Hi Everyone,
I’ve noticed in the past 2 weeks that it’s taking a bit longer to bring down my BG on a post meal walk. Up til now, it’s taken about 30 minutes to stop the rise and get back down under 100 (usually between 80-90 when I get home). Lately, it takes longer to stop and slower to drop - more like 45min. Have you had this experience?
A little background-
I was diagnosed with LADA in late January 2023. Currently I’m in the honeymoon phase and am not taking insulin. If my BG gets to 140 after a meal, I like to go for a walk. Sometimes, if I’m at work for example, I can’t walk and it can go as high as 155 before coming back down.
I’m not in terrific shape - walking/biking is pretty much my only exercise and a bit underweight from the punishingly high BG all last fall before diagnosis.
The temperature can effect the BGs while outdoors as well. When my son is standing still in the sun he will skyrocket upward but if he’s running around in that same sun he’ll fall. If it’s warm or cool the BGs will remain stable while standing still and fall while running. Is there perhaps a temperature variance that’s possibly causing the difference you are seeing?
I’m not sure. The temperature hasn’t changed much over the last 2 weeks. Up here in the Northeast it’s slowly getting warmer - probably the first real spring we’ve had in a while. So I wouldn’t say there’s been a notable difference in temperature on my walks.
Your observation is interesting though and I have experienced that. I was sitting in the sun with my mom the other day and noticed my bg rising but only an hour or so earlier I had been gardening and noticed my bg dropping. So thank you for shedding some light on 1 mystery of my new and weird T1 reality!
With LADA, it’s a slow progression. (I guess the term “slow” is relative. I mean, it may not seem slow. But with kids it all can happen within a few days. So LADA is slow in comparison.)
So what you are seeing may just be a part of the progression. You are not taking any insulin, but it may get to the point where you need to.
You are in a bit of a unique/great position in the fact that you are wearing a CGM in the honeymoon before insulin phase. I’m guessing it’s the very rare person that would have gotten the same info so early.
Have you tried to sign up for any clinical trials? They are always looking for newly diagnosed. These folks might have some knowledge and experience. I signed up with the Benyaroya Research Institute in Seattle shortly after diagnosis. I was able to talk to a kind researcher who was recruiting for the study. She explained in layman’s terms the results of large studies of honeymoons and how to maybe? make them last a little longer. I did not sign up for any clinical trials but it was quite informative at the time.
Hi Josie-
Thanks for the reply. I looked for some studies through my health care system but didn’t find anything diabetes related. If you know of any places I could look, please let me know. I’d definitely be interested!
Jennifer
I just went to clinicaltrials.gov but it brings up everything diabetes related so it’s quite a lot of searching.
The jdrf page has something called antidote where you put in all your info and they will email you if your a match for something.
Exercise as a response to high BG has never worked for me. Indeed my immediate BG and my immediate exercise level levels seem unrelated. This is reasonable for aerobic exercise because the energy comes from the stored glycogen reserves within the muscle cells then is replaced from the available glucose. The one published review paper I’ve read quoted results from Golf (I will say no more) and suggested glycogen reserves were replenished in 2-4 hours. In that case the exercise would take several hours (at least 2) to pull sugar from the blood supply.
I don’t even see that; if I do “extra” exercise, above my normal level (1/2 mile + 250ft of ascent per day), I see a lowering of “ISF” (Insulin Sensitivity Factor) the next day. In other words I need far less insulin for the food I eat (my basal remains the same, but you will not have seen the effects of that yet). Other people have reported the same thing wrt ISF. The net effect is that I need to eat more, sometimes a lot, the next day but not the day I get the boost in exercise.
I’m talking serious boosts in exercise here. For me that would mean doing some serious construction or tree clearing work, however it depends on what our standard level of exercise is; it’s the boost, the increase, that makes the difference.
Personal context; I developed T1D around 1972, there’s no reason to believe I have any residual insulin production and, at fixed levels of exercise, I need to pre-bolus, get the carbs exactly right and eat no more than 30g to stay below 150 after a meal. This is no big deal for me these days because I use a closed loop system and that will respond when I get the carbs wrong, don’t pre-bolus or eat more than 30g; going over 150, or 180, is no big deal so long as it doesn’t stick there and even then, so what? Most authorities believe it is the average over time that matters.
I don’t think it matters. I spent all of my working life in a cubicle. I did cycle to work most of it, but that was only a few miles and it sent my BG up; cycling in traffic is a stressful high adrenaline experience. These days I don’t do that but if I whack out and don’t exercise for a few days it’s actually easier to control my BG; I just have to remember not to eat.
Walking helps but it is not exercise. I think it helps because the activity helps ensure that the insulin moves through our skins at a constant rate. The trick to walking is to find a hill to walk up.
That’s so interesting. I had assumed that the walking was helping bring down my BG. I thought that the physical activity was cuing my body to metabolize glucose in a different way - muscle group cells calling for glucose for quick energy. Thanks for sharing your experience! This is all new to me-
Jennifer
Thank you Josie! I looked too and spent about an hour looking at different studies. Two popped up for LADA but they were both overseas. I’ll keep checking in periodically. I have an appt at the Joslin in July and research studies are on my list of questions.
Thank you! For some reason the filters weren’t working so after I had been reading about an hour and mostly finding type 1 studies for children and adolescents or adults taking insulin, I tried late onset and LADA. I will keep looking though. This past 4 months have been an extreme learning curve and half the time I feel like I’m in some kind of dream/nightmare.