Listen, Im wondering what people do for exercise and Type 1 diabetes. I have been a type 1 for over 35 years and am frustrated with Post workout highs.
Depending on what my sugar level is 1/2 hr Pre-work determines my Temp Basil I set. My work outs are 1 hour long, and I would categorize them as an above average workout. (In my eyes lol)
If Im 10 (180) or higher (1/2 hr before) I set a 60% (Animas Scale 40% for 1 1/2 hours) basil rate for 1 1/2 hours
If Im lower than 10(180) I usually give myself a 10% (Animas Scale 40% for 1 1/2 hours) basil rate for 1 1/2 hours
Pre-workout I have a protein bar 25g carbs
During my work out I may drop down to 5.0 (90) but about 30-45 minutes after…look out up I go, sometimes as high as 14 (252) or higher and that is without any food, then I do the worst thing and start chasing with insulin.
So my question to put out to all of you is, what are your patterns for work out and Type 1 diabetes? Sorry forgot to say I’m on the Tandem Tslim X2 pump, with Dexcom G5, and Fiasp insulin.
When you have extended periods of lower basal, a high BG which follows is not surprising.
I would bolus immediately when you finish, to replace some of that lost basal, and also add enough insulin so that you can take in some carbs afterward too, to replenish what you used.
4 things that are very important after exercise - hydration to replace what you lost, carbs to replenish muscle glycogen, protein to repair muscle fibers, and insulin so that the carbs can be used.
For less intense exercise, those things are not as necessary. At lower intensities, your body will be using more fat for fuel. And your muscle fibers will not be stressed enough to need as much protein.
But for harder workouts, those are the 4 things that are very important.
If I am 180 and above. I do not eat anything. I do straight cardio for about an hour.
I used to take a hammer gel prior to working out stop doing that a while ago.
Protein bars may have a lot of fat, that may be cause of your sugar to going up later.
I do not have highs unless I ate too much during the workout like hammer gel.
I have had highs after 5k and 10k because I always push hard at the real race.
Keep monitoring your sugar at different points in the workout.
I would do every 30 min while at the gym when you get home and bedtime
to see what is going on.
My workout is about 1 hr on the treadmill land some weights . I turn basal down to about 0-50% usually a half hour before or maybe an 1 hour
Everyone is different so it is basically trial and error
Still trying to get it right.
Try a lower fat 25 carbs item. Banana or raisins and see if that helps.
you can add some nuts after you see what removing the protein bar does.
also if the intensity of the workout is causing the high, slow it down and see if that has an effect.
just my opinion
I use virtual active for scenery on the treadmill and great music.
Thanks for introducing this post; I’ve found post-workout BGs to be a counter-intuitive challenge, too. Time of day, as typ1 wrote, seems to be a significant factor. Something else I noticed, is that if I manage a consistent routine with my exercise for a period of days, the post work-out high goes away. It’s almost like my body stockpiles glycogen somewhere during bleak or sloppy weather when I’ve used the car, but then dumps it into my blood stream when there’s a nice day and I cycle to work. I’ll arrive at work with an unexpectedly high BG. If I continue to bike commute over the subsequent days, it doesn’t happen anymore. It never happens on the ride home in the evenings and doesn’t seem predictable enough to safely pre-dose.
Glycogen (a complex carb made up of several glucose molecules) is stored not only in one’s liver but also skeletal muscles. Upon demand (exercise for instance) glycogen is released from both the liver and the muscles and is likely the cause of your BG spikes.
Caution should be used, as both the liver and muscles are not bottomless pits (reservoirs) for glycogen stores.
Muscle glycogen can only be used by the cells in which they are stored because the cells do not have the enzyme glucose 6-phosphatase. Therefore, muscle glycogen can not be used to directly raise blood glucose the way liver glycogen can.
Muscle cells can release pyruvate and lactate, and this can be converted to glucose by the liver.
Or during extreme periods of exertion or starvation, muscle cells can begin to convert their proteins into amino acids and release them into the blood, and those can be converted to glucose by the liver.
But muscle glycogen does not directly raise blood glucose, and this is not what the original poster is seeing.
