Low Number when I'm working in the Garden

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TerryP

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Type 2
Hi
I'm aware from postings on this site that some people get low Blood Sugar levels when they are working in the garden. I have this problem as well so for example I went out this morning at 10:00 and by 12:15 I was down to 4.2. I ate some peanuts at 11:00 to try and keep my number up but it seems to happen every time I go out to work in the Garden. I would describe my activity as lite to moderate with increased walking involved and some manual lifting and 'hitting things'. Does anyone take any food or snacks with them when they are working outside and if so what's best to keep the number up. And yes by the time I get to 4.2 I feel 'pants'.

Thanks in advance
Terry
 
Are you on insulin and if so which one(s) or Gliclazide or both?
 
Peanuts won’t help bringing it up much.
Are you on any medication?
 
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Hi, yes Gliclazide and Metformin. Cereal for breakfast with Blueberry and Banana mixed in. My fasting number was 6.1 so within my normal morning range.
 
TerryP said:
Hi, yes Gliclazide and Metformin. Cereal for breakfast with Blueberry and Banana mixed in. My fasting number was 6.1 so within my normal morning range.
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Was that a typical breakfast as it is quite high carb so it would be worth you testing after 2 hours to see what you are then to see if you are tolerating it OK, 2-3mmol/ l increase would be OK.
If you have a high carb meal then your pancreas may be producing insulin in response which is why you went low and there are then no carbs for it to work on.
 
Suggest you try a nutritious protein breakfast before gardening: eggs, bacon/ham, beans, cheese, yogurt and chopped salad/slaw, etc.
 
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Or avocados, the body needs something more substantial to feed the exercise which is probably more strenuous than you think, certainly more than just walking. Asside from a cooked breakfast I find an avocado with salad cream and a couple of slices of my low carb bread instead works just as well, healthy fats have a longer lasting effect on me I find, often don't crave anthing more till dinner.
 
JITR said:
Suggest you try a nutritious protein breakfast before gardening: eggs, bacon/ham, beans, cheese, yogurt and chopped salad/slaw, etc.
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Dave_Z1a said:
Or avocados, the body needs something more substantial to feed the exercise which is probably more strenuous than you think, certainly more than just walking. Asside from a cooked breakfast I find an avocado with salad cream and a couple of slices of my low carb bread instead works just as well, healthy fats have a longer lasting effect on me I find, often don't crave anthing more till dinner.
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@TerryP is taking Gliclazide, so would have to be careful that lowering carb and increasing the fat and protein didn’t cause a hypo because the Glic is making his pancreas produce too much insulin for the amount of carbs consumed.
 
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Robin said:
@TerryP is taking Gliclazide, so would have to be careful that lowering carb and increasing the fat and protein didn’t cause a hypo because the Glic is making his pancreas produce too much insulin for the amount of carbs consumed.
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That being the case are peanuts a poor choice for trying to keep numbers up? Barely any carbs, high protein and mostly fat?
 
It looks to as if it would be a good idea to take a step back to the original message from @TerryP rather than focusing on his diet without knowing enough about their medication, lifestyle, etc.

It is not unusual for BG to drop whilst doing exercise such as gardening and, if you enjoy it (rather than getting frustrated by the pesky weeds), the relaxation can lower BG further.
Technically, 4.2 is not a hypo. However, it can feel like one if you are not used to going that low.
The other thing to remember about this reading is that meters only need to be within 15% of accuracy and, if this reading was from a CGM like a Libre, it is less accurate when lower.

If it was a false low, your body will get used to it
If it was a hypo, it should be treated with fast acting carbs such as sugar or fruit juice or jelly babies. As you are taking Glucose, you should have hypo treatment with you at all times.
It may be tempting to over treat a hypo. Our body can react by raiding all the cupboards in the kitchen.
But the recommendation is to take 15g of fast acting carbs, wait 15 minutes and retest. If still low, take another 15g fast acting carbs and wait another 15 minutes.

As others have mentioned, peanuts are not high in carbs and not fast acting - fat slows down the absorption of sugar.

If this is a common occurrence when gardening, you may want to plan ahead by eating a little more for breakfast before you start digging.

I hope you recovered quickly and we're not put off future escapades into the garden.
 
TerryP said:
Hi
I'm aware from postings on this site that some people get low Blood Sugar levels when they are working in the garden. I have this problem as well so for example I went out this morning at 10:00 and by 12:15 I was down to 4.2. I ate some peanuts at 11:00 to try and keep my number up but it seems to happen every time I go out to work in the Garden. I would describe my activity as lite to moderate with increased walking involved and some manual lifting and 'hitting things'. Does anyone take any food or snacks with them when they are working outside and if so what's best to keep the number up. And yes by the time I get to 4.2 I feel 'pants'.

Thanks in advance
Terry
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Perhaps you don’t need to take the gliclazide on mornings you do gardening? Something to discuss with your doctor or nurse?
 
Wow thank you everyone, more responses than I had anticipated. TBH I don't really understand the mechanisms of what's going on in my body other than the basics. So for example I accept that peanuts are not a good way to get my numbers back up or keep them up, so I'm going to find something that has carbs in it for an easy snack half way through my gardening exercise. I also accept that 4.2 is not officially a hypo, however due to the meds that I'm on my target is set by my DB Nurse as between 5-8 and I do feel really rubbish when I start to get into the '4s'. So if we look at today for example...(following on from some of your advice from yesterday). My fasting number @ 08:02 was 5.9 (normal range for me). I had scrambled eggs on toast (1 piece of white toast) and then I checked my numbers before I went out at 10:08 and I was 11.5. Came back into the house for lunch at 12:55 and I was 4.4. I had dropped 7.1 in 3 hours of activity. That seems a lot and it seems to me that these numbers are not stable. Now take the rest of this week for example, I will be back to work (wfh) and I will be mainly sedentary (except for 10 mins on the treadmill to keep my arteries open) and my numbers will be fine until I get to tea time (5pm) and I will be up at 12.2.
I'm on a bunch of meds for Heart and Vascular so I'm not sure if these are impacting. All in all a bit of a mess. On a side note I have come to the conclusion that no one really takes an overall view of the patient, they just keep adding meds on top of meds to help 'their' specialty but I'm sure anyone considered what this will do to trying to manage diabetes. Sorry this has turned into a rant 🙂
 
We can’t give advice so this is only what I would do not a suggestion. But if it was me, and if I’d found the gliclazide plus exercise combination was too much on gardening mornings, but that sedentary days plus gliclazide didn’t have the same effect, I’d probably conclude that I needed the gliclazide overall. But, that on mornings I’m doing gardening I either need to be eating more carbs, or skipping the gliclazide for that morning only, and I’d be testing to see if whichever I chose to try first worked out ok or not.
 
Lucyr said:
We can’t give advice so this is only what I would do not a suggestion. But if it was me, and if I’d found the gliclazide plus exercise combination was too much on gardening mornings, but that sedentary days plus gliclazide didn’t have the same effect, I’d probably conclude that I needed the gliclazide overall. But, that on mornings I’m doing gardening I either need to be eating more carbs, or skipping the gliclazide for that morning only, and I’d be testing to see if whichever I chose to try first worked out ok or not.
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Thank you.
 
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