# My BG goes up and down after exercise!!!



## genie (Jun 20, 2018)

Anyone experienced this before? One day my BG after eating was 9 something and I went to gym joining body pump class for 1 hour and it went down to 5.9. 
But today my BG is just 6.2 before exercise and i ate some lowcarb bread (5g carb) with peanut butter (these things normally raise my bg up to 1.5m). After bodypump 1 hour (which also means 2 hours after i ate the bread) and i checked again and my bg is 7.7m. Really dont know what’s going on with my body. Now i still need to eat dinner with 7.7m before eating. Dont know if it can go down tomorrow morning by itself or not 
Ps: im not on any medication


----------



## Northerner (Jun 20, 2018)

genie said:


> Anyone experienced this before? One day my BG after eating was 9 something and I went to gym joining body pump class for 1 hour and it went down to 5.9.
> But today my BG is just 6.2 before exercise and i ate some lowcarb bread (5g carb) with peanut butter (these things normally raise my bg up to 1.5m). After bodypump 1 hour (which also means 2 hours after i ate the bread) and i checked again and my bg is 7.7m. Really dont know what’s going on with my body. Now i still need to eat dinner with 7.7m before eating. Dont know if it can go down tomorrow morning by itself or not
> Ps: im not on any medication


Hi genie, I wouldn't worry about those numbers, it's not an exact science, and those numbers are fine. Exercise sometimes raises blood sugar levels because it causes the release of cortisol and adrenaline, which stimulate the liver to release extra glucose into the blood. The extent to which this happens may depend on a number of factors, but within the numbers you mention it's perfectly natural and fine  Exercise also improves the sensitivity of your body's cells to insulin, so it becomes better at taking up glucose for energy from the blood, and this effect can last long after the exercise session is complete - up to 40 hours in some cases - so I wouldn't worry about being on a higher number before eating, your body will probably cope better with bringing things back into range as the hours progress. As you exercise and test more you will gain experience of the kind of changes in your blood sugar levels you might expect - and it can be different for different forms of exercise e.g. lifting weights or on the treadmill. These things can be very personal to the individual, so it's your own personal experience that counts. One thing is true for everyone though - we all benefit from regular exercise so keep up the good work!


----------



## genie (Jun 21, 2018)

Northerner said:


> Hi genie, I wouldn't worry about those numbers, it's not an exact science, and those numbers are fine. Exercise sometimes raises blood sugar levels because it causes the release of cortisol and adrenaline, which stimulate the liver to release extra glucose into the blood. The extent to which this happens may depend on a number of factors, but within the numbers you mention it's perfectly natural and fine  Exercise also improves the sensitivity of your body's cells to insulin, so it becomes better at taking up glucose for energy from the blood, and this effect can last long after the exercise session is complete - up to 40 hours in some cases - so I wouldn't worry about being on a higher number before eating, your body will probably cope better with bringing things back into range as the hours progress. As you exercise and test more you will gain experience of the kind of changes in your blood sugar levels you might expect - and it can be different for different forms of exercise e.g. lifting weights or on the treadmill. These things can be very personal to the individual, so it's your own personal experience that counts. One thing is true for everyone though - we all benefit from regular exercise so keep up the good work!


Thanks Northerner. I’ll definitely experiment myself in the upcoming time to find the patterns. My problem is that my bg level is really slow to go down during sleep (probably 0.5-1m only). Like yesterday my bg before sleeping is 7 and tdy i woke up with 6.5. I always try to go sleep with 6ish m so that i can wake up with normal fasting bg to start a new day. Since as im not on any medication the advice is to keep my bg as close to normal people as possible right?!


----------



## Northerner (Jun 21, 2018)

genie said:


> Thanks Northerner. I’ll definitely experiment myself in the upcoming time to find the patterns. My problem is that my bg level is really slow to go down during sleep (probably 0.5-1m only). Like yesterday my bg before sleeping is 7 and tdy i woke up with 6.5. I always try to go sleep with 6ish m so that i can wake up with normal fasting bg to start a new day. Since as im not on any medication the advice is to keep my bg as close to normal people as possible right?!


6.5 is fine for waking on @genie, and the chances are it will start to reduce over time - but even if it doesn't it is within range (especially since blood sugar meters aren't entirely accurate). A smooth line overnight is actually a very good thing - you spend a third of your life asleep and it shows that for all that time your levels are rock steady!  Are you testing immediately on waking? If not, try it very first thing, you might be surprised to see it lower. This is because your liver starts to increase the amount of glucose it releases into your bloodstream as you wake, therefore raising your levels. This rise can be quite dramatic - I didn't realise until I started wearing a Freestyle Libre (a sensor that provides a continuous readout of levels), my levels could increase as much as 2 mmol/l in the first 5 minutes after waking!  Not everyone gets this dramatic rise, but if you do then the number you take 5 minutes after waking may not represent how your levels have been behaving overnight.

You're doing fine!


----------



## Vince_UK (Jun 21, 2018)

Northerner said:


> Hi genie, I wouldn't worry about those numbers, it's not an exact science, and those numbers are fine. Exercise sometimes raises blood sugar levels because it causes the release of cortisol and adrenaline, which stimulate the liver to release extra glucose into the blood. The extent to which this happens may depend on a number of factors, but within the numbers you mention it's perfectly natural and fine  Exercise also improves the sensitivity of your body's cells to insulin, so it becomes better at taking up glucose for energy from the blood, and this effect can last long after the exercise session is complete - up to 40 hours in some cases - so I wouldn't worry about being on a higher number before eating, your body will probably cope better with bringing things back into range as the hours progress. As you exercise and test more you will gain experience of the kind of changes in your blood sugar levels you might expect - and it can be different for different forms of exercise e.g. lifting weights or on the treadmill. These things can be very personal to the individual, so it's your own personal experience that counts. One thing is true for everyone though - we all benefit from regular exercise so keep up the good work!


Very useful info Northie, I have learned something else today. Thanks


----------



## genie (Jun 21, 2018)

Northerner said:


> 6.5 is fine for waking on @genie, and the chances are it will start to reduce over time - but even if it doesn't it is within range (especially since blood sugar meters aren't entirely accurate). A smooth line overnight is actually a very good thing - you spend a third of your life asleep and it shows that for all that time your levels are rock steady!  Are you testing immediately on waking? If not, try it very first thing, you might be surprised to see it lower. This is because your liver starts to increase the amount of glucose it releases into your bloodstream as you wake, therefore raising your levels. This rise can be quite dramatic - I didn't realise until I started wearing a Freestyle Libre (a sensor that provides a continuous readout of levels), my levels could increase as much as 2 mmol/l in the first 5 minutes after waking!  Not everyone gets this dramatic rise, but if you do then the number you take 5 minutes after waking may not represent how your levels have been behaving overnight.
> 
> You're doing fine!


Yes Northerner, I measured after 30 mins waking up actually. I see what you mean now. Thanks a lot of your useful info!


----------



## Northerner (Jun 21, 2018)

genie said:


> Yes Northerner, I measured after 30 mins waking up actually. I see what you mean now. Thanks a lot of your useful info!


It's known as 'Dawn Phenomenon' - some people experience very steep rises, but for some it's minor, but that's diabetes for you!


----------



## genie (Jun 22, 2018)

Northerner said:


> It's known as 'Dawn Phenomenon' - some people experience very steep rises, but for some it's minor, but that's diabetes for you!


Yeah i think i have this “Dawn Phenomenon” effect. But this dawn one also fluctuates for my body. Like sometime i woke up and didnt eat anything and my bg went up. But other time i woke up didnt eat anything then went back to sleep and woke up again and my bg went down. So weird and unpredictable


----------



## Gary Pickles (Jul 5, 2018)

Hi. Played five a side football for the first time in a good while last night and found that my legs lacked a lot of power and energy. I have only recently started injecting as I was misdiagnosed as type 2 for the last six months, found this very frustrating as I love playing football and feel that I am reasonably fit. Does anyone know if I will start to get some of the energy back in my legs as time goes by? BG also went up quite significantly but I can see that this question has already been asked and answered. Thanks in advance for any advice


----------



## Matt Cycle (Jul 5, 2018)

Gary Pickles said:


> Hi. Played five a side football for the first time in a good while last night and found that my legs lacked a lot of power and energy. I have only recently started injecting as I was misdiagnosed as type 2 for the last six months, found this very frustrating as I love playing football and feel that I am reasonably fit. Does anyone know if I will start to get some of the energy back in my legs as time goes by? BG also went up quite significantly but I can see that this question has already been asked and answered. Thanks in advance for any advice



Hi Gary

Yes, I would think so.  High blood glucose levels make me feel sluggish with heavy legs.  I'm not sure what symptoms you had but for 6 months your legs and other muscles will potentially have been wasting away due to high blood glucose levels and lack of insulin.  Tiredness is one of the symptoms of T1.   I guess you won't have felt like doing much exercise before diagnosis either.  Once you're up to speed with things you should be back to normal.  There's always a bit of trial and error involved when exercising with T1.

Runsweet is a great site for information on exercise and T1.  There's a list of all types of sports.  It also mentions the Type 1 Sports Weekend at Loughborough University (next one October 2018).  I've not been myself but it comes highly recommended although places book up very quickly.


----------



## SB2015 (Jul 6, 2018)

Gary Pickles said:


> Hi. Played five a side football for the first time in a good while last night and found that my legs lacked a lot of power and energy. I have only recently started injecting as I was misdiagnosed as type 2 for the last six months, found this very frustrating as I love playing football and feel that I am reasonably fit. Does anyone know if I will start to get some of the energy back in my legs as time goes by? BG also went up quite significantly but I can see that this question has already been asked and answered. Thanks in advance for any advice


Hi Gary
Managing exercise takes a bit of sorting out to keep levels in check and to have the energy needed.  
I use a mix of reducing my insuiln beforehand if I am eating just before, having a snack before and/or during.  I have gradually found what works for different types of activity, but it takes time to sort it, and also things are rarely consistent, so things still wobble a bit, but all we can do is the best we can do.


----------



## Gary Pickles (Jul 6, 2018)

Thanks for the tips, as I said I felt like my legs were going to give way, been swimming a bit but this was the first more intense competitive sport since I was diagnosed so just hoping things will improve as I get things a bit more under control


----------

