Help

5 posts, 4 contributors

Search the DAFNE Online Forums

 
Rafa DAFNE Graduate
St Vincent's Healthcare Group
99 posts

New to all this but i think i made a mistake or two already!

Went for a 3 mile run last night. I was 11.3 going out and 8.5 afterwards. Had my dinner half an hour later and i was 6.6. Had 7.5 cps and qa of 5. Two hours later i was 2.4 so i took 3.5 cps and then half an hour later i was 5.0 so took my BI and went to bed. Woke up at 0630 and was 6.5 so had my 1:1 ratio. I was then 1.8 three hours later so had 5 jelly babies and i was 8.1 half an hour after that so took my BI. Then three hours later i was 3.1 and i mistakenly took 3/4 cps and then when having lunch an hour later i was 10.6 so had my lunch and corrected. Am i right in thinking i should not have corrected at all at lunch and my BI the night of exercise should be reduced?

Please and thanks.

Vickyp DAFNE Graduate
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
137 posts

Definately don't correct at meal after a hypo, your BGs will be high as you've taken extra cps to recover from hypo...so if you correct you are likely to go down into another hypo!

Not 100% on BI reduction and exercise, so don't want to comment but there are plenty people on here that can help with that question.

You've hypoed twice after meals, how accurate is your carb counting? Also you may need to reduce carb ratios...but check for a pattern before making ratio changes.

Warwick DAFNE Graduate
Diabetes Australia-Vic, Melbourne, Victoria
422 posts

Exercise does lead to hypos, especially new exercise. If you are on a pump or Levemir, then you can reduce the basal dose after exercise to try and prevent hypos. If you are on Lantus, it is a bit more tricky as Lantus doesn't really respond quickly enough to decreases to handle exercise. If you are running the same distance regularly though, your body should soon adapt, and you will find a basal rate of insulin that meets the reduced need. There will be a bit of trial and error involved though.

Rafa DAFNE Graduate
St Vincent's Healthcare Group
99 posts

Thanks very much for the replies. Yes after stupidly correcting i ran low again. You live and learn! Think i am going to reduce the BI on nights of runs as i am running low around 9am-10am the next morning. I am fine for breakfast at 630am though so should i maybe reduce my ratio at breakfast??

marke Site Administrator
South East Kent PCT
675 posts

As Warwick points out the thing you have to understand is the effect of exercise. It has a number of effects both shortish term and longer term. The shortish is exercise can have an effect for 24-48 hours after you do it. It does vary from person to person but will definitely have an effect the day after you exercise. You need to bear this in mind when adjusting both pre-exercise and after it. There is not really a magic formula although the handbook does give some guidance.
In the longer term exercise will help your body in the process of converting sugar into energy with less insulin. Regular exercise should mean you need less insulin overall. Again there is no magic formula you just need to keep monitoring you BG and looking for changes. Your description of going low mid-morning the day after exercise is exactly my experience when doing a gym session the night before, however knowing what might happen I tended to check mid-morning the next day as well as making adjustments because I knew what might happen and so was ready to treat it if necessary.