Hypos

[Kirsti95]

Hi there, I’ve been going to the gym a lot lately and have joined a nutritional class to try and improve what foods I’m eating and to find out what’s good for my body. However I’ve been having trouble with hypos. Normally I’d have eg lucozade and a slice of toast. But I’ve discovered that this isn’t good for my body at all.

I was just wondering if anyone has any other suggestions I could try that isn’t processed sugars and bad carbohydrates. I also seem to have a problem when using fruit as it brings my sugars up and then they just drop as quickly as they went up.

Thanks

[Activity2004 Administrator]

Hi and welcome to the group, Kirsti95 . Please continue posting your postings/comments and questions, take a look at our pinned posts and polls sections for some ideas and of course, meet the rest of the group members. We all try to help the best of our abilities.

As for your question with hypos., do you eat something with the fruit? When I have snacks, depending on my blood sugar, I have a bar with 30 grams of protein in it and a Greek yogurt (if it's before bedtime). I'm on a low carb high protein diet. With low carb and high protein, my numbers tend to stay nice and even during the day/evening hours.

Has your doctor talked to you about counting carbs. for each meal and/or snack?

[Kirsti95 in reply to Activity2004]

Hi thanks for getting back to me.

I wear an insulin pump so count carbs regularly. I was in the hospital with DKA about a month ago and they had to give me a new pump, ever since I’ve gotten it I’ve had to reduce my basal rate significantly. I regularly wake up low in the morning and am just looking for other things to take to treat my hypos.

I’ve tried cranberry juice which works but then it drops again so I need some sort of carb to keep it level. I’m just not sure what I can replace my toast with.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Kirsti95]

How about Greek yogurt and 2 hard boiled eggs? I eat these every morning for breakfast and they hold me pretty well. 😀

Do you use a CGM with your pump?

[Boabphil in reply to Kirsti95]

Hi Kirsti

If you are still waking up with low sugar regularly then it could be that your overnight basal is still too high. You should discuss this with your diabetic pump team who can help you to adjust the settings.

Getting insulin right with exercise can require a lot of trial and error. Cardio-vascular exercise basically performs the same action as insulin - for some people like myself the effect of this can be quite exaggerated so you will need to plan a reduced basal around the time of exercise - an hour before - during and for an hour afterwards.

This is how I have been told to do it by my pump team instead of feeding the diabetes with sweet snacks.

I still have problems with this however due to problems with planning and my sugars dipping very quickly as soon as I do exercise so I usually take 4 or 5 jelly babies before I start with basal reduced to 50% while exercising and then a couple more half way through. As well as cardio I am doing weights which I find requires instant energy. I am also quite slim and do not want to lose any more weight due to exercise. Also if I am planning on driving home the last thing I want is my sugar dipping towards the end of the session!

If I turn the basal off entirely during the exercise I find that my glucose rises later some time after exercise.

I think what you should also be prepared to do is stop occasionally through the exercise to check how your glucose level is doing.

I would advise you discuss these matters directly with your own diabetic team before you make any significant changes.

Best wishes

[HOBIEONE]

Well done for doing something Kirsti95 ! Being Active is one of the best ways. Porridge or similar before you go to Gym has slow release of energy. Good luck.