Okay, so I can tell that people haven't really posted here often, but a diabetic incident occurred today, and I felt like I needed someone to talk with about it...So hopefully we'll see some responses. So, I run track, and normally my BG is at a pretty stable rate, but yesterday, for the first time since I was diagnosed, I was in the 500s! Now that I think about it, it was wise for my doctor to not allow me to run, however, the same thing happened today, and I had a trace of ketones, so I had to go home, and I missed the first meet of the season. I just don't understand how this could've happened. I was wondering if this has happened to any of this happened to you?
I'm not a runner but a couple things come to mind.
You may be affected by adrenaline. It makes insulin less effective and can sky rocket blood sugar.
It could also be glycogen. When you use deep muscle tissue it releases stored glucose (called glycogen) from the muscles and can cause high blood sugar right after you work out. You'll know this is the cause of your high blood sugar if you have an unexplained low within the next 12 hours when your muscles take glucose from your blood stream to replace their stores. The glycogen thing usually happens with weight lifting and anaerobic exercise, but I've experienced it with mountain biking.
The other issue with glycogen is that when you first start training muscles need a lot of energy. But as you get more conditioned your body uses less glucose. So the workout that caused you to be low a few weeks ago now causes no blood sugar drop.
If your blood sugar is over 250 you should stop and take insulin and drink lots of water to avoid ketoacidosis. Definitely stop exercising if you have moderate or high keytones.
You can still run but you need to experiment to figure out how to minimize its effect on your blood sugar. Ask your doctor or diabetes educator for advice. I'd also look at Sheri Colberg's book "The Diabetic Athlete" and check out www.type1university.com, which is Gary Sheiners online education site. He offers classes on balancing blood sugar and exercise, but the upcoming one is already full. You may email him and ask for advice or for him to offer another class. The live classes are better than the pre-recorded because you can ask him questions as you go.
In the meantime, test before working out and about every 30 minutes during practice (if possible). Have insulin with you and quick sugar (glucose gel, juice boxes) and snacks. You should be able to catch the highs early and keep blood sugars within decent range. You might also ask your doctor about getting a CGM. Think it would be pretty invaluable or training.
hi JSeltz, are you on shots or a pump? are you honeymooning? when was the last meal or snack before running? how much insulin do you think was on board? how long were you warming up? How long since your last practice?
for me, sudden bursts of activity (think under 400m) can raise blood sugar, largely because of glycogen and adrenalin from competition (see Jenna's explanation).
start slow. longer warmups. more testing. DO NOT STOP RUNNING. seriously, if a doctor told me he wasn't going to "allow me to run" I would respond with, I am running - will you work with me or not?
get a CDE who is comfortable around athletes, work with them. You will get better at the bs control but I don't care what anybody tell you, it's trial and error. good luck!
thanks, that helps a lot! i am on the pump and am no longer honeymooning, currently, my sugars are stable, and am continuing to run a great season. normally the only thing I eat before running is lunch which is several hours before practice, so that's why it was so weird.
thanks! I do have a CGM, I just sometimes have difficulty with it staying in, so I rarely wear it. We think the high blood sugars were due to a virus that I had in my system, so fortunately my sugars are stable now.
I used to run cross country (5K races) and I would make myself be at least a 200 before I would run an actual race. Granted I wasn't very fast to begin with, but I was just doing it to do it. I did always carry with my fast acting glucose gel, but I never wanted to, or had to stop running to use it. I also agree that I would never have let any doctor tell me I couldn't run, even if my number was 400.
I run cross country as well, last season I had a lot of lows especially during races and it sucked! No matter how high my BG was before a race, somehow, I still went low...so I need to figure out what I can do to prevent that
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches were my go-to pre race snack. Those would normally hold me over. Also If I dropped too low, Gatorade did the trick as well. Since I was drinking so much water in the day to hydrate myself, I'd also drink a little Gatorade. This is pretty much the same system I followed for when I played soccer as well. I just wanted to avoid the lows, so I stayed a little higher, I would normally drop a lot after the fact though.