Exercise and high BG

Hi, have just started doing exercise(circuit training for 1hr about 3 times a week) for the first time since doing DAFNE. i've found that my BG is usually high afterwards, normally 10-12mmol/l before starting and up to 16mmol/l an hour after. i just want to know should i correct this high BG after exercise?

Hi,
When we had the snow a few weeks ago. I was shovelling snow from my drive and my BG went from 5 to 18 after about a hour and then down to 3 a couple of hours later. I think it's the liver glycogen pushing the glucose up and then when you refill your liver your BG falls again. Test again after a couple of hours and see if you can spot a pattern. It is a dilemma.

Hi

I've experienced the same after exercise and was informed that its because there isn't enough insulin in your bloodstream to carry the glucose to the muscles hence it remains in the bloodstream = high BG.

Therefore I've been advised by my HCPs that if your BG is high before exercise or you do exercise first thing in the morning before breakfast, then have QA 'correction units' that you would have to bring your BG into target BEFORE exercising. That way you will have enough insulin in your body to not give you a high BG after exercise. However, be careful to check BG after exercise too as depending on how strenuous your exercise is you could risk a hypo.

Also you may want to check this with your HCPs too but hope it helps!

Hi,
Not sure I like the sound of QA before exercise, especially if it involves the 'area' of injection since exercise speeds up the absorbtion of insulin. This would mean a bigger 'hit' of insulin to take the sugar out of the blood, increasing the risk of Hypo I would have thought.

I would take advice before injecting pre-exercise. I occasionally had high BG's after exercise, however it always went back down on its own
and I would rather be a bit high than having to be picked up off the floor....

Hi,

I had this problem on Sunday! I have started to excercise for the first time since I was diagnosed (almost 5yrs ago). I woke up on a 9.9, a bit high I know, then went swimming & did 20 lengths, I started to feel a little unwell so got out & tested & I was 20.0, when I got home I tested for keytones & was ++......not good! I hadn't eaten before the swim so didn't have any insulin. I had my breakfast & had extra to bring my levels down! I am now worried about how I am going to manage this as I am very sensitive to insulin & if I inject before I know I will have a hypo but I don't want to end up that high again.

Debs x

I have also started some moderate escercise every night.

I always new that if your blood was over a certain level, for me 12 is the maximum, then I will not excercise till my blood has came down, this has always ensured that my blood drops instead of risings as the glucose is used from my blood then muscles.

And I also beleive that following said rules will ensure that the excercise I am doing is effectvie, in terms of building muscle.

If my blood sugar rises, it means your muscles essentially start eating themselves to provide the energy they need as there is no insulin present to open the cell doors to the wating glucose. So that would be pointless.

If anyone thinks this is wrong or has any more advice please respond......

I tend to exercise after work (late afternoon / early evening) before my evening meal. This is at a time when my lunchtime QA is no longer active. I test 30 - 60 minutes before my run and take on carbs according to my level (as a rough guide for me, 1 mile running requires 1cp). By and large I am then in target when I eat after warm-down. Presumeably my background insulin (Lantus) is adequate to deal with the energy conversion stuff (although I haven't given the mechanics too much thought - it just works for me). I adopted this approach because I can't guarantee that a plan to run after work will come off (work just gets in the way sometimes), so adjusting insulin levels at lunchtime to give me a high reading to run against is risky, because if I then don't run I have a large correction to do.

If I exercise when my QA insulin is still active I find life is much more complicated, and even three years after DAFNE I find that I over-compensate to ensure that I don't dip too low during the exercise, which means I end up with a correction to do at my next meal.

I exercise for fun, I do the occasional 10k and play squash regularly, and also do quite a lot of cycling. I'm not a serious athlete any more, so this approach works for me on a level where performance isn't crucial.

Stew

I have just found out about this site and it's like Christmas has just arrived.I'm 46 at got type1 5 years ago and did DAFNE 3 years ago.I do a fair bit of exercise almost daily (usually an 800m swim + 10k run + 1 weekly 70k cycle. I have done 2 marathons since being on DAFNE and took up triathlons almost 4 years ago. I have been hoping against hope I would some day find some other DAFNE exercise addicts and here you all are! I'd really love to hear from anyone who exercise but especially those doing triathlon as to how they balance carbs with insulin etc. Biggest problem I have is cramping when I finish the bike and start to run. I havn't been able to nail down as to whether this is down to the diabetes effect or simply a loss of salt. I'm now taking electrolyte tablets and found the cramps are less severe but i still have not eliminated them.So anyone who is or has been in the same boat please let me have your thoughts. I'm doing my first half Ironman in August (1.9k swim, 90K cycle and 21K run) and as this is a giant step from my usual distance to say I'm scared is an understatement! I'm very sensitive to insulin so have the usual balancing act that I see the other contributors to the forum have.My usual insulin rates are 1 x 4 units of Levemir at night.Morning ratio is 1:1 when not exercising, but maybe just 1 unit of novarapid if I am, 1 unit of Novarapid during day with exercise and same for evening with exercise plus 1 unit to 3CP with evening meal.This obviously varies according to exercise duration + carb intake etc. Look forward to replies.David G

Littleboots, i have the same problem as you. I'm a bit of a gym junkie - Ive always had the mentality that exercise will lower my BGL. Since doing dafne (and tracking my BGLs vigilantly) ive learned that this is not the case. My BGL is high 99% of the time after exercise... If I don't give 1.5- 2 units prior to exercise, my BGL goes high and stays high for hours afterwards (even if i correct straight after exercise). It left me feeling fatigued and like rubbish! I was then advised to try giving the extra units BEFORE exercising ( i was very fearful of doing this at first but carried jelly beans just in case i had a hypo), but was told by my specialist to always '"marry" this later and make sure i deduct the QA i had given from my next meal in order to prevent a hypo. After some experimenting though, I personally discovered that i don't need to "marry" this later, and that i just to indeed need the additional units to cover exercise. If you haven't already, i would suggest you monitor your BGLs very closely around exercise, and maybe try giving 0.5unit or 1 unit before you exercise to see what effect it has. Personally for me, weights, boxing and spin classes (high intensity) will have the biggest impact on my BGL so i'll give 2 extra units prior.. other less intense activities, ill give 1- 1.5 units.

This is the most bizarre thing ever - glad I'm not the only one!
I've recently started to go to the gym in the morning (30 minute run before breakfast); I'm usually 6-8 when I wake, and end up ~15 an hour after. So I do a few units (1 unit takes me down 2 mmol) to correct, as well as my breakfast units, but it continues to rise! Sometimes up to 17 two hours after.
The idea of injecting before is scary, but think I'm going to have to try it. Will let you know!
What's more bizarre is that when I was diagnosed over 10 years ago, I was always told to eat something (at that stage, a mini mars bar a day !) before PE classes, to stop me going low! Is that just because I used to do 2 mixed injections per day rather than DAFNE, or how did I not notice I was always high.
Very odd, but so glad I found this!