Elkhound

I'd like to discuss some of our unique challenges.

Pedal Wench

A friend of mine competed in (and won) RAAM last year - Team Type 1. Look them up - the entire team is Type 1 diabetic.

tsgrab

Type 1 here.

If I am going on a longer ride, say 50+ miles, I'll cut back on insulin levels. Sometimes I won't take any fast acting insulin at all and rely on my long term (Lantis) to keep my blood sugar levels normal. Seems when I'm riding, I can eat about anything without my blood sugar getting high. I make sure I have plenty too eat in case I'm far away from civilization.

Biggest problem I have is in the middle of the night if I don't adjust my insulin if I ride a lot of miles during the week. My wife wakes me because of my sweating and tossing around.

doghouse

I use a pump and set it on 60% normal delivery during long rides.

For me, the biggest issues usually occur 2 to 4 hours after the ride is complete and my bg drops sometimes.

skiahh

My wife is T1. She hasn't been riding in a while because of a pregnancy and now our toddler. She's ready to get back, but we'll have to start over. Before the pregnancy, she was on Lantis and when we'd ride (MTB), we'd go 30 mins, test her blood, eat half a power bar and that would work perfectly. Now that she's on a pump, we'll have to figure out a new setting (60%) for a longer ride sounds like a good place to start.

It's mostly a matter of vigilence for both of us.

MAK

T2 here. I'd love to discuss mutual challenges.

Nermal

Diagnosed type 2 something like three years ago. So far, I'm able to control it with exercise and diet, so the only problem I have is getting into hypoglycemia, and sometimes very quickly.

Good idea for a discussion. Now, if I could somehow mark a thread to find my way back in a few weeks or so. . . .

gpsblake

Type 1. Just like tsgrab said is how I do it. Sweating and tossing around at night = low blood sugar for me.

What I prefer to do is to eat a lot but a small amount at a time. I get sluggish if I pig out and if I don't eat after a while, bonk city.

I take the 70/30 although I do also have quick acting also.

If you are not sure, it's safer to be on the high side (hyper) and eat than be on the low side (hypo) and risk passing out, going into shock, etc.

Listen to your body, it's smarter then your brain.

atomship47

ditto. i have to load up on carbs before my ride to avoid this. i make them a combo of simple sugars, grains and startch. if i don't time it right, i bonk 20 minutes in. also, mile 45 seems to be another "wall." i have to "reload" before then or i bonk.

tsgrab

I used to use a pump. I wasn't very disciplined with it and gained about 40 lbs. After my second pump died after the warranty expired, I went back to the poor mans pump (Lantis). I actually like the freedom of not being tethered to it all the time. I also don't miss the frustration of the tape that holds the catheter in getting sweaty and coming off or the scar tissue etc,,. If given the opportunity, I don't think I would use the pump again.

Ever since I started cycling (3000 miles since last October), my blood glucose readings have really leveled out and I've lost about 30 lbs. If I have to travel and can't ride, the readings are not so consistant.

tpelle

I'm type 2 and have been for several years. I've just recently taken up cycling - just about two months now - and have seen dramatic improvements in my glucose readings.

I'm doing the diet and exercise thing, as well as taking 500mg Glucovance twice per day. Exercise was not my strong point until I resumed cycling after a 30 year hiatus.

Hmmm......the sweating and tossing at nights. I've been doing that a lot. It never occured to me that it was related to my diabetes. I think that the next time I wake up I'll do a test and see what it is at that time. Normally my morning "after fasting" reading is the highest of the day - anywhere from 130 to 170 is "normal" for me before breakfast. I know that my glucose readings can vary throughout the day regardless of my food intake - I may test two hours after breakfast and be 121, then, without eating anything, test before lunch and be 133!

Elkhound

What you are experiencing is the "dawn effect." Just before you are scheduled to wake up, the liver dumps sugar into the bloodstream. For a 'normie', the pancreas will respond by producing insulin, producing enough energy to get up and do what needs to be done. However, that doesn't quite work with us.

I'm told that a good way to get around this is to eat a somewhat fatty pre-bed snack; some report that a little alcohol is good for this too. A glass of (very dry) wine with some cheese and high-fiber crackers would fit the bill.

Nermal

That bedtime snack system seems to work, Elkhound. It is probably best if the snack is carbs fairly low on the glycemia list, though I imagine the fats would also slow down the degestion, which is good.

On alcohol, for most (but not all) of us, it tends to lower sugar levels. Fine for me, but not necessairly so for those on medication. As they say, "Your mileage may vary".

I recently spent three weeks in the hospital and experienced readings that were abnormal for me. They say this is typical. In anycase, that's been the only time I was on medication.

I did find a way to get back to this thread, by the way. On page one, I set the web adddress as a 'favorite'.

DieselDan

Type something here. I was originally diagnosed a type 2, but now take insulin injections. Now I've lost my health insurance coverage, I'm just screwed. My blood sugar will crash after a long ride or a hard ride, and will crash during a long hard ride.

Nermal

I understood that health insurance (individual) was almost impossible to get once you've been ordered to use insulin. Not that it's really cheap if you have diabetes at all, and especially if you are on other medications than insulin. I don't know how your personal economics work, but you might consider an employer offering the right health insurance. The coverage (for which I pay about 1/3) I have at work has to accept all employees. I swear, some people would retire but for the health insurance issue.

On the hypoglycemia issue, have you tried any of the cycling specific food bars. Supposedly, some are for before a long ride, some for during the middle, and some for afterwards. The ones designated for before exercise might be just what you need, Dan. I haven't tried it myself, but most of my rides are fairly short, but I can get into hypoglycemia rather quickly if I'm pushing it.

tpelle

Wow! Good info there! It's funny, though, that you mention alcohol - I've noticed that if I have a couple of beers, for instance, my morning reading will be LOWER, rather than higher as I would have supposed. For instance, my daughter and her husband had a fourth-of-july party last night, with a cook-out and fireworks after dark. Over the course of the evening I drank probably 6 Bud Lights. This morning my reading was lower than usual.

I normally refrain from drinking beer, except every once in a while, now. I thought wine of any kind would be VERBOTEN, as it's naturally high in sugar. The good news is that bourbon has 0 CARBS!

Elkhound

Wine has sugar, but some has more than others. A sweet wine like Port would not be good, but a dry one like a Chardonnay or a Shiraz would be OK.

I was told that for hard liquors, white was better than brown. The ideal cocktail for a diabetic, I was told, would be a vodka martini.

Be sure that if you drink alcohol, you eat with it. And no, the olive in the Martini does not count.

edp773

My diabetic Doctor suggested scotch and water as the suggested drink for me. It took some getting used to.

Early on in my Type 1 diabetes I would load up with simple carbs and sugar for short events like running cross-country and bicycling. As I grew older I found that complex carbs worked longer as stated. The slow release glucose bars worked well for longer activities also.

After 28 years of being a diabetic the low glucose symptoms were not as easily detected by my metabolism. At 32.8 years of being a diabetic I got a kidney-pancreas transplant. And yes they have been doing pancreas transplants almost as long as kidney transplants. In the 1990s the immunosuppressant prescriptions were dialed in for less rejection rates.

Nermal

That is scary, edp, though I had already heard that some of lose the ability realize when we're getting inot hypoclycemia.

Elkhound

Of course, Type 1 and Type 2 are very different things. YMMV and all that.

gpsblake

https://www.diabetes.org/type-1-diabe...ransplants.jsp

Very interesting information about pancreas transplants.

edp773

That link is interesting. When I did my research 7 to 8 years ago the success rate for a simultaneous kidney pancreas transplants were 84%. The immunosupressants are expensive, but I feel the cure is more than worth it.

Bill Kapaun

https://www.bikeforums.net/clydesdales-athenas-200-lb-91-kg/320748-here-news-spot.html

edp773

Yes, Tom's story is very inspirational. It shows what diet and excercise can do for type II diabetes.