not to participate in any sport you so wish. Look at Henry Slade the England rugby player, he has type1 diabetes 🙂
Without any testing equipment (not invented) in the 70's I used to run cross country at county level. Play hockey for the school etc. So yep you can do anything you set your mind to.
 
jhsn said:
Hi everyone, I’m Joe, I’m 32 and I was diagnosed T1 on the 7th January. It came as a bit of a shock but my health care team have been great, I’m set up with my insulin (levemir and humalog) and generally finding the adjustment ok! The current lockdown has actually helped in that respect as it has been easier to keep to a routine as I cant

I’ve joined the forum to talk to people who aren’t my health care team or family, particularly those who might have advice around getting back into running (generally I used to run 5-10k) and if it is possible to play football (5/6 a side).
Click to expand...
Hi Joe, I’m type 1 and have been diabetic 25 years (since I was 14). Definitely stick with the running- you will need to play around a bit with what works for you in terms of keeping your levels stable. Mine drop with exercise if I run in the afternoon, so I find frequent sips of Ribena works for me. However if I do exercise in the morning my bloods stay stable with exercise. ‍♀️. Lots of trial and error. I’ve also read the new Apple watch can monitor blood levels and us great for sport, although I’m not yet sure whether this needs the Abbot libre. Good luck!
 
Hello and welcome to the forum @jhsn 🙂
 
Thanks for the replies and welcomes everyone, some really good advice in here! To answer some of the questions that were asked, yes I’m on a split dose of levemir, 2 units in the morning and 4 at night. I’m currently using finger pricks and a BG meter, although I have been reading into CGM. Generally my diabetes control has been good so far with this method although as SB2015 points out it may still be my honeymoon period

I went out for a steady 5k this Sunday morning just to test out how I’d react, my reading did drop a bit but the rest of my day was fine. My muscles weren’t so happy after several weeks of inactivity! Just going to build up steadily and see how it goes.
 
Good to hear that you have started experimenting with exercise.

Do you have a half unit pen as with those small Levemir doses, you may need finer adjustment than a whole unit pen can provide. The Novopen Echo would be the thing to ask for if you don't currently have that half unit option and you would need cartridges for it instead of the disposable pens.
 
jhsn said:
I went out for a steady 5k this Sunday morning just to test out how I’d react, my reading did drop a bit but the rest of my day was fine. My muscles weren’t so happy after several weeks of inactivity! Just going to build up steadily and see how it goes.
Click to expand...

Good to hear @jhsn

Hope your running can continue as the weather warms 🙂
 
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