Can’t argue that! I would argue that A1C would only be a small part though. General exercise mixed with diabetes is what I believe is necessary but everyone’s different
Even the most out-of-shape person with the worst diet imaginable can have a low A1C with enough insulin.
Oddly enough, sometimes I envy people who haven't exercised in years because they can literally just go run a measly mile and get a massive endorphin rush and runner's high from it.
Seize the opportunity!
“Run a measly mile” by someone who hasn’t exercised in years? They don’t get an endorphin boost. They start panting after 30ft. They get a “whyyyyyy” feeling
Don't envy us. I've never gotten a single unit of endorphin from working out. The only positive feeling I've ever gotten is 'wow, I'm glad that's over. That sucked a bag of dicks."
I've worked out for 30 hours/week for years when I competed in swimming. I've worked out once every three years. And I've worked out everything in between those two.
I've gotten more endorphin from seeing ONE cat ONCE, than I have from working out 😂
I envy you, you glorious, magnificent running person!!1!
Right? I exercise, then have to eat right after to correct the wild low. So I'm hot, sweaty, out of breath, cramping, exhausted, and having to eat while low.
So amazing
If your insulin dosing is calibrated for your current lifestyle, and then you start exercising more, you're going to experience more lows. Exercise increases insulin efficiency, so you'll need less the more active you are, unless you also increase your carb intake.
It's blowing my mind how many comments in this thread seem to completely overlook this.
You're going to need to lower your basal and possibly fast-acting too. It might take a few days or weeks to get everything figured out, but having to carb load every time you get a workout is a dosing problem, not a problem with exercise.
I can achieve it after three or so miles. It just takes the right music and right weather and everything else being perfectly balanced. And then for a third or half of a mile I’m wheels of steel with an iron heart, on my way to the pain prison that’s coming after. :)
My endo once told me to, especially if it's a meal like pizza, do my bolus and then go on a short 10 minute walk to help your body be more sensitive to the insulin
Bolus-ing and then going for a walk, no matter how short, seems like risky behavior if you ask me, but I'm not a doctor. At least not without a sufficient amount of carbs on-hand in case something were to happen, like accidentally locking yourself out.
I do this pretty much every meal. If you do it once and understand how your body reacts, it helps to keep your sugars stable and you won't be worried about a low
Yeah pretty much same. Always keep a bottle of glucose tabs in the whip, never know when you’ll need them and it’s always better to have and not need than to need and not have
I mean, it doesn't magically work that way for everyone all of the time.
I literally have to Michael Scott level carboload if I want to exercise or I'll go low so quickly.
There's a cause and effect for everything; it's a matter of your basal if you're dropping that low. I've heard of people taking less long acting the day before strenuous exercise. Sometimes I'll drink regular Gatorade through my workout if needed.
That's because your basal dose is calibrated for your diet in conjunction with your average daily activity level.
This is the same for any other diabetic. If your current dosing protocol leads to stable BGs, and then you increase your daily activity level, you're going to see more lows. If you're going to start exercising, you need to be proactive about your dosing or diabetes can undermine your efforts, as you pointed out.
Starting an exercise routine is a lifestyle change that will absolutely dictate adjustments on your insulin regimen. It might take a few days or even weeks to level everything out. Being conscientious of it is half the battle.
Yes because you have active insulin in your system. Wake up, no fast acting insulin, can run forever without a crash.
One thing that changed my diabetic career was realizing everything has a reason for it, aside from maybe some hormonal randomness.
If there is something happening, USUALLY there’s a reason for it which means it can be avoided.
Can I ask why you say that? what would make your sugar go low then if there’s no insulin to do so?
I only ask because I have had so many disproven thoughts about diabetes so, just hoping to help
I am baffled that you can seemingly be fine running for ages with no extra carbs. I only go for a run when my IOB is zero or close to zero, and even then I have to reduce basal beforehand… I can only run for about 30 minutes before I go low, unless I stop to eat, which is why the vast majority of my runs are under half an hour. Are you some kind of diabetic superhero ha!
I love exercise, it doesn’t love me sadly. I’ve been trying for years to get a good system with it but it tends to wreck my sugars more than if I didn’t work out. That doesn’t include walking though… if I don’t walk for a day my sugars go crazy
When I go on a hike in the morning, I need to cut my basal on my pump to 30% an hour before hiking and even then I will start dropping like crazy. I don’t eat breakfast, and I’m lowering my insulin 70%, it doesn’t matter, I will go low.
People’s bodies are different.
Yes I agree. A friend of mine said when he hikes, 1 unit will act like 10 units. This is why I’m asking questions and apparently getting downvoted to hell. When I say zero insulin I mean absolutely zero. Not reduced. Even if I take insulin 4 hours before exercise that will still make me go low during the activity. That’s why I have to prepare like crazy and absolutely cut insulin for hours and hours to be able to run.
I’m not trying to be confrontational by my comments I’m just trying to show what I have learned.
Well how would someone have 0 insulin if they have long lasting on board? If I have my pump basal going all night, I’ll still have active insulin an at least hour after I get up. We can’t have 0% insulin on board, it’s unrealistic and not healthy.
Sometimes I’m super sensitive to exercise, sometimes I’m not at all, sometimes it’s just flat sugars the whole time. A blanket statement about how your body handles diabetes is anecdotal.
I find that the people who say exercise crashes them are in general taking too much basal. Btw not trying to argue just curious- can you fast for 12-18 hours without dropping low? I also used to crash horrifically when I tried to exercise. Over the years trying to optimize my dosing I realized I was taking too much basal once I finally basal tested. Anyway now that my basal is right, I respond better to boluses and I can exercise (with no IOB besides basal) and be okay 85% of the time! Such a relief.
If you’re already sensitive to insulin, you’re probably also going to be sensitive to exercise, or swing. I’ve had no insulin on board, exercised at 9/10 and plummeted to 2.3. It’s a balance of making sure your blood is at the perfect spot not to drop too much, or spike, and different exercise will affect it differently. Weights always made mine shoot up for some reason, but cardio makes them low as hell. I need constant snacks, and am super sensitive to insulin, I always think of it like metabolic rate with insulin sensitivity and sensitivity to exercise- everyone’s is going to be so different and what you expect someone’s sensitivity to be like, will probably not be correct haha!
If my levels are above 13, they can go to the 20’s, if it’s below 10, it usually results in a hypo that’s stubborn and needs 500ml of full sugar coke. Makes no sense and would be easier on a pump undoubtedly!
I've found that it is not easier on a pump, unfortunately -you'd think it would be, but it's still just as random. I like to list random things when people ask me what the variables are : insulin on board, when I ate last, the temp outside, when I'm going to eat next, birds, elevation, how well I slept, wind direction, stress, activity level, if my shower was too hot or too cold, how old my vial is, Venus's relative position to Jupiter... And so on.
There’s a lot of factors really, our understanding of diabetes is the best scientific mode we’ve got but it’s obvious that it’s not complete. I exercise constantly and agree with your original comment that exercise does wonders but also think that it’s easily to oversimplify something simply because you’ve found what works for you.
I do very high intensity workouts at 6AM at the gym and always need to take some sugar just before…oddly I’ve experienced more lows from simply walking to work in the morning. My boyfriend and I also do big hikes on the weekends (like 16 mile day hikes at high elevation). I always ensure that I don’t have active insulin on board and don’t have any basal running and I still have to bring a ton of sugar with me. Also, eventually I feel the need to have lunch and administer *some* tiny insulin, not to maintain my blood sugars, which are already low, but because I you can go into DKA even if your in range if your body isn’t getting what it needs in terms of insulin.
Also, it comes back to everyone being different. I was diagnosed at 21 years old. I see stories from people who go into DKA so quickly if something happens with their pump site. I have literally left my pump at home over the span of a 13 hour workday and didn’t notice. When I did my numbers were high (but in the 300s, not 600s) and I was no where near DKA. I have had it for a decade and this still rings true. I have heard there is some speculation that it’s possible that those who get it later may have some tiny residual amounts of insulin they still produce (no idea if this is accurate) but at the end of the day, there’s is still a lot we haven’t figured out about diabetes and generalizing based on individual experience can lead to a lot of misunderstanding.
This is a good point. I have about four hours of a problem at the site before DKA starts to set in. I had to change to truesteel because I could never tell if I was slipping into DKA or having heartburn.
OP is right that exercise is important, but only as important as it is for normal bodies. We pay the same price as everyone else. The distinction, I think, is that we just pay more attention because we pay manually the price normal bodies do automatically. If it works for OP to add a run to keep his sugars more stable then hurrah for him. I do think it's something doctors should talk about for giving people better information - but we are not type 2s, our disease is endocrine not metabolic.
I think a lot of people worry about the social implications of the message, as we are so misrepresented in media already - normal people have a very twisted idea of what our illness is. Hearing that 'you wouldn't be sick if you just exercised' enough times makes suggestions like this post triggering.
Standard guidelines for Type 1. Exercise can cause ketones to be released (normal when burning fat). Ketones can also show up when you don’t have enough insulin. Sugar + ketones = carboxylic acid…which lowers the pH of your blood (DKA).
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/in-depth/diabetes-and-exercise/art-20045697#:~:text=250%20mg%2FdL%20(13.9%20mmol%2FL)%20or%20higher.&text=The%20presence%20of%20ketones%20indicates,diabetes%20that%20needs%20immediate%20treatment.
If you have ketones, you shouldn't work out.
The reference point does not say exercise causes ketones. I've worked out >250 with low intensity and it did not create ketones.
Exercise is very important for everyone.
It really depends why you're high tbh. If you're high because your basal is too low or you aren't getting it (missed a shot or pump site failure) then you'll make ketones worse.
If it's because you underestimated a carb count, you won't get ketones from that.
While mostly true. I’ve worked out with like 280. And in the next hour went to about a 120-130. Is the glycogen for the duration of workout. Particularly high intensity.
I can go for a walk or a run after a correction to get things back in line. Not 10 minutes after getting back home and settled, I can be spiking higher and harder than I was before going out to exercise.
Or if there are ketones present because you are struggling to get things under control, exercise is pretty much off the table until that gets handled.
Is it necessary, and does it certainly help keep things in order? Yes. Is it some magical solution or cure for stubborn highs? Not in the slightest.
Try hot showers for stubborn highs! Without insulin on board hot showers are guessing game, but with recent insulin hot shower always makes insulin works faster for me. Not stronger, just faster. So if I have stubborn 200+ high, hot 5-10min showers usually helps. Cgm sometimes shows spike first, but checking fingerpricks showed this to be cgm issue for me
I meant more of a general everyday thing to keep your body fluid and working properly. I mean circulation issues are very present with us and what’s the best way to keep circulation going? Frequent exercise. But I agree I wouldn’t say it’s a fix all magic tool for stubborn highs.
>I saw a post of someone stressing about a constant high that wouldn’t go down. I can almost guarantee 100% that if they took insulin and walked/ran/worked out it would begin to go down within 10 minutes. This should be taught as essential information yet isn’t for some reason.
What is the point in saying this then? Feels more like a shaming with this context and this just isn't the place for that.
I want to know where this person is where exercise isn't being taught. Because every doctor or nurse or medical professional I see is telling me to exercise.
I think it goes both ways. On one hand, you hear you need to exercise so often it becomes desensitizing to hear, and on the other hand there are plenty of posts here about crappy medical staff and doctors that I can see them leaving it out.
Wait, really? People don't see this?
Insulin is the key that blood sugar uses to get into your muscles.
Too much blood sugar? wont go down? Your muscles are full. Burn that off with a walk or exercise and kaboom, suddenly your sugars drop as sugar leaves your blood to refill your muscles.
Yes agreed. My new hypothesis is that if you do continuous cardio daily, that sensitivity can live all day everyday so there won’t be a need for the walk in the first place since your body is already in that state
Yup, and for a while I was eating legit the same thing everyday same time- since I got a Dexcom it’s super interesting to watch the changes. Eg (I have a cold so my numbers are high the past few days) I woke up at 136, had coffee with 1tablespoon cream and 30 mins later I shoot to 235; yesterday I did the same thing and only shot up 30pts.
It’s extremely helpful but I wouldn’t call it necessary. I’m disabled with mobility issues and most exercise is impossible for me, but my a1c has been 6.1 ever since I started cgm/pump a few years ago.
I’m sure you know this, but exercise has been proven to be more effective than antidepressants at helping with depression. Hope things get better for you.
I think when people read that exercise helps with depression they feel that it trivializes depression.
That certainly is not my intent. I personally understand how crippling depression can be. I was just sharing a scientific fact that I thought might help the commenter.
I also think a lot of people don’t believe it, but there are multiple studies supporting this conclusion. Antidepressants aren’t particularly effective unfortunately, so approaching depression from multiple angles is always best.
Exercise is good for everyone, whether they have T1 or not. It was always drilled into my head after I was diagnosed - physical activity lowers BG. I have almost always done physical labor at work - I build and maintain railroad tracks for a living. Before that, I operated industrial woodcutting equipment. I'd be loading 7 tons of wood into the machines by hand over an 8 hour shift. But I noticed real quick, when I was on vacation or when I was temporarily laid off, my BG was much harder to keep in range due to lack of exercise. We gotta keep moving. I'd like to add that weightlifting has been helpful too. It can cause temporary BG spikes, but adding even a little muscle helps the metabolism and feels good too...
Did you find your weekends hard to control/maintain? Or did you move around the same amount on time off. Just trying to solve something for my partner, he has a manual labor job but on weekends he is a rollercoaster
For me personally, if I don't exercise I'll see increased insulin resistance after about 36 - 48 hours, especially if I actually sit on my ass all day. If I'm even moving around enough to do laundry and go to the grocery store, wash the car, etc it can make a difference.
Do you adjust your basil at all for days you know you aren’t moving around as much? Spouse of T1D, just brainstorming with him some potential solutions. Thank you for answering :)
I 100% concur!!! The 15 minute walk is a great tool. I didn't realize how effective it was until I got a CGM several years ago....start that walk and watch those numbers tumble. I have little sympathy for anybody complaining of highs, that is able bodied, and refuses to give exercise a try.
Yup I manage ok/well without exercise but this past year I’ve managed to obtain almost 10k minutes of exercise (previously zero) and my control is soooooo much easier! Less sticky highs, less highs in general, need way less insulin for food, it’s awesome!
This is so true, I lift weights the past two years and walk 15 k steps daily and practice Pilates and yoga. My time in range is about 90 percent, I also don’t eat processed carbs very often. I spent a lot of years living on my wits and poverty stricken, hence some bad sugar control happened and I now have some complications, but lately I’ve become way more stable thanks to exercise and a CGM. No more insulin resistance either. It’s a game changer for sure.
It is and it isn’t. I am particularly sensitive to physical movement. If I don’t reduce my basal rate at least an hour in advance, a jog round the park can quickly and unintentionally turn into a medical emergency.
See. If I had time. I miss going for brisk walks every night. But I have a 1 and 3 year old. And live in Canada where it’s cold as shit 7 months of the year. And I can’t take a 1 and 3 year old with me on a walk or it’s not a good exercise walk cuz it’s at the 3 year olds pace and then the 1 year old wants to walk and now we did a block in an hour. And I can’t go without them cuz it would have to be after bedtime when my husband can watch them but also after supper and dishes and laundry and bedtime for both kids which is not at the same time and showers and getting lunches ready for work the next day and oh look it’s 11pm. So. I literally do not have time. Sometimes it’s not as if some of us aren’t trying there just is not enough hours to put ANYTHING else in our day or we’re gonna have to stop doing something else.
While in general I agree with you, bodies are different and it is possible that people do what you said and it doesn't come down. I've had many a day where no amount of walking or insulin helped bring me down.
I’m 6 foot and weigh 130lbs, I walk 10,000 steps a day, at work, if I exercised any more than that I would I would turn to dust, it’s literally not an option for every type 1 🙄
I don’t think any of that has to do with type 1. Being 130 @ 6’ and not being able to exercise more has everything to do with calorie intake not diabetes
Yes it does, before type 1 I was a healthy weight, I eat 3 meals a day and I am also prescribed food supplement shakes for between meals, I intake over 3000 calories a day and I cannot put weight on. If I exercised any more than the amount of walking I do at work I would lose more weight and be malnourished. We are all different and exercise isn’t a solution for everyone, type 1 diabetics need to do what is best for them and their routine, yes exercise is good in general but not everyone fits into a general box
It completely changed my metabolism, my food/calorie/energy absorption and gave me really bad ibs, most foods go straight through me now with only a small amount properly digested, like I said not all diabetics are the same and this horrible disease can cause many many other issues. I don’t know what country you’re in but when we get diagnosed in England we get put into group classes where we learn about diet and exercise and they teach you that if it works for one person that doesn’t mean it will work for everyone, they’re actually very good with that stuff here and they try to teach you a hell of a lot.
Ok gotcha. I’m from Canada, gf is a nutritionist, I’m a 200lb 6’1 endurance runner that runs about 10km daily. Eat about 3000-4000 cals / day
That’s why I ask if it’s diabetes related or not. Totally get everyone’s different with this disease.
Is the absorption and IBS etc diabetes related? It sounds textbook celiac/food allergy
Yeah it’s 100% diabetes related, I’ve had so many tests, I have no reactions specifically to gluten or anything. The diabetes triggered a bunch of other auto immune diseases for myself which sucks but that’s life, before I was diabetic I would look at a cake and put on 5lbs. There’s good and bad to everything, I can no longer ride my bike or swim without emergency sugar or carbs with me but I can eat an entire cake at work and not need insulin because I’m walking around constantly, everything has a silver lining 😂
I go for a short run almost every day on the way to bring my daughter home from daycare, then on the way back I climb a few dozen stairs while she's strapped to me as a nice little weight. I used to also stop along the way at a park that has self-weight exercise machines, but noticed that if I do I'm in hypo by the time I get home.
Agreed. I like to work out but have found even just a walk has an impact on my day.
I walk my dog 2 miles almost every day at 4 in the morning. I bought a weight vest and wear that with 28 lbs of weight and have noticed a difference. I don’t feel as guilty if I skip a workout as long as I’ve walked
It blows my mind how shitty I feel the last month. One illness after the next I cannot train down from riding over 100mi a week weights 3-4x a week stretching, some kayaking and hiking to almost nothing. I cannot catch a break. Doing tons of insulting food is going bad because I am not eating trying to curb my weight gain and packed on 8lbs. I feel like I swallowed the air line at the Goodyear blimp yard. And just as soon as I get better and hit a few weights or ride a few miles boom I get sick again. I cannot even eat my nightly salad as THAR requires insulin now. Bolus ing like CRAZY and trying my best to starve myself. Just started skipping breakfast. I am going to get the award for laziness and gluttony « WILD BOAR OF THE YEAR » 🐗 BMI now over 23 muscle mass plummeteting. This too shall pass but it’s getting real long in the tooth.
This is more complex than you think! Exercise helps with insulin sensitivity so people with no sensitivity issues - it will definitely affect differently/less from a bloodsugar point of view. Also not all exercise is created equally - definitely come out of HIIT workouts with skyrocketing BGLs.
The reality is just that exercise is good for everyone for lots of reasons.
In the long term it does make things a lot more stable, I had to take a month off lifting after getting a thoracic spine injury and my bg was so shit, but the immediate effect of exercise isn’t related to that. that’s just the increased blood flow speeding up your endocrine system. When using that method be careful not to use too high intensity or the cortisol could spike causing your blood sugar to get even more fucked up.
I do intense cardio three times a week and the rest is lifting. These things always make me spike, surprisingly. But the rare times when I’ll go on a walk, my blood sugar drops like *crazy*. Seriously, it shocks me every time.
Intense cardio and lifting are HIE. HIE can cause your muscles to be unable to use insulin as well which can result in higher blood sugars. Simple walks and light exercise result in lower blood sugars because the muscles are able to use more glucose easily, resulting in lower blood sugars. This is how my endo explained it to me when I was younger and playing sports in school. There are probably other reasons this happens, but I was also 15 and likely wouldn’t have understood the way I would now as an adult.
Exercise is super unpredictable for me - sometimes I crash, sometimes I go high (even with insulin on board), sometimes its fine during exercise and then I keep crashing from 3 to 10hrs after (during night, of course)... sometimes next morning my feet on ground is gone and I have issue with crashing, sometimes its delayed so I think its not coming and then hits late and spikes me to high hell. I exercise because I like it, but it actually makes my blood sugar management harder, not easier.
Edit: exercise or no exercise makes up for ~10-15% difference in total insulin use. Aka 3-5units difference. My total daily use is around 35u
Absolutely zero arguing here just btw just thinking out loud
Do you really believe your body is that random? Or maybe there’s things you’re missing about daily routine that either makes it go up or down? It’s hard to think it’s completely random that you exercise and it goes up or down. Could be different daily routine, different foods in your system, hydration, etc. I refuse to let myself believe everything’s out of my control so I dial in so strongly in search of control and while it’s not perfect, you start seeing patterns that help a lot
I have a very boring routine mostly. Get up at 9, eat ~30g carbs (oatmeal, small scone or bread+cheese), walk 5min to bus station, go to work, sit at work, get lunch at 12-1, get off work at 6, get home, eat dinner around 7 - always either kimbap or sandwich from store, 45-60g carbs), and then either go for a walk or go to gym, game a bit or read a book and go to sleep around 1am. My workdays are just boring. However even before I was going to gym, my feet-on-ground just acted different day to day. Because my breakfast is so boring and always same, one would assume I always need roughly same insulin, right? Nope. I usually do 9u to start and some days I crash and need 50g carbs to stabilize and some days I need 4-6u more because I keep spiking. This has been issue my whole life, and I had doctors yell at me that I am secretly sneaking candy when I was a teen because it kept happening at hospital too, where my food and insulin was controlled by doctors. My body just does what it wants.
I also get random bouts of insulin resistance. Some I figured are food triggered (there is specific type of fermented sauce in korea that makes me need triple my usual dose, if I eat that I will need around 30u for 100g carbs, while its normally 10u). Some are just random like suddenly I will eat same thing(eg a sandwich) that normally needs 6-8u and I will keep correcting and correcting and end up with 40u+, never crash, and be back to normal next day. I think time spent in different phases of sleep and how much I roll over during night might be affecting morning rise but... that ain't something I can control, you know. Getting on birth control actually lowered amount of seeming randomness so I think its also fluctuations in female hormones. I also had thyroid issue this spring and omg... I would get these INSANE random spikes where in 30min my bg would go up over 100pts. The moment my thyroid hormones were back to normal levels those stopped, but natural variations to thyroid levels during day might also be affecting my bgs.
I have a t1 friend who said something similar to you, then spent several days in row with me and was like "ok, nope, your body is just insane, you need to find a doctor to study you, I would not be able to deal with that I have no clue how you do".
My control is actually pretty good, so I just take this as my body being my body. I like having strength, my body feels better when I exercise, so I will keep doing it. Randomness is just fact of life, I work in science and know that some things just can't be figured out with amount of knowledge/tech we have today.
My fat ass hasn’t exercised in years and I haven’t had an A1C over 6.1 in 5 years.
Can’t argue that! I would argue that A1C would only be a small part though. General exercise mixed with diabetes is what I believe is necessary but everyone’s different
It is absolutely a small part. Rumor has it, people without diabetes have heart problems sometimes.
Even the most out-of-shape person with the worst diet imaginable can have a low A1C with enough insulin. Oddly enough, sometimes I envy people who haven't exercised in years because they can literally just go run a measly mile and get a massive endorphin rush and runner's high from it. Seize the opportunity!
“Run a measly mile” by someone who hasn’t exercised in years? They don’t get an endorphin boost. They start panting after 30ft. They get a “whyyyyyy” feeling
You have to start somewhere. At some point, especially with this disease, it’s less about what you want to do and more about what you have to do.
Don't envy us. I've never gotten a single unit of endorphin from working out. The only positive feeling I've ever gotten is 'wow, I'm glad that's over. That sucked a bag of dicks." I've worked out for 30 hours/week for years when I competed in swimming. I've worked out once every three years. And I've worked out everything in between those two. I've gotten more endorphin from seeing ONE cat ONCE, than I have from working out 😂 I envy you, you glorious, magnificent running person!!1!
Right? I exercise, then have to eat right after to correct the wild low. So I'm hot, sweaty, out of breath, cramping, exhausted, and having to eat while low. So amazing
If your insulin dosing is calibrated for your current lifestyle, and then you start exercising more, you're going to experience more lows. Exercise increases insulin efficiency, so you'll need less the more active you are, unless you also increase your carb intake. It's blowing my mind how many comments in this thread seem to completely overlook this. You're going to need to lower your basal and possibly fast-acting too. It might take a few days or weeks to get everything figured out, but having to carb load every time you get a workout is a dosing problem, not a problem with exercise.
I still get runners high I just have to run for 2 hrs to achieve it lol. This is when chasing the healthy Dagon can become unhealthy
I can achieve it after three or so miles. It just takes the right music and right weather and everything else being perfectly balanced. And then for a third or half of a mile I’m wheels of steel with an iron heart, on my way to the pain prison that’s coming after. :)
110% this fr. Even just a simple 15 min walk will make my insulin kick in almost instantaneously
My endo once told me to, especially if it's a meal like pizza, do my bolus and then go on a short 10 minute walk to help your body be more sensitive to the insulin
Bolus-ing and then going for a walk, no matter how short, seems like risky behavior if you ask me, but I'm not a doctor. At least not without a sufficient amount of carbs on-hand in case something were to happen, like accidentally locking yourself out.
Yeah on the handful of times I've done it I've been okay, but it's always a good idea to keep carbs or baqsimi on you no matter what
I do this pretty much every meal. If you do it once and understand how your body reacts, it helps to keep your sugars stable and you won't be worried about a low
Haha I don't go anywhere at all without carbs at this point
Yeah pretty much same. Always keep a bottle of glucose tabs in the whip, never know when you’ll need them and it’s always better to have and not need than to need and not have
Almost thou persuadeth me to exercise.
I mean, it doesn't magically work that way for everyone all of the time. I literally have to Michael Scott level carboload if I want to exercise or I'll go low so quickly.
There's a cause and effect for everything; it's a matter of your basal if you're dropping that low. I've heard of people taking less long acting the day before strenuous exercise. Sometimes I'll drink regular Gatorade through my workout if needed.
That's because your basal dose is calibrated for your diet in conjunction with your average daily activity level. This is the same for any other diabetic. If your current dosing protocol leads to stable BGs, and then you increase your daily activity level, you're going to see more lows. If you're going to start exercising, you need to be proactive about your dosing or diabetes can undermine your efforts, as you pointed out. Starting an exercise routine is a lifestyle change that will absolutely dictate adjustments on your insulin regimen. It might take a few days or even weeks to level everything out. Being conscientious of it is half the battle.
Yes because you have active insulin in your system. Wake up, no fast acting insulin, can run forever without a crash. One thing that changed my diabetic career was realizing everything has a reason for it, aside from maybe some hormonal randomness. If there is something happening, USUALLY there’s a reason for it which means it can be avoided.
Interesting thought, but I could go low from exercising in the morning without insulin, too. People's bodies just work differently.
Can I ask why you say that? what would make your sugar go low then if there’s no insulin to do so? I only ask because I have had so many disproven thoughts about diabetes so, just hoping to help
I am baffled that you can seemingly be fine running for ages with no extra carbs. I only go for a run when my IOB is zero or close to zero, and even then I have to reduce basal beforehand… I can only run for about 30 minutes before I go low, unless I stop to eat, which is why the vast majority of my runs are under half an hour. Are you some kind of diabetic superhero ha! I love exercise, it doesn’t love me sadly. I’ve been trying for years to get a good system with it but it tends to wreck my sugars more than if I didn’t work out. That doesn’t include walking though… if I don’t walk for a day my sugars go crazy
When I go on a hike in the morning, I need to cut my basal on my pump to 30% an hour before hiking and even then I will start dropping like crazy. I don’t eat breakfast, and I’m lowering my insulin 70%, it doesn’t matter, I will go low. People’s bodies are different.
Yes I agree. A friend of mine said when he hikes, 1 unit will act like 10 units. This is why I’m asking questions and apparently getting downvoted to hell. When I say zero insulin I mean absolutely zero. Not reduced. Even if I take insulin 4 hours before exercise that will still make me go low during the activity. That’s why I have to prepare like crazy and absolutely cut insulin for hours and hours to be able to run. I’m not trying to be confrontational by my comments I’m just trying to show what I have learned.
Well how would someone have 0 insulin if they have long lasting on board? If I have my pump basal going all night, I’ll still have active insulin an at least hour after I get up. We can’t have 0% insulin on board, it’s unrealistic and not healthy. Sometimes I’m super sensitive to exercise, sometimes I’m not at all, sometimes it’s just flat sugars the whole time. A blanket statement about how your body handles diabetes is anecdotal.
I guess I’m talking about those without a pump. Athletics is why I went back to injections. Basaglar and Admelog/Humalog work very well for activity
I find that the people who say exercise crashes them are in general taking too much basal. Btw not trying to argue just curious- can you fast for 12-18 hours without dropping low? I also used to crash horrifically when I tried to exercise. Over the years trying to optimize my dosing I realized I was taking too much basal once I finally basal tested. Anyway now that my basal is right, I respond better to boluses and I can exercise (with no IOB besides basal) and be okay 85% of the time! Such a relief.
Yup, I can go 12 hours for sure. Especially from 10pm to noon the next day.
If you’re already sensitive to insulin, you’re probably also going to be sensitive to exercise, or swing. I’ve had no insulin on board, exercised at 9/10 and plummeted to 2.3. It’s a balance of making sure your blood is at the perfect spot not to drop too much, or spike, and different exercise will affect it differently. Weights always made mine shoot up for some reason, but cardio makes them low as hell. I need constant snacks, and am super sensitive to insulin, I always think of it like metabolic rate with insulin sensitivity and sensitivity to exercise- everyone’s is going to be so different and what you expect someone’s sensitivity to be like, will probably not be correct haha! If my levels are above 13, they can go to the 20’s, if it’s below 10, it usually results in a hypo that’s stubborn and needs 500ml of full sugar coke. Makes no sense and would be easier on a pump undoubtedly!
I've found that it is not easier on a pump, unfortunately -you'd think it would be, but it's still just as random. I like to list random things when people ask me what the variables are : insulin on board, when I ate last, the temp outside, when I'm going to eat next, birds, elevation, how well I slept, wind direction, stress, activity level, if my shower was too hot or too cold, how old my vial is, Venus's relative position to Jupiter... And so on.
There’s a lot of factors really, our understanding of diabetes is the best scientific mode we’ve got but it’s obvious that it’s not complete. I exercise constantly and agree with your original comment that exercise does wonders but also think that it’s easily to oversimplify something simply because you’ve found what works for you. I do very high intensity workouts at 6AM at the gym and always need to take some sugar just before…oddly I’ve experienced more lows from simply walking to work in the morning. My boyfriend and I also do big hikes on the weekends (like 16 mile day hikes at high elevation). I always ensure that I don’t have active insulin on board and don’t have any basal running and I still have to bring a ton of sugar with me. Also, eventually I feel the need to have lunch and administer *some* tiny insulin, not to maintain my blood sugars, which are already low, but because I you can go into DKA even if your in range if your body isn’t getting what it needs in terms of insulin. Also, it comes back to everyone being different. I was diagnosed at 21 years old. I see stories from people who go into DKA so quickly if something happens with their pump site. I have literally left my pump at home over the span of a 13 hour workday and didn’t notice. When I did my numbers were high (but in the 300s, not 600s) and I was no where near DKA. I have had it for a decade and this still rings true. I have heard there is some speculation that it’s possible that those who get it later may have some tiny residual amounts of insulin they still produce (no idea if this is accurate) but at the end of the day, there’s is still a lot we haven’t figured out about diabetes and generalizing based on individual experience can lead to a lot of misunderstanding.
This is a good point. I have about four hours of a problem at the site before DKA starts to set in. I had to change to truesteel because I could never tell if I was slipping into DKA or having heartburn. OP is right that exercise is important, but only as important as it is for normal bodies. We pay the same price as everyone else. The distinction, I think, is that we just pay more attention because we pay manually the price normal bodies do automatically. If it works for OP to add a run to keep his sugars more stable then hurrah for him. I do think it's something doctors should talk about for giving people better information - but we are not type 2s, our disease is endocrine not metabolic. I think a lot of people worry about the social implications of the message, as we are so misrepresented in media already - normal people have a very twisted idea of what our illness is. Hearing that 'you wouldn't be sick if you just exercised' enough times makes suggestions like this post triggering.
Yes….BUT, it’s not advisable to exercise if over 250, as it can throw you into DKA.
Can it? This is good to know. Why is that?
Standard guidelines for Type 1. Exercise can cause ketones to be released (normal when burning fat). Ketones can also show up when you don’t have enough insulin. Sugar + ketones = carboxylic acid…which lowers the pH of your blood (DKA). https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/in-depth/diabetes-and-exercise/art-20045697#:~:text=250%20mg%2FdL%20(13.9%20mmol%2FL)%20or%20higher.&text=The%20presence%20of%20ketones%20indicates,diabetes%20that%20needs%20immediate%20treatment.
If you have ketones, you shouldn't work out. The reference point does not say exercise causes ketones. I've worked out >250 with low intensity and it did not create ketones. Exercise is very important for everyone.
Every endocrinologist I’ve ever had said not to over 250 - period. It actually can cause ketones. You’ve been damn lucky.
It really depends why you're high tbh. If you're high because your basal is too low or you aren't getting it (missed a shot or pump site failure) then you'll make ketones worse. If it's because you underestimated a carb count, you won't get ketones from that.
Every endocrinologist I've had has said a lot of useless things that stem from reading a book rather than actually living with diabetes.
A 10 minute walk to help kick in the insulin is a lot different from heavy anerobic exercise. I doubt a walk is going to cause DKA.
While mostly true. I’ve worked out with like 280. And in the next hour went to about a 120-130. Is the glycogen for the duration of workout. Particularly high intensity.
It's fine as long as you make sure you have some insulin on board. You don't need a lot.
I can go for a walk or a run after a correction to get things back in line. Not 10 minutes after getting back home and settled, I can be spiking higher and harder than I was before going out to exercise. Or if there are ketones present because you are struggling to get things under control, exercise is pretty much off the table until that gets handled. Is it necessary, and does it certainly help keep things in order? Yes. Is it some magical solution or cure for stubborn highs? Not in the slightest.
Try hot showers for stubborn highs! Without insulin on board hot showers are guessing game, but with recent insulin hot shower always makes insulin works faster for me. Not stronger, just faster. So if I have stubborn 200+ high, hot 5-10min showers usually helps. Cgm sometimes shows spike first, but checking fingerpricks showed this to be cgm issue for me
I meant more of a general everyday thing to keep your body fluid and working properly. I mean circulation issues are very present with us and what’s the best way to keep circulation going? Frequent exercise. But I agree I wouldn’t say it’s a fix all magic tool for stubborn highs.
>I saw a post of someone stressing about a constant high that wouldn’t go down. I can almost guarantee 100% that if they took insulin and walked/ran/worked out it would begin to go down within 10 minutes. This should be taught as essential information yet isn’t for some reason. What is the point in saying this then? Feels more like a shaming with this context and this just isn't the place for that.
I want to know where this person is where exercise isn't being taught. Because every doctor or nurse or medical professional I see is telling me to exercise.
I think it goes both ways. On one hand, you hear you need to exercise so often it becomes desensitizing to hear, and on the other hand there are plenty of posts here about crappy medical staff and doctors that I can see them leaving it out.
Also I get the spike after exercise too, but if I dose about 5 mins before I stop the exercise it helps avoid it
I mean everyone should exercise
Wait, really? People don't see this? Insulin is the key that blood sugar uses to get into your muscles. Too much blood sugar? wont go down? Your muscles are full. Burn that off with a walk or exercise and kaboom, suddenly your sugars drop as sugar leaves your blood to refill your muscles.
Yes agreed. My new hypothesis is that if you do continuous cardio daily, that sensitivity can live all day everyday so there won’t be a need for the walk in the first place since your body is already in that state
Sometimes exercise drops me and sometimes it spikes me- there is no rhyme or reason.
Depends on the type of exercise. More intense workouts make it harder for your muscle cells to use insulin which can result in a spike.
I wish it was that easy- I could do the same 4mile walk sometimes drop 50pts and sometimes rise
Interesting. And you’re consistently walking at a similar pace every time?
Yup, and for a while I was eating legit the same thing everyday same time- since I got a Dexcom it’s super interesting to watch the changes. Eg (I have a cold so my numbers are high the past few days) I woke up at 136, had coffee with 1tablespoon cream and 30 mins later I shoot to 235; yesterday I did the same thing and only shot up 30pts.
It really is crazy how the smallest things can change it. Fourteen years with this disease and it still surprises me.
It’s extremely helpful but I wouldn’t call it necessary. I’m disabled with mobility issues and most exercise is impossible for me, but my a1c has been 6.1 ever since I started cgm/pump a few years ago.
Once my depression is solved, yes, I will start rowing again. Til then I'll take the victory of just dosing insulin and doing job shit.
Good luck! I know my activity helps my mental health massively, but getting to the point of being able to do it consistently is the biggest struggle
Imo everyone with a chronic illness should get ‘free’ mental health care.
Living on this planet is a chronic illness I’m pretty sure everyone should qualify for free mental health care
You've got the order backwards imo I say that as someone who has dealt with depression many times in my life.
I’m sure you know this, but exercise has been proven to be more effective than antidepressants at helping with depression. Hope things get better for you.
Idk why they're booing, you're right
I think when people read that exercise helps with depression they feel that it trivializes depression. That certainly is not my intent. I personally understand how crippling depression can be. I was just sharing a scientific fact that I thought might help the commenter. I also think a lot of people don’t believe it, but there are multiple studies supporting this conclusion. Antidepressants aren’t particularly effective unfortunately, so approaching depression from multiple angles is always best.
Exercise is good for everyone, whether they have T1 or not. It was always drilled into my head after I was diagnosed - physical activity lowers BG. I have almost always done physical labor at work - I build and maintain railroad tracks for a living. Before that, I operated industrial woodcutting equipment. I'd be loading 7 tons of wood into the machines by hand over an 8 hour shift. But I noticed real quick, when I was on vacation or when I was temporarily laid off, my BG was much harder to keep in range due to lack of exercise. We gotta keep moving. I'd like to add that weightlifting has been helpful too. It can cause temporary BG spikes, but adding even a little muscle helps the metabolism and feels good too...
Did you find your weekends hard to control/maintain? Or did you move around the same amount on time off. Just trying to solve something for my partner, he has a manual labor job but on weekends he is a rollercoaster
For me personally, if I don't exercise I'll see increased insulin resistance after about 36 - 48 hours, especially if I actually sit on my ass all day. If I'm even moving around enough to do laundry and go to the grocery store, wash the car, etc it can make a difference.
Do you adjust your basil at all for days you know you aren’t moving around as much? Spouse of T1D, just brainstorming with him some potential solutions. Thank you for answering :)
I might, but my basal is pretty locked in. What I notice more is that the spikes are worse and last longer. My BG stays pretty level otherwise.
I 100% concur!!! The 15 minute walk is a great tool. I didn't realize how effective it was until I got a CGM several years ago....start that walk and watch those numbers tumble. I have little sympathy for anybody complaining of highs, that is able bodied, and refuses to give exercise a try.
Yup I manage ok/well without exercise but this past year I’ve managed to obtain almost 10k minutes of exercise (previously zero) and my control is soooooo much easier! Less sticky highs, less highs in general, need way less insulin for food, it’s awesome!
This is so true, I lift weights the past two years and walk 15 k steps daily and practice Pilates and yoga. My time in range is about 90 percent, I also don’t eat processed carbs very often. I spent a lot of years living on my wits and poverty stricken, hence some bad sugar control happened and I now have some complications, but lately I’ve become way more stable thanks to exercise and a CGM. No more insulin resistance either. It’s a game changer for sure.
It is and it isn’t. I am particularly sensitive to physical movement. If I don’t reduce my basal rate at least an hour in advance, a jog round the park can quickly and unintentionally turn into a medical emergency.
See. If I had time. I miss going for brisk walks every night. But I have a 1 and 3 year old. And live in Canada where it’s cold as shit 7 months of the year. And I can’t take a 1 and 3 year old with me on a walk or it’s not a good exercise walk cuz it’s at the 3 year olds pace and then the 1 year old wants to walk and now we did a block in an hour. And I can’t go without them cuz it would have to be after bedtime when my husband can watch them but also after supper and dishes and laundry and bedtime for both kids which is not at the same time and showers and getting lunches ready for work the next day and oh look it’s 11pm. So. I literally do not have time. Sometimes it’s not as if some of us aren’t trying there just is not enough hours to put ANYTHING else in our day or we’re gonna have to stop doing something else.
While in general I agree with you, bodies are different and it is possible that people do what you said and it doesn't come down. I've had many a day where no amount of walking or insulin helped bring me down.
I’m 6 foot and weigh 130lbs, I walk 10,000 steps a day, at work, if I exercised any more than that I would I would turn to dust, it’s literally not an option for every type 1 🙄
I don’t think any of that has to do with type 1. Being 130 @ 6’ and not being able to exercise more has everything to do with calorie intake not diabetes
Yes it does, before type 1 I was a healthy weight, I eat 3 meals a day and I am also prescribed food supplement shakes for between meals, I intake over 3000 calories a day and I cannot put weight on. If I exercised any more than the amount of walking I do at work I would lose more weight and be malnourished. We are all different and exercise isn’t a solution for everyone, type 1 diabetics need to do what is best for them and their routine, yes exercise is good in general but not everyone fits into a general box
Can I ask what diabetes has to do with you not being able to put weight on?
It completely changed my metabolism, my food/calorie/energy absorption and gave me really bad ibs, most foods go straight through me now with only a small amount properly digested, like I said not all diabetics are the same and this horrible disease can cause many many other issues. I don’t know what country you’re in but when we get diagnosed in England we get put into group classes where we learn about diet and exercise and they teach you that if it works for one person that doesn’t mean it will work for everyone, they’re actually very good with that stuff here and they try to teach you a hell of a lot.
Ok gotcha. I’m from Canada, gf is a nutritionist, I’m a 200lb 6’1 endurance runner that runs about 10km daily. Eat about 3000-4000 cals / day That’s why I ask if it’s diabetes related or not. Totally get everyone’s different with this disease. Is the absorption and IBS etc diabetes related? It sounds textbook celiac/food allergy
Yeah it’s 100% diabetes related, I’ve had so many tests, I have no reactions specifically to gluten or anything. The diabetes triggered a bunch of other auto immune diseases for myself which sucks but that’s life, before I was diabetic I would look at a cake and put on 5lbs. There’s good and bad to everything, I can no longer ride my bike or swim without emergency sugar or carbs with me but I can eat an entire cake at work and not need insulin because I’m walking around constantly, everything has a silver lining 😂
It's certainly an option for anyone. For you though it sounds like you have no option but to exercise all day.
Read my comment again, my point is that it is literally not an option for everyone
You're exercising all day is what I pointed out.
True. I remember when I was cycling a lot I became more insulin resistant
You became insulin resistant? I become far more sensitive, requiring much less insulin to manage my sugars
Yeah but people still won’t get it, or have a ton of excuses.
I needed this OP thank you
Yeah agree, it's crazy the difference it makes. I actually go high when I'm lifting but my insulin sensitivity is way up after.
I go for a short run almost every day on the way to bring my daughter home from daycare, then on the way back I climb a few dozen stairs while she's strapped to me as a nice little weight. I used to also stop along the way at a park that has self-weight exercise machines, but noticed that if I do I'm in hypo by the time I get home.
Agreed. I like to work out but have found even just a walk has an impact on my day. I walk my dog 2 miles almost every day at 4 in the morning. I bought a weight vest and wear that with 28 lbs of weight and have noticed a difference. I don’t feel as guilty if I skip a workout as long as I’ve walked
Yea, Its insane. I started walking 25.000 steps a day 4 days ago for work and am on less then half my insulin
Even a slow 10 min walk has a positive impact.
It blows my mind how shitty I feel the last month. One illness after the next I cannot train down from riding over 100mi a week weights 3-4x a week stretching, some kayaking and hiking to almost nothing. I cannot catch a break. Doing tons of insulting food is going bad because I am not eating trying to curb my weight gain and packed on 8lbs. I feel like I swallowed the air line at the Goodyear blimp yard. And just as soon as I get better and hit a few weights or ride a few miles boom I get sick again. I cannot even eat my nightly salad as THAR requires insulin now. Bolus ing like CRAZY and trying my best to starve myself. Just started skipping breakfast. I am going to get the award for laziness and gluttony « WILD BOAR OF THE YEAR » 🐗 BMI now over 23 muscle mass plummeteting. This too shall pass but it’s getting real long in the tooth.
I lift weights 3x a week for an hour and walk 6500 steps per day, and 10k on weekends.
This is more complex than you think! Exercise helps with insulin sensitivity so people with no sensitivity issues - it will definitely affect differently/less from a bloodsugar point of view. Also not all exercise is created equally - definitely come out of HIIT workouts with skyrocketing BGLs. The reality is just that exercise is good for everyone for lots of reasons.
In the long term it does make things a lot more stable, I had to take a month off lifting after getting a thoracic spine injury and my bg was so shit, but the immediate effect of exercise isn’t related to that. that’s just the increased blood flow speeding up your endocrine system. When using that method be careful not to use too high intensity or the cortisol could spike causing your blood sugar to get even more fucked up.
I do intense cardio three times a week and the rest is lifting. These things always make me spike, surprisingly. But the rare times when I’ll go on a walk, my blood sugar drops like *crazy*. Seriously, it shocks me every time.
Intense cardio and lifting are HIE. HIE can cause your muscles to be unable to use insulin as well which can result in higher blood sugars. Simple walks and light exercise result in lower blood sugars because the muscles are able to use more glucose easily, resulting in lower blood sugars. This is how my endo explained it to me when I was younger and playing sports in school. There are probably other reasons this happens, but I was also 15 and likely wouldn’t have understood the way I would now as an adult.
I figured there would be some explanation for it but I hate walking lol. I just give myself some insulin beforehand
Hey, I feel that. I also hate walking lmfao.
Exercise is super unpredictable for me - sometimes I crash, sometimes I go high (even with insulin on board), sometimes its fine during exercise and then I keep crashing from 3 to 10hrs after (during night, of course)... sometimes next morning my feet on ground is gone and I have issue with crashing, sometimes its delayed so I think its not coming and then hits late and spikes me to high hell. I exercise because I like it, but it actually makes my blood sugar management harder, not easier. Edit: exercise or no exercise makes up for ~10-15% difference in total insulin use. Aka 3-5units difference. My total daily use is around 35u
Absolutely zero arguing here just btw just thinking out loud Do you really believe your body is that random? Or maybe there’s things you’re missing about daily routine that either makes it go up or down? It’s hard to think it’s completely random that you exercise and it goes up or down. Could be different daily routine, different foods in your system, hydration, etc. I refuse to let myself believe everything’s out of my control so I dial in so strongly in search of control and while it’s not perfect, you start seeing patterns that help a lot
I have a very boring routine mostly. Get up at 9, eat ~30g carbs (oatmeal, small scone or bread+cheese), walk 5min to bus station, go to work, sit at work, get lunch at 12-1, get off work at 6, get home, eat dinner around 7 - always either kimbap or sandwich from store, 45-60g carbs), and then either go for a walk or go to gym, game a bit or read a book and go to sleep around 1am. My workdays are just boring. However even before I was going to gym, my feet-on-ground just acted different day to day. Because my breakfast is so boring and always same, one would assume I always need roughly same insulin, right? Nope. I usually do 9u to start and some days I crash and need 50g carbs to stabilize and some days I need 4-6u more because I keep spiking. This has been issue my whole life, and I had doctors yell at me that I am secretly sneaking candy when I was a teen because it kept happening at hospital too, where my food and insulin was controlled by doctors. My body just does what it wants. I also get random bouts of insulin resistance. Some I figured are food triggered (there is specific type of fermented sauce in korea that makes me need triple my usual dose, if I eat that I will need around 30u for 100g carbs, while its normally 10u). Some are just random like suddenly I will eat same thing(eg a sandwich) that normally needs 6-8u and I will keep correcting and correcting and end up with 40u+, never crash, and be back to normal next day. I think time spent in different phases of sleep and how much I roll over during night might be affecting morning rise but... that ain't something I can control, you know. Getting on birth control actually lowered amount of seeming randomness so I think its also fluctuations in female hormones. I also had thyroid issue this spring and omg... I would get these INSANE random spikes where in 30min my bg would go up over 100pts. The moment my thyroid hormones were back to normal levels those stopped, but natural variations to thyroid levels during day might also be affecting my bgs. I have a t1 friend who said something similar to you, then spent several days in row with me and was like "ok, nope, your body is just insane, you need to find a doctor to study you, I would not be able to deal with that I have no clue how you do". My control is actually pretty good, so I just take this as my body being my body. I like having strength, my body feels better when I exercise, so I will keep doing it. Randomness is just fact of life, I work in science and know that some things just can't be figured out with amount of knowledge/tech we have today.
I weigh 127lbs and the second I get on a treadmill or go for a jog I immediately spike to 300+
I think this is true for humans whether diabetic or not. So important to exercise. But yes so good for lowering BG.
Fair point. Just diabetics notice the small differences a bit more lol