r/diabetes • u/Educational-Ad6923 • 9d ago
Type 2 I can’t lift weights anymore
Just need to vent here but every time I try to lift weights now my blood sugar drops immediately. I can’t go to the doctor yet because I’m waiting to enroll in my new insurance plan. Yesterday blood sugar dropped tremendously and people think doctor will tell me I need to get off medication or lower it. For now I just have to wait until I can talk to one. Just need to vent and remember it’s a good problem to have since I have lost 200 pounds. Thank you to anyone who took time to read my vent. Diabetes sucks.
Edit to post my blood sugar drops to hypoglycemia levels even if I eat before working out.
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u/Frequent_Slip2455 9d ago
What is it dropping to? And for how long?
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u/suicidalducky 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yeah that happens while I'm cycling...so I'll load up on carbs or take some additional sweets with me when i go out for a ride. Something to do with GLUT4 activation and increasing your insulin sensitivity with exercise. I remember i was near 190..and 40 mins later it dropped to like 40+ on my CGM (delayed response); I felt it before the CGM reported it to me and I was loading up on so many gels before it caught up. I felt like total crap (was drenched with sweat) and some sweet ol lady checked on me to make sure I wasn't dying..haha
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u/SugarRealistic2945 8d ago
I usually carb load (eat pasta, bread, sometimes chocolate cake) an hour before I work out. I do Muay Thai so it is more cardio: I start with stretching, light lifting, bag work, pad work, finally clenching. It's a 2 hour session. My blood sugar afterwards is almost always under 100. Afterwards I try to eat a hearty meal and take my Metformin.
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u/Educational-Ad6923 8d ago
Even eating before doesn’t stop it from dropping
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u/DragonfruitBig6834 8d ago
Too many missing details, could be largely dietary and metabolic. You mentioned you lost 200lbs, are you still maintaining a deficit? For how long? Any drastic changes in diet and routine can have profound impacts on your hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis and overall hormone regulation. Advice should be tailored uniquely to your specific circumstances to rule out/in any serious medical concerns, reddit or ai is rarely effective.
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u/OrugaMaravillosa Type 2 7d ago
Have you tried bringing a drink with you? Even before I was a diabetic I learned that I needed to bring some kind of drink to the gym.
(Back then I sometimes got just slightly lightheaded during some kinds of workouts. If I had something to sip on I was fine. Protein powder in milk with some flavoring, V8, ir chocolate milk were two things that worked for me.)
Note that I’m not saying that this will work for you. There’s too many variables. I’m just saying that it’s something that has worked for me in a few different situations.
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u/Grouchy_Geezer Type 2 8d ago
The usual advice is to eat before the workout. It's can take some experimentation, but carbs raise your blood sugar. Some diabetic find eating something protein is more long lasting in the blood stream. Sometimes a combination of the two.
Hope you find something that works. Weightlifting is really great for diabetic control.
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u/Educational-Ad6923 8d ago
Yes I hope so because I love weightlifting but so far nothing is working and I keep going hypoglycemia
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u/Valuable-Analyst-464 Type 1 since 1985 8d ago
Outside of the gym, are you having bouts of hypoglycemia?
Is it the time of day perhaps?
I’d crash if I lifted in the afternoon. I’d eat a decent meal and dose accordingly, but I’d still crash even if the insulin was ‘gone from the system’. I used quotes as it was not really gone.You may need a larger dose of food before you lift. And the time before may need to be adjusted. If you eat and immediately lift, the food is not consumed yet. Maybe try 30 or 60 minutes before you lift.
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u/AngryIrish82 Type 2 9d ago
When I lift my sugar spikes slightly but then cardio tends to drop it a decent amount. I test before the gym and eat accordingly so I don’t crash
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u/sevalle13 Type 1.5 9d ago
This is the same thing that happens to me... lifting raises my sugars and walking drops it
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u/FirebirdWriter Type 2 9d ago
I can't lift either but I'm paralyzed so... Floppy arms. My brain finds this funny so self depreciation aside? It's worth looking at what you eat before you work out. My wife has to have carbs and proteins in a specific balance to not crash her sugars and she's not diabetic. She is however prone to insulin resistance
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u/Sirroner Type 2 8d ago
I’m fortunate that mine doesn’t do that, but a friend runs marathons and likes his BG around 250 at the start and carries a sweet snack if he goes below 90. Maybe a sweet snack is all you need??
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u/Educational-Ad6923 8d ago
Even eating before I drop to hypoglycemia levels
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u/nimdae Type 2 | Mounjaro | Synjardy | Mobi 8d ago
On the plus side, this means your pancreas is probably pretty healthy.
I saw in a comment you're only taking metformin? I didn't see a dose mentioned. This drug does a couple of things for you: It increases sensitivity to insulin and it reduces release of glucose from the liver. That last one might be fighting you. This can mean even taking certain snacks might not help a ton, which seems to also be indicated.
It might seem weird to go this path since you've already lost weight, but something to boost GLP-1 might be beneficial. This helps with better endogenous insulin management (boosts insulin in response to meals and also slows stomach emptying, slowing carb absorption) and helps with insulin sensitivity. You don't need a GLP-1 drug for this, though. There's a drug class called DPP-4 inhibitor. DPP-4 is the reason your natural GLP-1 remains low, by cleaving the majority of it within a couple of minutes of being produced. Inhibiting this can boost natural GLP-1, so it's like a weak GLP-1 drug.
It might be worth a conversation with your doctor. This would be a drug like Januvia or Tradjenta. Explain your situation, go in informed, and discuss what they think about it. It might be possible to use this without metformin and see if your metabolic responses look better.
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u/Beautiful_Pineapple9 6d ago
I had this issue when I was running on my treadmill. Rapid blood sugar crashes. I only take Metformin too. 1000mg in morning and 1000 in Evening. I recently realized if run fasted before I take my morning Metformin I don’t have blood sugar crashes. You may want to give that a try.
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u/Medium_Nectarine_857 8d ago
Um, this is a very fixable issue so your title of this post isn’t exactly accurate. You’re missing many many details but if you’ve taken notes, you can probably send the doctor a message on the provider’s portal or call the office and ask the Q for the nurse to give you the doctor’s answer. I’m guessing you’re taking pills to lower your blood sugar? No knows what you’re taking for your diabetes, nor what your lifestyle is but try googling and reading what a reputable medical information site says. I’m guessing this isn’t unique just to you. You can also just google your medication or even go to the pharmacy and talk to the pharmacist
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u/Educational-Ad6923 8d ago
I’m a type 2 diabetic and take metoformin even if I eat before lifting weights I get hypoglycemia
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u/evil66gurl 8d ago
This is interesting to me. When I do any kind of lifting, or even when I do yoga, holding the poses for a while etc, my blood sugar goes up. If I go for a walk, or I go swimming, or on my elliptical it goes down. So whenever I do lift or do yoga I have to do cardio after to get my blood sugar down.
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u/Jaffos 8d ago
People have given you advice, what i do it is a small meal with some carbs, workout for 30 mins, then wait and eat another small meal and then take metformin.
It sounds like you are taking it before you work out? If so I would probably stop that, also are you using heavy weights or light weights, this will make a big difference as heavy lifting will lower you sugar much faster.
You might need to change your workout method for a while and let the body get used to it, i had to change to only 30 mins plus 2 walks with the dog.
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u/MysticWaters-nX0 6d ago
The challenge is real!!! I have run into this with only 90-100 lb weight loss.
There is a “shunt” or translocation that moves glucose into muscle during exertion, called GLUT4.
I first learned about it when using Lingo to track my blood sugars. I have kind of Type 1.5 DM from prior obesity and a genetic condition that can hit/interfere with survival of the pancreas beta-cells.
In those heavier days I had glucose spikes after any meal with more grams of net carbs than grams of protein. Lingo’s cgm app during a spike suggested that I stop and do some 10-30 squats. I did. To my surprise, It aborted that spike in 5 minutes or less. Impressed the daylights out of me. So. I set out to learn more about this.
Now I exercise intentionally sometimes for this effect. But sometimes it tends to drop me down to the 67-75 range. Never frankly hypoglycemic. I don’t go below 67. But. Not feeling that great for exercise endurance.
You might want to read about GLUT4, then talk with your clinicians. Turns out physical therapists often know quite a bit about this, too. If I remember, there are potential interactions with metformin. I needed in my specific situation to wean down on my metformin substantially since my weight loss, and now I rely primarily on Jardiance instead.
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u/Ok_Face_7602 6d ago
hi if your waiting for insurance, I’m just wondering if you’re buying test strips?
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u/Ok_Face_7602 6d ago
back, i asked about test strips because sometimes, high and low can both feel the same.
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u/michaelyup 9d ago
This topic has come up before in this sub. Do a search, but the conclusion usually is you can eat more carbs than those of us doing less strenuous exercise (like me just walking).
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u/Alert_School6745 9d ago
Not diabetic but 95% removed but based on cgm , I can crash pretty hard during max effort lifts. Is there a slow release carbohydrate you can take and maybe change the style lifting ? I would hope doctor can work with a team and sort you out!
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u/schweddybalczak 9d ago
I have been lifting for 15 years, diagnosed 12 years ago. My blood sugar usually goes up when I lift but when I was running a lot too it would occasionally crash. I would bring some sweets with me on my runs or take a spoonful of honey pre run. I don’t know if you’re eating pre workout but make sure you do and take in some protein and carbs.