What are/were your stresses when balancing diabetes & exercise?

[DiaWolf]

I have been a diabetic for around 2 years now and feel i have got to grips with balancing my levels around exercise, although this took me a while!

After a few bad experiences of chasing hypos all day after exercise i found myself reluctant to exercise. I found what helped me was to test more frequently to hypos wen't surprises anymore and could be caught. This also led to me getting to know when i would need to eat/snack and what things would sustain my levels better.

What were/are your stresses and how are you overcoming them?

 

[J47]

when you say hypos, do you mean a sugar spike, ? Not sure, I have had any, as I normally get on the treadmill, at walking pace, to reduce, after food and for health, though my diet has changed a lot in the last 2 weeks, I have read that high intensity exercise can spike, the sugar high, though must confess, to have only done one workout, that may be considered that so far, on the cross trainer, I have stuck to walking/brisk walking on treamill, but, only used the speed up to a maximum of level 4( it goes up to 12) sorry ,not sure, I have been helpful, just rambling in response, hope you get more responses to address this

 

[C&E Guy]

Try having MS as well as Diabetes (Type 1).

I simply cant do exercise apart from struggling up the stairs.

 

[Bloden]

Hi there @DiaWolf.

I’ve been diabetic since 2008 and still struggle to balance my BG when I exercise LOL. It doesn’t stop me from exercising because I use the Libre, which gives me all the info I need to spot and fix any sneaky hypos. Medics n nurses are always banging on about “patterns” - “look for the patterns”, “try to spot the trends” - but, frankly, there don’t seem to be any with my BG. All I know is that 20 minutes into my 1-hour morning walk I need 20ml of orange juice otherwise I’ll go low...I suppose that’s a pattern! Swimming spikes me at first, then later my BG drops like a stone. And for cycling I need approx 30g of carb for 15-20 minutes.

Do you have the Libre or CGM? I hate the term game changer, but it really has been a GC for me.

 

[DiaWolf]

Hi there @DiaWolf.

I’ve been diabetic since 2008 and still struggle to balance my BG when I exercise LOL. It doesn’t stop me from exercising because I use the Libre, which gives me all the info I need to spot and fix any sneaky hypos. Medics n nurses are always banging on about “patterns” - “look for the patterns”, “try to spot the trends” - but, frankly, there don’t seem to be any with my BG. All I know is that 20 minutes into my 1-hour morning walk I need 20ml of orange juice otherwise I’ll go low...I suppose that’s a pattern! Swimming spikes me at first, then later my BG drops like a stone. And for cycling I need approx 30g of carb for 15-20 minutes.

Do you have the Libre or CGM? I hate the term game changer, but it really has been a GC for me.

Hi Bloden,

I'm now on the Libra which as you have said has really helped. I suppose its a case of what works for you individually. I agree with you on the patterns. there are so many different aspects that could effect your blood sugars. For instance on a hot summers day i find that my sugars are more prone to drop quicker when being active.

Seems like your doing well and have thrown yourself into a few different types of exercises. Its all in the preparation!

 

[helli]

I find just thinking about it all as "exercise" is what makes it harder to manage.
I am usually (non-pandemic) very active with walking, cycling, spin classes, circuits, weights at the gym, climbing and anything else that is on offer. The impact on my blood sugars varies hugely depending on what I do, how long I do it for and how intense it is.
For example, if you consider cycling
- a series of short sprints will cause a blood sugar spike
- a longish sprint will cause a low
- a long climb up a steep hill on a wet windy day will cause my bloods to go up
- a pootle along the tow path will my friends will have no affect

And that's just me - mu pootle will be someone else's sprint, my climb will be a normal workout for someone else.
So, to me, the secret is lots of testing, corrections and don't forget to have fun.

 

[NotWorriedAtAll]

I find just thinking about it all as "exercise" is what makes it harder to manage.
I am usually (non-pandemic) very active with walking, cycling, spin classes, circuits, weights at the gym, climbing and anything else that is on offer. The impact on my blood sugars varies hugely depending on what I do, how long I do it for and how intense it is.
For example, if you consider cycling
- a series of short sprints will cause a blood sugar spike
- a longish sprint will cause a low
- a long climb up a steep hill on a wet windy day will cause my bloods to go up
- a pootle along the tow path will my friends will have no affect

And that's just me - mu pootle will be someone else's sprint, my climb will be a normal workout for someone else.
So, to me, the secret is lots of testing, corrections and don't forget to have fun.

I'm finding similar reactions to you. I am type 2 and managing my blood sugars by diet and have been managing that beautifully for two years without doing any exercise and without losing any weight or slimming down.

This year I decided I must shrink in order to conquer my obesity and I have been enjoying exercising but I am finding it is sending my blood sugars up instead of down. As I don't take any meds I don't have any solutions as to how I can bring the rises down. The rises are still 'within' limits which were originally set on my monitor and go up to around 7.8 - 8.0 but I find them worrying as I have been happily keeping to the mid five to mid six range except for my morning spikes which are often matching the post exercise ones and I used to get annoyed enough about the morning ones without having to contend with spikes during the day too.
I am finding the whole thing very disheartening.

 

[helli]

@NotWorriedAtAll that is frustrating.
However, one thing I didn't mention is, regardless whether my exercise pushes my blood sugars up or down at the time, they are lower for the next 24 hours. As someone who takes insulin, I need to reduce my insulin following exercise to avoid hypos.
I have also found, as I get fitter at a particular exercise, the impact on my blood sugars reduces. Using my example above, if I cycled uphill against the wind in the rain every day, by the end of a month, the effect would be much less. There are limits what I am willing to do for fitness and that is beyond my limits.

If I was in your shoes, I would persevere with the exercise and track the impact.
You might also want to try a different type of exercise - as I said exercise is not equal. Typically (although we are all different), short exercise (like interval training) and "stressful exercise" (like cycling uphill in the wind and rain) is more likely to push blood sugars up. Steady, constant exercise (like walking around a flat park) is more likely to reduce them.