Endurance Training And Managing Diabetes

El Director

So after a little thought and persuasion I’ve decided to open this topic here on the main forum. I’m not sure there are enough around these parts anymore but sure it could do no harm anyway.

Any of you that follow my training blog know this already - I was recently diagnosed (3 weeks ago) with diabetes. This was a big shock to me, my doctor and basically everyone that knows me.

I basically went to the doctor about an ear infection but I asked to get my bloods done while I was there. A few months ago I was concerned that I was showing symptoms of diabetes :

- blurred vision
- cramping in my hands and feet
- rapid weight loss
- excessive thirst/peeing a lot
- fatigue

But they pretty much cleared up once I started back training in October but still thought it best to check, €25 for peace of mind. The results came back and my FASTED blood glucose levels were in the 20’s (normal range 3.9 - 6, can vary a little depending where you read) and my HbA1c (your average level of blood sugar over the past 2 to 3 months, also called glycated hemoglobin test and glycohemoglobin) was 125, normal is 20 - 42. Both extremely high and quite concerning.

There is no (known) history of diabetes in my family history nor am I overweight at 75kg (183cm height) so that rules out the two main reasons one develops the disease.

I’m still in the process of finding out the reason and the best way to manage it. I am on medication now, 850mg x 2 (metformin) and eating a low carb, high fat diet. The doctor gave me very little advice in terms of diet, tbh I think doctors are not sure themselves these days as to what advice to give out in terms of diet. My doctor does not want me losing anymore weight (nor do I). Still to be determined is whether I’m insulin resistant (cells not taking up the sugar being produced) or my pancreas is not producing insulin at all for some reason. I will be seeing an endocrinologist in the next 6 weeks I hope and hopefully they can shed some light on the situation.

Anyway, enough about my particular situation, I’m posting this here to...

(a) raise awareness - I never thought I’d get this disease. It is serious if it goes ignored/untreated. Blindness, amputations, heart attack and stroke are among the possible outcomes. I’m not sure how I knew but I’m very surprised how many do not know the signs of diabetes, some are listed above and here are more

http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/symptoms/

and...

(b) this could be a source of support and resources. FYI here is a slowtwitch thread on the topic. In particular I’m obviously very interested in nutrition for training and racing. So far (its only been 3 weeks) the LCHF diet has me feeling better than I have felt in a long long time. Perhaps that’s because I’m not eating much carbs which my body wasn’t able to deal with correctly or perhaps the medication is doing its job. I don’t know but I actually feel great and have much more energy than I used to. Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t see carbs as evil I just cannot process them correctly for whatever reason so for now they are mostly out. Nutrition in a race/on the go...this is an area I’m looking into. This thread could easily go down the carb worm hole and if it does so be it, nothing wrong with healthy debate!

So if anyone else out there would like to share their experience then great if not I understand and I am happy to engage in conversation via PM’s.

RacoonQueen

The man to share his experience is robinph from the Athletics forum who is diabetic and has been training / running marathons (at a decent clip) with it.

El Director

RacoonQueen wrote: »

The man to share his experience is robinph from the Athletics forum who is diabetic and has been training / running marathons (at a decent clip) with it.

Brilliant, thanks RQ, I'll connect with him.

robinph

First things first, always remember that it is a good thing that you've been diagnosed. However, it can and will be a massive pain in the neck at times.

Seems like there is still some confusion over your exact diagnosis as to if you fall into the type 1 (insulin dependant) or type 2 (insulin resistant) forms of diabetes. There are a few other types but they are beyond my understanding.

I don't know a whole lot on specifics of managing type 2, although that is by far the most common type. I recognise the name of the tablets as ones that type 2's are prescribed, but don't know what those ones do. Some are to increase your sensitivity to the insulin that you produce and some I think help to increase the amount of insulin you produce. But in most cases if you eat a "healthy diet" and exercise then there shouldn't be too much else to worry about regarding managing sports, other than just doing it as per normal.

The tricky bit is if the drugs are likely to cause hypos and that is when you need to plan ahead and expect it to still go wrong.

Whilst type 2 is generally diagnosed in overweight older people, and type 1 in skinny fit younger people, there are always exceptions. I was diagnosed type 1 relatively late at age 22, but the likes of Steve Redgrave (olympic rower) was diagnosed kind of early for a type 2 and due to the level of elite sport he was competing at it confused if he was type 1 or type 2 initially.

The reducing carbs is a good thing for now, and if it works for you long term that is great as well. I'm certainly not low carb, but I'm also on insulin so that changes things slightly or at least means that I can ignore the need to go low carb. Normally on diagnosis of a type 1 during the first few months they would go through a period of seemingly being cured, as their body says thanks for the drugs and can start producing/ using insulin normally again for a while. So it can take a while before things stabilise.

There are a few of various types of diabetics across the boardsie sports forums though and also over in the Long Term Illness forum. So shout if there are any questions, or just to have a moan.

El Director

robinph wrote: »

First things first, always remember that it is a good thing that you've been diagnosed. However, it can and will be a massive pain in the neck at times.

Seems like there is still some confusion over your exact diagnosis as to if you fall into the type 1 (insulin dependant) or type 2 (insulin resistant) forms of diabetes. There are a few other types but they are beyond my understanding.

I don't know a whole lot on specifics of managing type 2, although that is by far the most common type. I recognise the name of the tablets as ones that type 2's are prescribed, but don't know what those ones do. Some are to increase your sensitivity to the insulin that you produce and some I think help to increase the amount of insulin you produce. But in most cases if you eat a "healthy diet" and exercise then there shouldn't be too much else to worry about regarding managing sports, other than just doing it as per normal.

The tricky bit is if the drugs are likely to cause hypos and that is when you need to plan ahead and expect it to still go wrong.

Whilst type 2 is generally diagnosed in overweight older people, and type 1 in skinny fit younger people, there are always exceptions. I was diagnosed type 1 relatively late at age 22, but the likes of Steve Redgrave (olympic rower) was diagnosed kind of early for a type 2 and due to the level of elite sport he was competing at it confused if he was type 1 or type 2 initially.

The reducing carbs is a good thing for now, and if it works for you long term that is great as well. I'm certainly not low carb, but I'm also on insulin so that changes things slightly or at least means that I can ignore the need to go low carb. Normally on diagnosis of a type 1 during the first few months they would go through a period of seemingly being cured, as their body says thanks for the drugs and can start producing/ using insulin normally again for a while. So it can take a while before things stabilise.

There are a few of various types of diabetics across the boardsie sports forums though and also over in the Long Term Illness forum. So shout if there are any questions, or just to have a moan.

Awesome. Thanks dude. It really helps to read the above. I'm still figuring things out but I will be sure to ask/moan if anything crops up.

zico10

Firstly, I'm sure this was tough news to take and I genuinely wish you the best in dealing with it.

nor am I overweight at 75kg (183cm height) so that rules out the two main reasons one develops the disease.

Now please don't think the wrong way, but there was a time in your log when you reported weighing in at 93kg. Another time you reported on losing 25kg in 6 weeks. You couldn't possibly have been at a healthy weight if you had this much to lose. You might not have been overweight at the time of the diagnosis, but there has been times over the last couple of years, when you were. Again, I don't mean to pick on you, and I'm not a doctor, but I can't see how your weight can be so categorically ruled out as a cause of your diabetes.

El Director

zico10 wrote: »

Firstly, I'm sure this was tough news to take and I genuinely wish you the best in dealing with it.



Now please don't think the wrong way, but there was a time in your log when you reported weighing in at 93kg. Another time you reported on losing 25kg in 6 weeks. You couldn't possibly have been at a healthy weight if you had this much to lose. You might not have been overweight at the time of the diagnosis, but there has been times over the last couple of years, when you were. Again, I don't mean to pick on you, and I'm not a doctor, but I can't see how your weight can be so categorically ruled out as a cause of your diabetes.

Hi Zico, thanks for your comment and it's just your honest thoughts so I'm in no way offended. I mentioned exactly what you said above to my doctor and she inclined to say that those 3 or so years where i was overweight/obese couldn't really cause this amount of damage in that period of time. You see I was on medication at the time and one of the side effects was weight gain and I suppose there was a lot of emotional eating too during that time.

Now she did say she can't be sure but normally it is the life long sedentary person that develops diabetes and apart from those 3 years I was always active and relatively fit. Personally I believe those 3 years a lot of damage was done and I wouldn't be surprise if you were right Zico.

Neady83

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis ED but also, well done for not wallowing and moving on with figuring out how to continue with your training etc.

I was put on metformin (500mg) x3 a month ago to treat polycystic ovary syndrome, which also causes insulin resistance, and puts me at a higher risk of developing diabetes so I've been reading up on the low GI diet too.

I've been using Tailwind during long trail races for years now with great success and after starting metformin I've been reading about lots of athletes with type I and type II diabetes using is successfully to fuel during long races.

Just a quick question for you? Did you have any side effects when you started the metformin? Apart from the tummy issues which have started to abate I've been finding my legs incredibly stiff and fatigued which could be 100% all in my head but just wondering if you or anyone else noticed anything else similar?

El Director

Neady83 wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis ED but also, well done for not wallowing and moving on with figuring out how to continue with your training etc.

I was put on metformin (500mg) x3 a month ago to treat polycystic ovary syndrome, which also causes insulin resistance, and puts me at a higher risk of developing diabetes so I've been reading up on the low GI diet too.

I've been using Tailwind during long trail races for years now with great success and after starting metformin I've been reading about lots of athletes with type I and type II diabetes using is successfully to fuel during long races.

Just a quick question for you? Did you have any side effects when you started the metformin? Apart from the tummy issues which have started to abate I've been finding my legs incredibly stiff and fatigued which could be 100% all in my head but just wondering if you or anyone else noticed anything else similar?

Hi Neady, great to hear from you! Thanks for sharing. Interesting what you say about Tailwind - I had only just begun using it a couple of months ago when P Gibbo put me onto it. Haven't touched it since the diagnoses but I will see what I can find on those athletes still using it despite their diabetes.

I did have the stomach issues initially but no side effects since thankfully. Are you currently training a lot? Are you committed to your maintenance work, rolling, stretching etc...?

peter kern

i thought similar but according to this https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/expert-answers/yo-yo-dieting/faq-20348589


the evidnece would suggest more that it is likley not the case but cant be ruled out

at the same time it should really pointed out that weight yo yo ing is overall not a good thing .

zico10 wrote: »

Firstly, I'm sure this was tough news to take and I genuinely wish you the best in dealing with it.



Now please don't think the wrong way, but there was a time in your log when you reported weighing in at 93kg. Another time you reported on losing 25kg in 6 weeks. You couldn't possibly have been at a healthy weight if you had this much to lose. You might not have been overweight at the time of the diagnosis, but there has been times over the last couple of years, when you were. Again, I don't mean to pick on you, and I'm not a doctor, but I can't see how your weight can be so categorically ruled out as a cause of your diabetes.

peter kern

i have not read the full St thread but it seems like very much a typ 1 thread ?

El Director

peter kern wrote: »

i have not read the full St thread but it seems like very much a typ 1 thread ?

Indeed. I still don’t know what type I am so I don’t know what information applies to me but I’m soaking it all up anyway. Learning a lot actually. I love learning :cool: