Hello all
Does anyone else experience a high blood sugar after having a temporary basal rate for a long time? I went on a 5-6 hour hike today and had a 60% reduction on the entire time. My sugar was 8.6mmol when I stopped, but after having a meal it rose up to 18.1!
I think it may have to do with the fact that I did not have enough insulin on board…thoughts?
Thanks!
A little hard to know without further details–what did you eat (carbs), did you bolus for it and how much, etc. But FWIW I have experienced a BG rise during extended strenuous exercise, even though everything I’d ever learned–and my own long experience–told me to expect it to drop. Apparently it’s something that can happen if the nature of the exercise is such that it kicks in your adrenal system. Usually that means short bursts of intense activity, but other things can do it as well apparently, since it happened to me for very different reasons, near as I can figure out.
Dunno if that applies here but the point is that despite all the rules and guidelines, what actually happens with this disease is not always predictable. Sometimes you have to just make note of it, compare with what occurs the next time in similar conditions and see if you can detect a pattern. In my case I had a couple more instances of the anomalous reaction and figured out–I’m pretty sure–that it was happening on the times I was riding my bike on those days of 20° and lower here in Boston this past winter. The cold temps seem to trigger the kind of reaction you usually only get with short, intense exercise. My adrenal system must have figured I was being chased by a polar bear since what kind of idiot would be riding his bike when it’s 17° out?
I’ve had that happen a few times. It’s frustrating when everything is fine for the entire work out and then up I go once I stop. If I know I’ve had my basal off for a long time (more than 3 hours or so) I will try and turn my basal back on about 15 minutes or so before I’m done with my exercise to try and head that off - but even that depends on things like where my sugar is at that point, what kind of exercise I’m doing, etc…
Basically, it’s controlled trial and error…