Effect of Glucagon - dependent on amount of liver glycogen available

In the expired-glucagon thread, I experimented with some expired glucagon, doing a mini-dose. Then I tried it again the next day to see how it would work after the glucagon had been mixed for a day and left out.

The expired glucagon worked both first and second day, but what was interesting to me is the big difference I saw in how it affected my BG. Both times I used the same dose, a mini-dose of 25 units instead of the whole 100 units of solution.

First day:
51 to 109, 58 points in 32 minutes

Second day:
66 to 172, 106 points in 35 minutes.

Both situations were similar in terms of no IOB, time of day, starting BG, etc.

But there was a huge difference in how much of a BG rise I got out of the injection.

I realize the difference is because of the amount of available liver glycogen I had at the time.

On the first day, I did the dose about 16 hours after a fairly extreme glycogen depleting workout. I was pretty close to empty, and my body did not have enough time to fully replenish.

The second day was following a very easy workout, plus a big meal.

I think this was a good illustration of the difference between using glucagon when you are in a somewhat glycogen-depleted state, versus using it when your glycogen stores are more full.

Possibly useful information if you are doing fairly extensive exercise and you ever need a glucagon injection.

And one of the reasons I have been strongly advising people to restore those carbs right away after exercise. You never know when you might need them!

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It would be interesting to also look at with small amounts of alcohol in your system—I know alcohol suppresses glycogen release, but I wonder how dramatic the effects are and whether they are dose-dependent (i.e., will a very small amount in your system still completely suppress glycogen production until it’s gone, or will it only suppress it somewhat whereas more alcohol suppresses it more)?

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