hmm help? Exercise = raised BG Level?

[elipsis1]

I was 122 mg/dl today at 11:32am.

For lunch I ate a 3oz ham steak and a piece of celery.

I went to the gym and ran for thirty minutes at a pace of 4 miles per hour. Checked again at 2:06pm and was 157mg/dl.

Is this the result of exercise? Should I do something less intensive?

Thanks for any help in advance.

[foxl]

That, or perhaps delayed gastric emptying due to working out so soon after eating?

4 MPH is not a stressful pace ...

[elipsis1]

@300+ pounds it seems stressful. Heart rate around 160

[slwood321]

For my short legs it's a fast pace. Sometimes exercise can have the opposite effect, or maybe it was something you drank with lunch. Did you drink water while you were exercising. You may have been dehydrated or overheated, or if the ham had a lot of fat it would have taken a while to digest. I would check again maybe 30 minutes or an hour afterwards just to see what happened. Keep up the good work.

[genie86333]

Possibly your blood sugar dropped too low & caused a glucose dump since you were only at 122 & ate such a small meal - try increasing the protein/fat a bit or at least testing during your exercising to make sure you're not dropping too low.

[Newby]

I find after a brisk walk, for me with very short legs, 4 miles, 32-35 minutes, my levels raise. That puzzles me also.

[Caravaggio]

If I run for less than 60 minutes my blood sugar is usually higher than before I started. I usually run fast when I run less than 1 hour. On the other hand, if I run longer distances (usually at a pace slower than my short run pace) my blood sugar is lower. (I also get higher blood sugar when I swim or do weight training for less than 1 hour.)

Does that mean I always go for a long run? Nope. I no longer worry about a higher blood sugar after exercising, since I enjoy a lower blood sugar the rest of the day.

[Subby]

Exercising close after a mealtime I find problematic no matter what. You could try exercising at least 34 hours after, or before a meal and see if that helps.

Exercise also signals the body to mobilise glucose stores. So it's a common occurrence for certain exercise to cause a high.

Rather than just a flat trend though, the mechanics go, that increased uptake of insulin and the burning up of the glucose store, should cancel it out at some point along the line of the process of exercising (mainly aerobic exercise, we'll presume for the moment).

So for an example, given normal good level of basal insulin for me, at a certain rate of bike riding with moderate leg effort and @ about 135 bpm, usually 10 - 15 minutes may result in highs for hours, 20 minutes might be the break even point, and 25 minutes may result in risk of lows for a few hours if I haven't reduced my basal insulin. The timing itself is arbitrarily mine, and don't worry about the insulin dose and lows aspect here: it's the basic trends of up and breakeven/or/down that will apply to diabetics in general.

Practically, I don't know what spike might be acceptable to you, that's your decision. I think it's all going to be a bit different for everyone depending on so many factors. If you did want to try and avoid this or a similar spike, I'd suggest trying a number of different intensities and lengths of time to find something that you're happy with. Yep, it's back to experimentation to work out what works for you.

[Gladiador]

Yesterday afternoon I had an aerobic training and afterwards my BG was 17,00mmol/l (around 306mg/dl). Sometimes I just cannot predict what will happen.
An hour prior to exercise was 8,9mmol/L. I've had 50g of complex carbs and had an insulin bolus. Maybe the weather, maybe fatigue influence from work...sometimes I just cannot figure it out...yes yes I know, 'you should check your BG right before practise', 'you could check it an hour after you started' (it lasted 2 hours)...man, sometimes it really all gets to my nerves.

Uffff, hate it.

[Subby]

I hear that, I really do. Remember you are in charge here. Take the approach you want. If advice or information is giving you the ___'s, just shrug your shoulders, maybe give that a rest. That's all it is (or should be). Suggestions. Ideas.

I just wanted to say as before, that exercising after a meal (or 50g carb snack would count) is a recipe for variability and huge highs - for me. So I'd add that to the "possible" reasons for that high.

The reasons this might tend to happen? A food/bolus combo can be like a fire that hopefully burns just nicely at the right rate for the right length, given the right metabolic conditions. Fan it with a high wind, and things can burn much faster and higher than they should, leading to a different outcome.

A really loose analogy that doesn't go much further, but might be of some use. It might be an idea to let the food and bolus get through the motions of successfully catering for each other, before you start "mixin it up" either way, with moderate to extreme exercise.

[Gladiador]

Although BG was 8,9 I had to have some food. I always do have something in general an hour before training because of obligations and schedule I have. Specific situation for me duiring weekdays – after finished working, I have exactly 2 hours until my practise starts. But, one hour takes to get home, and 30min to training location. Therefore, I eat something when I come home (sometimes I feel hunger, sometimes I don't, but I often do and I have to have something).
An excercise started an hour after a meal entered the body. Guess sometimes it's a bad combination, and sometimes the effect is opposite. It can happen that I needed to have some more carbs. We are unable to predict the outcome because we are not robots and computers. Today we did this, yesterday that, and tomorrow we'll do (and feel) something else. This puzzle is a lifelong challenge for us to prevale.

[xMenace]

I know nothing of your history or status, so I assume you are a diabetic noob and either not on meds or have only recently started them.

If you are not handling sugar well, the first suspect is always your meds. If you are new to meds, be patient. If you are not on meds, get on some metformin.

I have serious problems with your meal choice. 3z of dead animal and less than a mouthful of rabbit food? Are you trying to starve yourself? Eat! Get some calories into you. Eat more proteins and load up on the fat. And I think those calories should include a small portion of carbs. Your pancreas will release insulin when you consume carbs. It is a pretty much established fact. I know type 2's that when their sugars get high eat a piece of toast to bring them down. Try a small piece of fruit or some high fat natural yogurt.

[davef]

I find that when I exercise, that if I test straight after that my BG will have risen, if I wait for 20 minutes it drops again and generally lower than it was before exercise.

[Subby]

Although BG was 8,9 I had to have some food. I always do have something in general an hour before training because of obligations and schedule I have. Specific situation for me duiring weekdays – after finished working, I have exactly 2 hours until my practise starts. But, one hour takes to get home, and 30min to training location. Therefore, I eat something when I come home (sometimes I feel hunger, sometimes I don't, but I often do and I have to have something).
An excercise started an hour after a meal entered the body. Guess sometimes it's a bad combination, and sometimes the effect is opposite. It can happen that I needed to have some more carbs. We are unable to predict the outcome because we are not robots and computers. Today we did this, yesterday that, and tomorrow we'll do (and feel) something else. This puzzle is a lifelong challenge for us to prevale.

Yes it is. And removing that "might go this way", "might go that way" element of a meal or significant snack (whether carbs fats or proteins, fats and proteins do it to me as well) is a way to side step that little conundrum.

So, you might have to reshuffle your life a bit. It's all your decision whether to do so or not, but the option is there. Bridling against suggestions that might work but you consider too inconvenient, is just silly. Just... don't follow them if you don't want. No-one (here) is paid to consider your situation. We don't owe you anything.

The information and ideas are there to let you free, if you are flexible enough with it. You could even try modifying the snack or meal. Hardly a taxing thing to try.

[Gladiador]

Yes it is. And removing that "might go this way", "might go that way" element of a meal or significant snack (whether carbs fats or proteins, fats and proteins do it to me as well) is a way to side step that little conundrum.

So, you might have to reshuffle your life a bit. It's all your decision whether to do so or not, but the option is there. Bridling against suggestions that might work but you consider too inconvenient, is just silly. Just... don't follow them if you don't want. No-one (here) is paid to consider your situation. We don't owe you anything.

The information and ideas are there to let you free, if you are flexible enough with it. You could even try modifying the snack or meal. Hardly a taxing thing to try.

I can see what you are saying...informations and ideas over here are not taken for granted (at least not from my side), because diabetes has different affects on different people.
When I say that I don't have an answer for everything that influences my BG rise or decrease, I just try to find out somehow what actually happened, in order to improve and prepare for similar situation in the future.
Thanks.

[Deb S]

elipsis1,

I'm using a pump so my situation is probably different from yours (I don't know what/if any meds you're taking) but here's my experience with BG and exercise.

My BG goes up every time I exercise no matter the intensity of the workout. I can start with a BG of 110-120 and end the workout an hour later with it up in the 170-180 range. An hour later it's usually around 210-225. I've tried having a snack before the workout; not having a snack; having dinner; not having dinner; etc. Nothing worked and it still went up each time.

I started using my pump about a month ago and my CDE and I worked on tweaking the basal rate during exercise. What finally worked was setting a temporary basal rate to 115% for 1 hour during the workout. Now, I can start with a BG of 110-120 and end with it at about the same number. An hour later it goes up slightly to about 135.

Deb

[bcapps]

Amazing you should ask this here 2 days after I asked it myself! Here's a cut/paste of what I found:

"The liver's role during exercise: In a way, your liver "has a mind of its own" and continues to produce glucose while you exercise. If you don't have enough insulin available to help the glucose get into the cells, and to regulate how much glucose the liver releases, then the net effect is that your blood glucose will be higher after exercise. Some people with diabetes will notice a significantly higher glucose rise after more strenuous activity and/or competitive sports; this is normal because epinephrine (adrenaline) is a hormone released during exercise, stress, excitement, or illness, and its effect is to cause the liver to release even more glucose to supply the body with the needed energy."

Hopes this helps.

Barbara in San Jose, CA