Need Help new here and getting low Blood Sugars

[chaztrip]

Looking for some insight here…. Here is my quick story I went to the Dr about 2 years ago and they said I had metabolic syndrome or pre diabetes… my fasting BS was avg 130 and my A1C was 6.3. They never put me on any Meds but was told to eat better and exercise… Well I started to eat better but not exercise…. Here is where the issues begin. About 45 days ago I started to exercise again I used to ride a bike up to 30 miles a day….. So lately I am riding my bike or jogging on the treadmill, sometime my BS will start out at 130 and after 25 mins of riding it will drop to 65. One day I went out a little after I ate and it was 160 then dropped to 68 after about 25 mins of riding…. I am not riding super hard but I am not bagging it either. When it drops down to that low I have been taking some Hammer Gel(which I found out is not fast acting) or some juice. I don’t want to stop excising because I have lost about 16 pounds and have about 50 more to go!!! But the lows are freaking me out…

So here is the deal I go to my DR and he says next time it gets down to 65-70 to try and keep going he tells me since I am type 2 or suffer from metabolic syndrome that it wont go down any lower then that!! He says my body will adjust!! I don’t feel to awful when its down there because I am doing some fairly strenuous exercise… but I don’t want it to go lower and have me pass out or something like that.

Questions…. Isn’t that a big drop going from 130-160 down to 65ish??? What can I do to prevent that or is that the nature of the beast? Is my doctor completely off the wall when he says that I will not go any lower then 60……? What can I do to keep up the longer types of exercise and not freak out about my sugar going too low… I don’t want to put too many calories in me as I am trying to reduce the weight also.

Thanks!!

[patricia52]

I was told to treat a hypo under 75 but I have to treat at around 85 because I become shakey. You could try eating a little peanut butter or some nuts before you exercise. You doctor is giving general advice but you know your body better than he does. Since you are going so low you must take something with you when you are exercising. Maybe just pop a candy (I like peanut butter candy for this) into your mouth half way throug the exercise or take a swallow of juice. We all know how bad you feel after a hypo. I feel bad the rest of the day after a bad hypo and often go hypo one or two more times before I get my BG stable again.

[Ronin]

Hi Chaztrip!

Welcome to the world of trying to adjust your metabolism. I can explain what is happening and what your MD is trying to get you to do.

When you start exercising your body uses glucose, first in the muscle tissues themselves, the drawing from the blood stream, next is the liver stores. Therefore, you may start at 130 mg/dL in your blood and within a fairly short period of time your BG level is drawn down to a low point.

The triggering mechanism in people who are diagnosed Pre-D or with the "Metabolic Syndrome" is thought to be out-of-whack (too much sugar, overweight, whatever). So the next step -- often called the "liver dump" takes a while to happen. In the mean time you are feeling like you are running on empty -- largely because you are. Lactic acid will build up and this will drive the liver to release stored glycogen. If/when you use the Hammer Gel you interrupt this process and the liver dump doesn't happen, or is delayed.

The reality is that, unless you are taking diabetic medications, it is not likely that the exercise will take you so low that you will pass out. What you need to do is back down a bit but keep going through the lactic acid phase. When you feel that "second-wind" that is the liver dump kicking in. That last a while, but not forever. I have read that the ideal time for this cycle is about 90 minutes of sustained metabolic increase -- yeah it is long but it does work.

Post exercise is the real beneficial period. The stores in the muscle and liver tissues have to be replenished. If your BG is lowered by the exercise the primary source of glycogen is your fat cells -- weight loss! The muscle cells repair themselves or are replaced with muscle cells with more insulin receptors as well as mitochondria which use more glucose -- YEAH! This improves your insulin sensitivity.

The products like Hammer Gel and other exercise drinks/foods are really designed for athletes with almost zero body fat who go really long in time and distance where they deplete all of their muscle, blood, liver and fat-stored energy (a.k.a., "The Bonk") and they still have to keep going. Keep in mind that these people race for upwards of six hours per day.

The rest of us don't need that stuff, we just need to get through to the next level where we are working off the stored enery in our fat cells. When we get down to 3% body fat and ride long and hard we'll need this stuff, but not until then.

Post exercise we need some carbs and lots of protien to rebuild.

I hope this helps.

FWIW: I dropped over 70 pounds following this advice and increased my bicycling speed by over 50% and I'm over 60!

[chaztrip]

Thanks!!! I think I am just being to parinoid..... but I will test this all out and report back.... I am 43 and God gave me this wonderful body now I need to take care of it!!