Pumping Iron with Diabetes
There are a few things that terrified me when I was
diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. First and foremost, needles, giving myself a
shot was weird and unnatural in my opinion. Second was losing my limbs, this
fear still hasn’t gone away whenever my endocrinologist does a foot exam I
tense with fear of not feeling that little prick on certain areas of my foot. And
last, but not least working out, I thought because I had diabetes it was too
risky for a high or low. I never really discussed it with my doctor; I just
assumed there was no room in my life for it. I was in a dance class at the time
and dropped out because I was worried that I would no longer be able to keep
up, and that I would hurt my feet causing them to be amputated. I tried another
dance class later on, but because I was so afraid of having low blood sugars I
would eat a lot of carbs and not give myself insulin to avoid the possibility
of a low. That technique would mainly leave me feeling gross and wear down my
energy during class. I decided to just give up because it was just too
difficult with my diabetes. And then I started to realize I was out of shape
and lumpier then I remembered.
I decided it was time to face my fear and joined a boot camp
class. Day one I walked in with my water in one hand and my apple juice in the
other, I was committed. The main thing I wanted to make sure I did before class
was talk to the instructor about doing this workout with my diabetes. He told
me I would be fine, but to make sure I had everything I needed in case of my
sugars changing and let him know when I needed a break. That gave me the
confidence I needed and I really enjoyed my first class. I have to admit
wearing my insulin pump on my shirt has been a nice icebreaker. I have people
ask if it is a heart monitor, some just come out and ask me what it is, I even
had a gal tell me it looked fancy, and then of course people are really
interested in how boot camp works with my diabetes and because I am still
learning I have been sharing the day by day experience with them.
When diabetics exercise they can experience high blood
sugars or low blood sugars. When you work out, your muscles use a lot of
glucose or sugar that is released from your liver. When you have diabetes, you
may still have insulin in your body from a previous meal. Although you may have
given yourself the correct amount of insulin for that meal, because your
muscles are using more sugar than usual it is likely to experience low blood
sugars. High blood sugars can happen during an anaerobic work out because the
liver will release a larger amount glucose you’re your system and as a diabetic
you do not produce the insulin required to bring that sugar level down.
Here are some precautions I take while doing boot camp. I
usually will eat something before I work out for the extra energy I need, like
an apple. Instead of bringing a water bottle and a juice box to class, I
switched to drinking Gatorade. It has enough carbs in it to fix a low when
needed but not a crazy amount that will make my blood sugars raise a
considerable amount. I also, pay attention to my body to see if there is
anything out of the ordinary happening. I get sweaty and shaky when I have low
blood sugars, so if I begin to sweat more than usual or am having a little more
trouble finishing a rep than usual I will stop and check my blood sugars to
make sure I am not dropping. When my blood sugars are high my body feels
drained and my mouth gets dry, if I feel either of those things while working
out I will stop what I am doing and check my blood sugars. I am probably more
anal about checking my blood sugars than I am on a regular basis, but I need to
be.
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