Something strange happened to me last night…normally when I work out my BG levels automatically go down but yesterday my BG was 178 before my workout and I had a snack before I went to my workout and it was all cardio for about 1hr 45 minutes. but when I got home and tested, I was at 215. Has anyone ever had this happen?
it’s not uncommon. something to do w/ the adrenaline and other hormones released in your blood during the workout causing a spike. but exercise is still a very good thing it makes you more insulin sensititive hopefully someone can give you more info about how to avoid these exercise induced spikes
You may have delayed stomach emptying from your evening meals and it doesnt empty until much later. This can cause a spike in sugars in the morning after workouts. You dont mention what you ate for breakfast. The 178 is awful high and you shouldn’t be that high nor need a snack before the workout of that type and length. I myself do nordic track for 15-30 minutes and my sugars max may come down 20 points about an hour after the workout.
I would talk further with your Doc about that high in the morning. That needs to be looked at closer. May your numbers all be happy in 2010!
If your workouts are in the morning what I posted could be your problem. If you are in the afternoon or night then it could be what your eating and how well your meds are covering you. In any event talk to your DOC further. That 178 seems awful high with your snack. Good luck!!!
I’ll usually have a protein shake before workout to provide a long duration source of fuel. I usually do weights and my blood sugar can really spike. I’ll usually have a 100 mg/dl rise. As a type 2 diabetic still producing insulin, you usually won’t have much concern about highs from exercise. It may just go with the territory. As Joe notes, you will be more insulin sensitive following exercise and most people find that their blood sugar drops within an hour or two afterwards.
What you do need to be careful about is if you are type 1 or an insulin deficient type 2, exercising when high without insulin may put you at risk of DKA. Most exercise advice is to be careful when you exercise over 200-250 mg/dl and to exercise with some insulin on board.
One thing that I have found is that if I spend the last 15 minutes or so of the workout just doing low steady state cardio, like walking at 2-4 mph, that will help bring my blood sugar down.
My work outs are usually in the afternoon and I had 178 right before workout, the snack was about an hour before that, I am on glucophage take 500 mgs twice a day
I am a type 2 and I am honestly just getting back to my workout after a few months hiatus but I have never experienced this, maybe I tested too soon after. I just always assumed that my BG’s go down after workouts. I will try the slow steady thing, I have always just gone full blast at the end and did like a 5 minute cool down.
Yes…for many reasons dept on starting blood sugar, insulin on board, type of exercise, etc. Bottom line is that body needs insulin to utilize the sugar for exercising muscle tissue AND we release a whole tonic of hormones in response to activity. When I was very young and playing vigorous indoor soccer I had to actually inject insulin to play soccer. My blood sugars were normal (less than 100mg/dl) at the start of the game and would go UP with sprinting activity of soccer…this was 1970’s and endo determined I was dumping glycogen from my liver when I sprinted, which increased my blood sugar (went above 180mg/dl) despite insulin and blood sugar control at beginning of bought of exercise. Bottom line…lots of things can happen. Test frequently and treat as appropriate.
I am a T-2 and had to up my glucophage from 500 X2 a day to 1500 a day. That did the trick to get my after meal BG’s down quicker and I am level and dont have to snack before workout. I was like you and had to do that prior to that. You have to do what works for you… Good Luck
Thanks Patricia. You learn something new every day I always assumed the opposite that exercise would lower your sugars which someone said earlier is the case. I think I just tested too quick after the work out, I kinda did a little experiment yesterday in my diabetes management solutions project and what I did was test Pre-workout as usual and waited an hour Post-workout as suggested by Pauly earlier. and the results were that an hour after workout I had dropped from 225 to 146. The workout was 1 hour cardio followed by 1hr weight lifting. So my conclusion is still that I tested too soon I suppose.
I too have higher bg after execise. I usually do a 45-minute cardio in the morning from a bg of 90 it will increase to 130 to 140. I have noticed that since the first year from diagnosis, I was required my doctor to log in bg every after 1-2 hours after meals and after every activities (execise, sports,etc). concerning at first but aftet about 10 minutes of rest…it will decrease and stabilize to normal 80 to 100. Drinking water after exercise also helps.
This is actually a good pattern. In a type 2, your body will naturally respond to exercise having your liver produce blood sugar to fuel the extra demand for energy. Running a little high during exercise helps and then having your blood sugar drop down to 80-100 in that short a time is great. In may case, management is a little more difficult. I’ll rise to over 200 mg/dl and if I don’t eat I’ll float slowly drifting downward. Typically and hour or two without meal afterwards I’ll still be 140-180 mg/dl. I have post workout nutrition which helps as it seems to generate some insulin response, but as one can imagine when you consume carbs on top of a 200 mg/dl, your blood sugar rises even more.
“What, me worry?”
I just close my eyes to it. In the end, I figure that I’m going to be better of in the end doing the exercise. I’ve thus stopped testing after exercise for the most part, I know it will be scary high, but if there is nothing I can do about it and I’ve already accepted it, then why worry?
This always happens to me. Exercise raises my bg but then hours later it crashes down.
Take care:) and I wish you all the best in the new year.
I am testing and chronologicalizing everything for my diabetes management solutions project. In this particular case the question I need to know is the optimum time to exercise for proper management. For the diet part of the project, I eat 6 small meals a day instead of the regular 3 which means that my body is constantly working to break down food and thus increase the metabolism, my carbohydrate content in the diet is very low.
But I am starting this after a few months of no exercise and a changing of jobs to a more sedimentary one led my sugars to skyrocket to the higher 200. My fasting in the last week has constantly been 200 but this morning it was 150 so I am already seeing some results. I want to be able to maintain my BG’s at let say constant 140 since am eating every few hours during the day but my fasting in the morning has to be below 100 and so the work out schedule comes into question as well. Do I work out in the morning before breakfast at fasting time or after work when I have been eating all day? Should I do both times? these are just some of the questions I need answered from the diabetes management solutions project, I think when it is all said and done in 30 days that I will be able to get a clearer picture.
@ teena
Ok have you tested let say an hour after exercise and what does that number look? like because yesterday I tested after an hour and it had gone down but the day before I tested about 15 min after workout and it was higher.
What are your goals? Are you looking to use exercise to make the biggest reduction in your postprandial blood sugars? Your fasting blood sugars? Is it all about fitness and revving up your metabolism?
What the variables are. Workout time? Pre workout nutrition? Post workout nutrition? Carbs vs protein?
All this stuff affects things and everybody is very individualistic. You may also find a high variability in how you react, one day having your blood sugar drop, but on another, under seemingly exact conditions it will rise.
My suggestion would be to just choose a simple target, lowering your fasting. Choose an achievable exercise regime and a simple approach to what you eat before and afterwards and stick to it for a month. If it helps you should see some improvement. Give it a chance tho, cause it takes time.
I have also looked at the digestion issue as well since on this day I had the snack about an hour before workout had an hour workout and tested about 15 min after so about 2 hours and 15min later which is the time digestion is at its highest. I have adjusted the snack time and I haven’t seen the spike again in the last couple of days, even though now I am testing about an hour after work out as well.
Hey Shannon do your numbers stay high longer than an hour after your work out
My BG is always higher after exercise.