After a full day of skiing my blood sugar levels are very high. All other exercise lowers my blood sugar. Does anyone else suffer from this? I take minimal insulin based on food intake as I do with other sports, but leave my insulin pump turned on at 100%.
Couple questions: 1. Did you intake extra fats the night before or for breakfast? 2. Any stress (like nervousness because of new sport or who you were with)? Those two things cause mine to climb much higher when I forget to adjust because of them.
I'm assuming this is down-hill skiing. I tend to vault very high sometimes when skiing or rock climbing because I forget that those two sports are not like basketball. They really do involve much Less calorie-burning activity. Down-hill skiing is really about 60% of the day sitting on the lift or waiting in line for the lift.
Don't know if that helps, but I do use a lot more insulin when skiing and rockclimbing than I do swimming, cycling, or hiking - if we're comparing sports.
Also, when I was in track in high school and college, I tended to run extra high the day after a meet. There's some sort of scientific reason for that, but I don't remember what it was.
Perhaps others have more insight.
I've had similar experiences playing softball, where my blood sugar goes up and not down like it does during other physical activity. (I don't wear my pump during the game, but my basal rate is so low it shouldn't matter.) Like Alisa, I think it's primarily because it's a sport with lots of standing around punctuated by bursts of activity. But I also think the mental stress of the activity (unlike biking to work) is a factor.
Jagolly,
I've been skiing for 36 years, all of that time with diabetes. There have been times when my blood sugar has increased (once rising from 120 to 280 over a period of 60 minutes despite not eating anything for the previous 4 hours) for no apparent reason. Most of the time, I find that I need a snack about every 90 minutes. Using a CGM on the slopes is a godsend.
On typical days, my blood sugar falls dramatically while walking through town carrying skis early in the morning. Once I go up the gondola, I test my blood, and more often than not, have a snack.
During the afternoons, oftentimes the food I ate during lunch (big meal - high fat, protein and carbohydrates) causes my blood sugar to rise 4 or 5 hours later when I'm relaxing in the condo.
As for insulin dosages, I keep them the same. I use snacks if I go low.
I really don't know but I do remember reading that I shouldn't exercise if my BG is above 250 because it will cause the value to increase rather than decrease. I have noticed this effect on a few occasions. But I have no idea about what happens when I ski because it is a difficult sport to master in Florida.
Jeff
Hey, I find this happens to me sometimes when I do an intense session in the gym. From what I have read and understood, when your body is doing some vigorous exercise your muscles are trying to transport glucose to your muscles for optimal performance, which in turn if there isn't enough insulin could cause elevated blood glucose levels. Since glucose is your main source of energy, your muscles will need more to perform the desired activity so there will be a release in glucose. That is why it is crucial to replenish your glycogen stores by consuming carbohydrates every few hours or so, and also after your workout you have a 30 minute window to ingest protein (30g or so with about 5g of CHO).
You might find the book "Diabetic Athlete's Handbook" useful, the author is Sheri R. Colberg.
Hope this helps :)
Various anaerobic activities stimulates your liver to release glucagon into your system, raising your blood sugar at times. This happens when I am power lifting so I actually need some insulin in my system before I start to keep my blood sugar in a more normal range.
It is interesting to hear you say skiing raises your blood sugar because snowboarding torches my BG. I turn my pump down 75-80% and still come in with on the low end of normal. Altitude and temperature is another variable to worry about which impacts your body and absorption requiring changes in treatment plans. This, like many situations dealing with diabetes, is a lot of trial and error and seeing what works for you since everyone's remaining pancreas function, liver, insulin sensitivity, absorption, impact of eating and exercise is different. Good luck!
+1 for Diabetic Athlete's Handbook. Definitely a good resource.