Diabetes.....Running

Leo B said:

Are there any runners here that have diabetes and if so how to you deal
with it and running. thank you..

I'm more a bicyclist than a runner, but for some weird reason I enjoy
the people on rec.running. I'm a type 2 diabetic caught fairly early,
controlling with diet and exercise. A whole lot depends on how you are
controlling your diabetes. If you use insulin, then buy the book The
Diabetic Athlete by Sheri Colberg. If you want to improve your diabetes
control go to http://www.geocities.com/lottadata4u/index.htm for lots of
good information on the very tight control approach.

I eat low carb (about 80-100 grams a day) to control my blood sugar and
expect it to be in the 90s fasting, 120-140 one hour after eating (U.S.
numbers). When I take a long bicycle ride (usually 30-40 miles and I
have done as much as 100) I eat more carbs before and during the ride.
I happen to have a stomach that never gets upset, so I also eat cheese
or other high fat food. I figure I have trained my body pretty well to
burn fat.

I find that exercise will pull my blood sugar down for the first hour or
two, but then my body goes into a stress reaction and my blood sugar can
creep up to the 140s. Generally my liver is only too good at dumping
the glucose I need and I never go low. When I did the 100 mile
organized bike ride I expected to keep going higher with stress but
instead I found I was going lowish (87, if I remember right) at 75 miles
and ate more carbs. I'm probably averaging about 70 or 75% of maximum
heart rate--if you are running a lot harder than that you may get more
of that stress reaction and sooner. I do a little running but I've
found I have to build up ridiculously slowly or I get hip/back pain.
I'm currently doing one and a quarter miles three times a week and that
doesn't have much effect on my blood glucose

I'm a big believer in finding out how your particular body reacts.
Particularly if you are running more than an hour or pushing yourself
hard, try stopping and testing your blood sugar several times and see
what is happening. I once rode my bike 7 hours testing every half hour
so I would really know whether anything weird happened (it didn't, it
stayed low the first couple of hours and then crept up--I did eat as I
went along).

Did you have more specific questions?

Pam

Quoted message said:

Are there any runners here that have diabetes and if so how to you deal
with it and running. thank you.

Huge amounts of steroids.

Miss Anne Thrope said:

That's an easy one............you quit running.

No, the best thing for type 2 diabetes is exercise. It just means
another set of numbers to watch. It is actually very interesting--think
about being able to test your blood glucose and find out whether you are
close to bonking.

Pam

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 19:57:41 -0500, pam_in_sc <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Miss Anne Thrope said:

That's an easy one............you quit running.

No, the best thing for type 2 diabetes is exercise. It just means
another set of numbers to watch. It is actually very interesting--think
about being able to test your blood glucose and find out whether you are
close to bonking.

you don't need to be a diabetic to test your blood glucose. just go
get the kit. but a diabetic is perhaps a little more in touch with
WHY they feel funny. they've probably been testing for years
and they KNOW what low blood sugar feels like. i thought
i had low blood sugar until i began testing. now i know
that sometimes i just feel funny.
....thehick