Hi-
I am a new member here. This seems to be a great site for
help and giving help. I have helped many deal with their diabetes over
the last 16 years. Now i need some help...
Here's my issue right
now. Exercise is such an important area in my life but lately my blood
sugar is causing me trouble. Ideally, i workout in the afternoon riding
my bike without my pump, i try to have my BS around 150, when i finish,
it will be around 80. But when i work out in the morning, like lifting
weights, i wake up with my BS at 80, eat a small bfast, then go to the
gym without my pump. So i am without insulin for about an hour, and
when i am finished, my BS is 300. So the next day, same story with the
morning workout, this time i wear my pump, BS after the workout is
300...so the lack of insulin isn't the issue.
I am so confused.
Why does this only happen in the mornings? Has anyone had this issue.
To eliminate this issue lately, i am not working out in the mornings,
but i would like to
My BS is under control all other times, my last A1C was 5.3
Anyone that could give me some insight would be great
Thanks
Tim
Hi Tim - welcome to Juvenation! We're glad to have you here.
Exercise can do funny things to us. Have you ever read The Diabetic Athlete's Handbook by Dr. Sheri Colberg? I got it as I was training for my first half-marathon last spring, and found it very helpful. You might also find it of value. She breaks down all kinds of exercise and explains how BG usually reacts, and gives you some guidelines on how to prepare. Totally worth the $15 or whatever it is.
From what you've said, I'm guessing a couple of things are at play here. (Keep in mind, I have absolutely no medical training; just personal experience with D and exercise.)
First, we all have insulin resistance in the mornings. Are you taking insulin to cover your food at breakfast, or skipping it? (And, what blood sugar are you starting at when you exercise in the morning? If you're already on the high side, exercise will usually just send you higher.)
Second, activities like strength and resistance training (i.e., lifting weights) actually tend to raise blood glucose levels in most people, due to the secretion of hormones that trigger the liver to release glucose into the blood.
Here's an online article that explains it pretty well, also: http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/1994/06/01/217/why-does-my-sugar-go-up-after-exercise/
I hope this helps, and that you can find a solution soon.
Kim
P.S. Way to go on your A1C!
Excellent reply Kim, you were right on the money!!
Hello Tim, welcome aboard.
Richard
Welcome, Tim! I also find that some times / types of exercise make me go low and others make me go uncontrollably high. Probably the stress hormones. I have terrible insulin resistance in the morning, so I try to work out in the afternoons. But, if the mornings work for you, so may have to work on slowly taking more and more insulin to cover the high rather than disconnecting?
Let us know what happens!
@Kim- Thanks so much for your reply. Your time for help is much appreciated. And your advice seems perfect for me. You know whats funny about all this; it has only been an issue over the last couple of month. Diabetes is funny isnt it! Frustrating at times, but funny. There is nothing worse than having to carb up just to work out.
@Richard- Thanks for your comments, i am glad that i found this site. I am sure that i can find many useful tools and maybe even be able to help out others in their struggles...
@Sarah-I agree with you, i should keep plugged, but i get so worried about having low BS at the gym. I almost have come to terms that i am going to be high if i work out in the mornings. It would just be my luck (i dont have bad luck) that i plug in, and my blood goes to 15!!! Its trial and error, but i will figure it out. I really appreciate your help.
[quote user="timr25"]riding my bike without my pump,[/quote]
I started riding my bike about 30 years ago, and I started pumping 15 years ago. I keep my pump connected, with a temp basal or alternative profile that's lower than for days when I don't ride. Are you disconnecting because someone told you you should, or because your own experiments led you to that conclusion?
Tom
[quote user="Tom"]
[quote user="timr25"]riding my bike without my pump,[/quote]
I started riding my bike about 30 years ago, and I started pumping 15 years ago. I keep my pump connected, with a temp basal or alternative profile that's lower than for days when I don't ride. Are you disconnecting because someone told you you should, or because your own experiments led you to that conclusion?
Tom
[/quote]
Hi Tom. Thanks for your post.
I take my pump to ride my bike. i try and always start with my BS 150 or higher and finish with my BS at 80 (give or take 10).
Now when i lift weights is when i have issues. So, yes, it is my own conclusions to unplug when i ride. Riding my bike is my natural "insulin" at times also. When i get home from work and lets say my BS is 250 due to my site being infected or poor eating during the day, i jump on the bike for 45 minutes, and when i am done, my BS is 145 or so. Much better than a bolus to correct or injection...
Kim explains it perfectly. I actually learned last year a lot about diabetes I didn't know from one of my college courses. I went on to do a lot of research about hormones and stress and even working out that really helped me understand my own body a little bit better. I've found this website in my research, http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/17561156.php, which explains things pretty well.
Although I don't like the wording the author chooses to use (she herself is diabetic), such as normal people to talk about someone who is not diabetic. I don't like to think as myself as abnormal. And I also don't fully agree with everything she says about how to lower the fasting blood sugars but the explanations about why our blood sugar is higher in the morning completely makes sense.
Hope this helped!
Courtney
Thanks for the post Courtney. I am getting a lot of great materiel here. Yea, i think it is funny how people think that i/we are different because of diabetes. But hey, it makes us stronger at the same time. You seem to be a very strong individual yourself by the way you write.
Part of the issue is that i start with my BS at 80, and 1 hour later, it will be 300! I have been dealing with diabetes for 16 years now, i just turned 30, and now i am having this issue. Maybe its my old age now at 30 :)
So that is my problem, why now, why all of sudden i am having issues. Being a pumper for 8 years i understand having to change basil rates around due to the time of year, weather, or just because, but this is very frustrating. Obviously i can eliminate the issue and not work out in the mornings, but hey, im stubborn and want to figure this one out!
I will be reading up on everything that has been pasted here in this thread. Thanks again everyone
Tim
You're very welcome Tim. Juvenation is a wonderful site, I actually found the site the week after I was diagnosed and have been addicted to it ever since. My father and I are both Type 1's and joke a lot about being robots and having artificial parts, but I still believe that I'm the same as everyone else. I've tried to stay strong over the past year and a half since my diagnosis, a lot of it has to do with my family (there are 5 others in my family who have type 1) and their positive attitudes about the disease. It's been especially hard over the past two months, I've had my endo leave my hospital(who I've seen for many years even before diabetes due to hypothyroidism), and I've had BGs in the 200 and 300s almost constantly. But I don't let anything get me down, or at least let people see that it's getting me down.
Not trying to say you are old or anything... :) But age does change the way you're body interacts with your diabetes, I hear this from my dad allll the time! He complains about having to use more and more insulin all the time. He was diagnosed at 25 I believe and is 47 now. I'm sure that anyone on here can tell you that as you age things are definitely changing constantly.
Honestly it could be a number of things that are causing your BG issues. Trial and error has been my way of trying to get good blood sugars. I've been on the pump for a year and have changed my basal rate and my insulin to carb ratio so many times it's starting to get frustrating. I always find that I have to take more insulin when the school year starts up because I'm waking up earlier and I'm stressing out more, so when I wake up at 6 I change my basal to give me more insulin at 4 a.m., that way when 6 a.m. rolls around and my blood sugar is starting to spike, that extra insulin is already in my system.
I'd suggest just trying some things, maybe eat the same thing everyday and do the same amount of physical activity but change the other variables, amount of insulin, the time you're taking your insulin, see what works for you. Maybe you up your basal rate two hours before, or maybe you do a combo bolus for breakfast.
I hope this makes sense/helps out a little!
Courtney
[quote user="Courtney"]
I'd suggest just trying some things, maybe eat the same thing everyday and do the same amount of physical activity but change the other variables, amount of insulin, the time you're taking your insulin, see what works for you. Maybe you up your basal rate two hours before, or maybe you do a combo bolus for breakfast.
[/quote]
Wow, you have 5 diabetics in your family. Now that is something that i have never heard
Yes, trail and error is our lives isn't it...I think on this matter of my early morning workouts, i think i am just going to have to give them up and that is fine with me. Its just not worth the stress on my body with the high BG's
Thanks again for all your time and support Courtney
[quote user="timr25"]
[quote user="Courtney"]
I'd suggest just trying some things, maybe eat the same thing everyday and do the same amount of physical activity but change the other variables, amount of insulin, the time you're taking your insulin, see what works for you. Maybe you up your basal rate two hours before, or maybe you do a combo bolus for breakfast.
[/quote]
Wow, you have 5 diabetics in your family. Now that is something that i have never heard
Yes, trail and error is our lives isn't it...I think on this matter of my early morning workouts, i think i am just going to have to give them up and that is fine with me. Its just not worth the stress on my body with the high BG's
Thanks again for all your time and support Courtney
[/quote]
Yes my grandmother (dad's mother), my aunt (dad's sister), her daughter (my cousin), my cousin's 2 year old son, my father and then me makes 6. And they try and say diabetes is not genetic... I beg to differ! All of them are on my father's side of the family. My grandmother had 4 children, 2 of her 4 children wound up being diabetic, my aunt only had one child who is diabetic, my cousin had twins and one of them is diabetic and my father had 2 children one of which (me) is diabetic. My other two aunts who do not have diabetes, all of their 8 children are fine, it's only the one's that had diabetes who have children with diabetes. It's pretty crazy.
If it's what's best for your body then it's better for you.