March 13, 2002
Exercise and Sports
Question from Glen Ellyn, Illinois, USA:
I am a 14 year old female who has type 1 diabetes and is on the high school track team, and many times before I run, my blood sugar will be higher than 240 mg/dl [13.3 mmol/L] (normally due to adrenalin). It normally drops after I run. Is this unhealthy for my body? Should I take insulin to get it down before I run? Wouldn’t the extra insulin drop me low in the middle of my race?
Answer:
I actually have had a couple of people with just the same problem. Clearly, I don’t want to see you low. It doesn’t hurt to have that little time with stress-induced hyperglycemia as far as I can tell, and surely the low is worse.
I worry you can’t fine-tune the insulin to avoid the high and the low too. One might suggest trying to time the insulin peak to avoid the high, but what if you overcome the stress and are lower anyway and then get really low? Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be too worried about single sugars.
LD
