that is very true! I guess the only way I can tell is by trial and error. Although I already know a walk with my dog will bring me low! I will try to see what happens with weight lifting- I have a video for sculpting but it has lunges and squats on it so I’m not sure if that’s considered aerobic with that cause it definitely gets my heart going.
I also notice way later in the night after waitressing I get low- around bedtime! But that was before I started cutting back on my bolus after eating that night and drinking a couple ounces of coke during the shift.
if exercise is good for you then it will make your more insulin sensitive (right word?). But i guess we have to go over the hurdle of a few lows before we start fixing our insulin dosage. Maybe you need to back off the insulin a little, maybe the lantus.
http://www.acefitness.org/fitfacts/fitfacts_display.aspx?itemid=2607
i was a waitress when i was honeymooning, so i don’t know… I like to walk but if i’m not working out hard like running or kick boxing then i don’t feel like i’m exercising. But since i’m not at my peak anymore i have to start out slow and hopefully start running. I used to eat right after i exercised, mmm subway.
Watch out you can eat in 5 minutes what it takes 1 hour of strenous exercise to loose.
Everybody seems to agree that exercise helps insulin sensitivity. The last thing you want is to have a dead pancreas and become insulin rssistant.
how about no pancreas like me??
Walking is number one when it comes for cardio, making sure you have what you need when you walk is key. And yes walking can help in weight loss if you are aiming for 12,000 steps a day min, with 10,000 as maintance.
My GF has lost over 80 pounds from only walking and watching what she eats, and she is on a regulated income and has fibro so it can be a chore for her at times to get out and walk, never mind move.
I walk 5 to 10 miles a day, most of it walking my dog but some of its dun at the gym on the treadmill (if at the gym its intervul traIning that I’m doing on the treadmill, alternating between walking and running). I find that depending on how much I put into the work out weather my levels spike or drop.
I know of a body builder who is diabetic, i’ve read an article on a bloke who is in the US army and has type 2 diabetes and when that article was written was being deployed. As a diabetic you can do anything that you set your mind towards, you just have to find what work for you and aim for your goal.
I am Insulin Resistant and a type 2 diabetic, I am on Lantus (24 hours acting) and Glumetza (extended release metfomin) though only on lantus for the past 8 months (was put on it shortly after my hyster because my levels wouldn’t come down, but now that they are, it might be coming off of it). Anyhow, find what works for you when it comes to working out, working out should help your body with its insulin levels, drops are comon, and eating right before you work out can be part of the key to a safe drop, as well as eating the right foods after working out, and even having something during working out can help.
For myself I make sure to eat high carb before I go to the gym by high carb I mean I eat a pice of fruit or veggies followed by a protein of some sort, like a pice of chicken. I will eat it 30 min before going to the gym, 10 min before working out I’ll down a full cup of water and on my walk over to the gym munch on a stick of cheese (string cheese). I always carry a packet of powered gaterade to add to my water if I need it while working out, if I feel funny while working out I stop and test my levels, if low i drop the packet into my water and drink, stop working out and go to the juice bar and grab a protein bar or muscle milk (depends on how low i’ve gotten). After working out, I’ll eat the fruit or pack of veggies I packed for post work out, head home and have dinner. I make sure to have food within 30 min of finshing my work outs and I make sure that they are balanced, packing good protien source wish a carb and fat.
I trained for a triathalon on a pump, and continue to run and cycle. Distance training is especially difficult to adjust insulin for, but it is possible. I usually will give myself a reduced basal rate before I leave, then turn my pump off or a low basal when exercising, and then adjust after. I also sometimes will just drink enough juice or something before I go to keep me high enough. I usually am on the high side then give myself a bolus when finishing to bring me down to normal.
It is just important to be well prepared. I have gone for long hikes and such before and been fine, just have to have all your stuff with you. I hiked fairly steep mountain in Guatemala that initially scared me to do, but I realized I could if I prepared well enough.
If you are on Lantus, talk to your doctor, they will be able to help you tweak it more finely.
Marina,
I see that you’ve only been T1 since January so it is all still quite new to you (even though you’ve been dealing with chronic pancreatitis for many years). I’ve been T1 for 31 years and while that doesn’t make me some sort of expert I hate to see someone think they cannot do certain things because of diabetes. You can do any exercise you want - all you have to do is plan for it. I have found that keeping logs is paramount (even though it can be a pain in the back side) when trying to figure out what kind of adjustments need to be made to insulin and carb intake. Take at least 3 days and log everything - food, mood, exercise (including work), insulin doses and blood sugar - meaning before you eat, 2 hours postprandial, before you excercise, 1 hour after, 2 hours after, middle of the night. Take your log in with you or however you communicate with your doctor/cde and they can give you an idea of how to manage your doses with the Lantus and rapid. Once you are on the pump it will be a whole other process.
The reason for so many checks is to see how the stress hormones work in your body for different scenarios of excercise and different types of foods.
Everyone is different so while I can tell you what I do and what my son does (which is totally different than me) you truly need to figure out what your body will do.
The other thing I saw you mention was that you tend to go low several hours after or overnight. Here is somewhat of a “simple” explanation for that phenomenon - quite often when you exercise your blood sugar will rise during the intense moments which is caused by a release of glycogen (from your liver mostly and muscles). This happens to everyone D or not. As a T1 you don’t have the insulin in your system to cover this and thus the high blood sugar. What happens later and often during periods of rest - your body replaces this storage of glycogen so it takes it from elsewhere which is what causes you to get a delayed low. This low can catch you off guard because sometimes it can come 18-24 hours later.
There are athletes who actually take insulin right before they exercise, but then compensate it with food intake later.
Also, as your body gets used to the exercise you are doing - the less energy it takes for you to do that exercise. For instance if you are just starting to a new work out plan the specific muscles used for that exercise will not be used to the movements required and will take more energy, but as you continue to do those same movements, your body will become stronger and more effecient at those movements, thus taking less energy to do the same thing.
Sorry, this became a very long post. I just want to encourage you to try everything and don’t limit yourself on exercises, which are so important for your health. Just know your body and prepare yourself. Take care.
Seems to be a manageable disease as long as you don’t also become insulin resistant. the combo is a real downer.
The trick is not to force anything. Progress will happen naturally. Takes patience.
wow thank you so much for the detailed explanations! This explains a lot about when I first started waitressing and now the lows aren’t as bad as they were, and the walking. For logs, do you get them online or just use a notebook? I’ve done sugar stats, but it became a hassle putting the numbers in manually every time I checked my bs or took insulin. There has to be an easier way, right?
http://www.lifescan.com/products/booklets/logbook/
i hate the little books, so i print a full page of this and then make duplicates. Or i’ll use this set up and write in a book (hopefully my new pink journal). Sometimes i fold the paper and throw it in my purse. I’ll even write stuff on the side to help me remember stuff, like how much lantus i’m taking or my sliding scale. I don’t like the online one either because it feels like homework putting on those numbers in, and one time i messed up! I didn’t want to start over.
My advice is do nothing, till we hear more.
I see I’m late to the game here and people have given pretty good points so far. My own experience is that extended low-intensity cardio will lower blood glucose in the short term because it only works to burn your muscles’ stored glucose and if necessary, the glucose in your blood and anything your liver has to give up. There is a modest lowering effect following that type of exercise for a little while- usually until the next day. So that probably is not what you are looking for. It isn’t very effective exercise for maintaining muscle tissue and increasing insulin sensitivity anyways.
As others have pointed out, very strenuous exercise causes the release of stress hormones which signal your liver to release a lot of its sugar stores. The rise in blood glucose typically happens in the couple of hours following this activity and sometimes begins at the tail end of it. Some of this depends on your diet that day and what your insulin levels happen to be at the time. The types of exercise that do this includes weightlifting (more so at the heavier, lower rep sets as opposed to the longer lighter weight reps) and cardio routines that are heavy on the anaerobic activity.
High intensity interval training is a curious one though, with one foot in both sides. It is basically a type of cardio that only lasts 15-20 minutes at most, but burns more fat than a 45-minute extended cardio routine and preserves muscle tissue as opposed to breaking it down like the extended aerobic activity tends to do. You can google it but put simply, it involves short (30 seconds to 1 minute) bursts of maximum output such that your heart rate hits the ceiling of its maximum, basically as hard as you can push yourself, and then longer intervals in between where you allow it to come down back down to say, the low end of the “fat burning zone”. Rinse, wash, repeat 4-5 times. You know you are doing it right when your leg muscles are burning like hot coals and you feel like you want to puke during the bursts (this last one goes away as you get used to the routine). It doesn’t lower your blood glucose like extended routines and can even help raise it in the short term but it increases your metabolism significantly for days following a single bout and you will notice the increase in insulin sensitivity too. That is how it ends up being more efficient for weight loss than sitting on a bike reading Twilight for 45 minutes and texting on your phone.
Symlin can be used at the end of a strenuous workout to prevent much of the rise in blood glucose but that is an advanced technique you should not attempt until you have been using Symlin for a few months and know what you are doing.
Yoga 
If you want to lose weight the best form of exercise you can do is cardio-vascular in nature. Walking, running, aerobics, swimming, etc. But if this is causing you to go low every time and then you have to treat the low, you are not going to get anywhere.
You need to cut back your insulin for the times when you are active so that you don’t have to eat more to compensate. Otherwise you can exercise all you want but you won’t loose much because you are just going to be feeding your insulin constantly.
You should talk to your doctor on how to accomplish this, and how to adjust your insulin for activity. I’ve never used lantus so I can’t give you any advice on that.
It is true that high intensity anaerobic activity can raise blood sugar because it can cause an adrenaline like response, but you will most likely end up with a low a few hours after this type of exercise.
LOL, you are soooooo funny! Just sit in chocolate hot tubs! And chase Scott!
I test before I exercize each morning; sometimes I increase my basal during exercize as my blood sugar goes up with a hard work out, not low. Then I test after to be sure. Monitor closely, that is your remedy, kwlawson