Based on my recent breakthrough with physical activity upping my insulin sensitivity so much... I tried something after dinner tonight. After I eating, I was watching my sensor and saw that my glucose was already to 140 mg/dl, 30 minutes post meal. Considering that I took my meal bolus about 20 minutes before dinner and I don't eat fast acting carbohydrate, it seemed like I was headed in the wrong direction. I decided that I'd get on the elliptical after dinner and go for 20 minutes, to see if I could correct the rise. It worked. I went from 140 to 89 within 40 minutes, with a meal in the works.
Now I just need to see if I can get an elliptical in the office at work. Not really, my trickiest readings all day are after dinner and into the night. Digesting dinner just seems to be a wild card.
This is good information. If my insulin worked faster I'd be fine, but it seems like it's always really slow. I'm almost never afraid it will work too quickly. This exercise deal is speeding it up for me. I'm all about it.
Great job of using exercise in place of a bolus. Be careful, though, about bolusing before dinner if you aren't the one in control of when the food arrives! But then, you already knew that, right? ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhat happened after that?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me if I exercise right after eating I go low then high because I don't digest the food while exercising and digest it later.
But it sure sounds good. And if you're lucky you'll get some muscles out of it, too.
The Diabetic Man- yep, I'm usually the one who's getting dinner on the table, so it's pretty easy to estimate my time. I eat low-carb, so the amount of insulin is pretty small either way. Meal boluses are usually 1.5-2 units. So, they seem to be kind of slow as well.
ReplyDeleteJonah, thanks for asking. One hour's never the whole story, right? So, after I got it down to normal, I did see it start to slowly go up again, because there was still more food being processed into glucose, as you said. It didn't go too much higher (130), but I didn't get back on the elliptical, I just kept an eye on it to make sure that it was stable or rising before bed.
I"m going to be honest, the CGMS hasn't been too terribly helpful during these experiements. When things are changing quickly with increased sensitivity, the CGMS is way behind and sometimes going in the opposite direction.
Hey that's really good to know! Glad you did that experiment. I may have to try it. I do hope they come out with faster insulin soon! Though sometimes I worry that if I do one of my insulin giving mistakes (my brain went away when I had my kids, I swear lol) then I'll be in trouble...fast...anyway, that really shouldn't happen.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this seems like such a practical way to get one's exercise in...I love when one thing yields so many positives :)
Sysy,
DeleteYes, faster insulin has it's issues. That's probably why it's not available to us, right? Larger doses work faster, the average insulin user might be getting faster results. I've been learning a lot about how exercise turns on insulin receptors in the muscles and you become more more insulin sensitive. I've noticed more consistent insulin sensitivity all day long since I started doing even small amounts of exercise regularly.
I met a guy yesterday who is T1 and was tall, highly athletic, over 200 lbs., and his basal rate and bolus formula was much lower than mine. I think his muscle mass and activity made his insulin sensitivity much higher and more efficient. I love talking to others and learning about the kinds of things that make our metabolism work.
That is so interesting to know about muscle and insulin sensitivity! I have noticed that I need little insulin if every hour during the day I do a short but intense work out like a bunch of push ups or something (which I can do because I stay home with the kids). I'm not always in the mood for that but when I am my blood sugars are wonderful and I barely need to bolus for meals
ReplyDelete