OK…So yesterday i was going to go for a 6 mile run. Before I went I checked my blood glucose and it was 112. So I ate a 30 gram carb snack and took no insulin. When I got home I was feeling a tad low, so I checked my blood glucose again and it was 56. So I drank some orange juice and waited 15 minutes and checked again. It was 49. Ugh!!! I was so frustrated. So I made a peanut butter sandwich and had some more orange juice. Waited 20 minutes and tested again… 94!!! OK…so I figure it is coming up noe I better take some insulin to cover my sandwich. But I tend to be sensitive to insulin after excercise so I just give myself 1 unit to cover 56 grams of carbs. An hour later I am feeling low again and test and low and behold it is 43!!! UGhhhh!!! I was so pissed!!! Drank some Pepsi and tested again 20 minutes later and it was 85. And it finally stayed up!!! But I ended up consuming like 500 more calories than I wanted to~!!! I hate this disease!!
Me too, I hate diabetes.
Congratulations, Ryan. You stayed on top of it.
Have you thought about going on a pump? You can lower your basal insulin for exercise. My pump has a basal lowering function that lasts for 2 hours - you can lower for any percentage of your regular dose.
Yep I’m with you. The worst is when you start working out you’re fine (130). Then in the middle of the run, you feel it, and you think you’re just tired and having a bad running day. Then when you check, you’re below 60. Then after you consume all 10 of your glucose tabs, you still are low and it comes a wasted day in working out!
I second this. I would have a lot of problems with hypoglycemia and exercise if I could not use temporary basals.
Pump is too limiting!!! I don’t want one attached to me!!! No thanks!!
Going on the pump isn’t all of that easy of a solution. I’ve been wanting a pump forever now but I have no insurance and not nearly enough money saved to buy one myself. If this is your situation I would say to possibly slightly cut back on your long lasting insulin on days you are going to run so much. You may need to take a little more fast acting at meals before you exercise though like breakfast. If you didn’t take insulin before you ran and you ate it has to be too much long lasting insulin that is making you go low.
I hate it too…sorry you had it rough!
Yeah I have the same problem, I usually have to set my insulin pump to like 50 or 60 % so I only get lower dose while working hard at UPS over in Cerritos, Ca. I always check myself where my sugar is at break ususally its somewhere in 70 or 80 but I still need to eat something, if its lower I have a few minutes to eat something, I just got the insulin pump, I’m really courious want will happen in the summer since it hits somewhere in the high 90 or 100 inside the building. what do you take for protein I myself take Isopure and Amino fuel made by Twinlab, its doesn’t affect my sugar.
what kind of insulin do you use, I use apidra, I sometimes don’t feel any affect when I’m hitting HIGHs or lows, I barely feel anything.
Ryan,
I feel your pain…I’ve had days like that, too, and it is very frustrating!!!
I am on a pump, but sometimes I may work out more intensely than I expected and I still go low, regardless of my temp basal rate.
Have you tried treating with glucose tabs? They are not as caloric, and bring up BG fairly quickly. Just be sure to have a little protein once your BG is back up so that it stays stable. That’s what a CDE once told me to do.
On the contrary, it is far less limiting than being on MDI. Have you ever been on a pump? What is it about the pump you feel is limiting?
I second the glucose tab + protein idea! It is easier for me to get the sugar up in a more controlled fashion this way with less calories. I was gaining weight from having so many lows until I switched to only treating with glucose tabs. Now my weight is stable while I am trying to get the lows under control.
hey ryan, I wanted to let you know about the pump i thought the SAME thing, but ever since i started it its been so great and easy i would never go back to mdi, I do my modeling with it and everything, usually the on;y time anyone notices is when i show it to them 
haha
Pumping is the best thing that has happened to my workout life. I don’t know what I ever did without temporary basals!!!
i wanna pump to amanda, i have zero insurance 
but it sounds so good!
that’s for sure. i dream about it almost every day haha.
It is so frustrating to workout and then have to eat more calories than you burn. Even on the insulinpump I tend to still go low many times during exercise. How often do you exercise? Since I exercise almost everyday, I made adjustments to accomadate that and do better but every once in awhile still have a scary low like 34 and wonder why the exercise was so difficult today when last week it was fine. Sometimes I just have to remember that calories isn’t the only reason I exercise for. There are so many benefits that it is still worth the effort. Don’t give up, even when it is frustrating.
hahaha I totally understand what you’re saying.
I am completely all over the place when I exercise.
If it’s a strenuous cardio session, burning 500 calories in one hour, my BG will sky rocket!
If it’s a casual cardio, burning up to 250 calories, my BG drops drastically.
I usually go with a bottle of water and a bottle of gaterade, depending on which reaction I get.
But, yeah, to put the calories that you’ve just worked so hard to skim off, back on, is really friggin aggravating