# Exercise and blood sugars!



## Lynsey (May 12, 2014)

Hi im just trying to find out any information regarding blood sugars while exercising! My goal is to do the moonwalk next year and ive started powerwalking but im finding it really hard keeping control of my blood sugars ups and downs. I have kind of got to grips with the distance of 10 miles in the evening at a good fast pace, but when I change the time I walk, the distance etc everything goes out of the window and with the moonwalk being at night and at a different pace that will not help, its driving me mad! I would pay anything to have a piece of equipment fitted to me so It could read my bloods without me stopping to test all the time. If there is such a thing please let me know or any help would be great. I have had diabetes for 28 years now and still haven't mastered the art of it  Thank you


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## robert@fm (May 12, 2014)

Welcome to the forum!  You might like to introduce yourself in the Newbies section (this is not compulsory). You will get plently of good and friendly advice here; there are several athletic members (not including me, but our friendly admin Alan aka Northerner is a runner).



Lynsey said:


> I would pay anything to have a piece of equipment fitted to me so It could read my bloods without me stopping to test all the time. If there is such a thing please let me know or any help would be great.



There is indeed such a piece of gear; it's called a Continuous Glucose Monitor, usually abbreviated to CGM. However, both the machine and the running costs are horrendously expensive; the last I heard, about £1,000 for the monitor and £50-60 for a sensor to last 7 days. Hopefully someone who uses one can give better information.


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## Northerner (May 12, 2014)

Hi Lynsey, welcome to the forum  What insulin regime are you on? As Robert says, a CGM would provide the type of information you would like, but they are extremely expensive to fund privately and only issued on the NHS to extreme cases of hypo unawareness and/or children.

The differences in your reactions when training at different times of the day are probably explained by having different insulin reqirements at different times: people tend to be more insulin resistant during the morning, then become more sensitive as the day progresses, meaning you should need less insulin when training later on. An insulin pump can help with this, as you can alter the delivery of insulin on an hourly basis (or possibly finer, not sure), which is virtually impossible on injections. You may be eligible for a pump (if you don't already have one!) - check out the website http://input.me.uk/  for information 

You may also be able find some helpful information on the website http://www.runsweet.com/

For general and technical information about exercise and insulin-use, I would recommend getting a copy of Diabetic Athlete's Handbook by Sheri Colberg  

Good luck! Let us know how you get on, and if you have any more questions


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## Copepod (May 12, 2014)

Welcome Lynsey.
Speaking as a woman with type 1 diabetes, who does a range of sports, often endurance length and / or at odd times of day eg Great Lakeland 3 Day over bank holiday weekend, Parkruns when I'm free at 0900 on Saturday, orienteering whenever I can, lots of cycling or walking to get to / from places, I've found Runsweet information very helpful. Testing, keeping records and experimenting with various foods, meal times etc gives me the best chance of acceptable blood glucose levels. But, still, after 18 years, I get things wrong. For me, the priority is to continuing doing things I enjoy, and not be too hard on myself when things go wrong. I do find that having long acting insulin (Humalin I) injections twice in each 24 hours gives me a bit more flexibility.


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## trophywench (May 12, 2014)

Humulin I is intermediate AND long-acting, not a true sole long-acting - but anyway it's always more flexible to split your basal into two doses but when exactly you have em and how you split em is an art in itself.

Still for all we know you may already be taking 2 x Lantus or 2 x Levemir anyway !


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