Type 1 diabetes and exercise

[Mark (T1)]

Afternoon, I am a Type 1 diabetic and often go for a 5k run first thing in the morning. Last 2 runs my Blood Sugar has been around 7 or 8 mmol/L before the run and then has climbed to over 15 mmol/L setting off the Libre sensor alarm. Never happened before and have been doing this type of routine for months. I have just shaken off a fairly bad cold which may have played into this. Any thoughts? Thanks, Mark

 

[helli]

Hey Mark,
If this is a different reaction to what you have see for months, I would be inclined to blame your cold which your body may still be fighting off even though the main symptoms have abated.
Is it possible that you took some time off from your running as you were dealing with the germs so you may have lost some of your fitness?
Did the run feel harder than usual? I find my BG raises when exercising if I am "uncomfortable" (could be if I am feeling less fit or if running in the wind and rain or even if my shoes are rubbing) and then when my BG goes above a certain level (for me, this double figures), I struggle even more which pushes my BG up further.
In your situation, I would try to build up the runs and not over do it.

 

[Inka]

Sounds like it’s the cold as @helli suggests. When I have a cold and have, say, a blood sugar of 9, I find if I exercise even moderately, it will go up but, counterintuitively, if I stay seating down, it will drop. So now when I’m ill, I don’t exercise. I find it’s better for my blood sugar not to.

 

[Mark (T1)]

Thanks both for your replies, it seemed counterintuitive, very useful to hear your experiences.

 

[JonathanGi]

Happens to me every Parkrun! I also recently ran Cambridge half marathon and similarly BG went up. At start BG was 7.9 and by mile 7 it was 10.9. At finish it was 5.4. I have other posts under Parkrun and Cambridge half marathon.
I like to start Parkrun at less than 5. But if I'm trying hard 24 minutes later I will finish at about 12.