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Continuous Glucose Monitoring

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116 points zdw | 1 comments | 30 Jun 25 02:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.358s | source
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yegle ◴[30 Jun 25 07:04 UTC] No.44420335[source]▶
For me the best insight learned from wearing a GCM is that a cardio exercise with 150bpm heart rate for 40min+ is probably not healthy. I would easily see my glucose level drop to below 80 mg/dL (5 mmol/L) 30min into the exercise. I always thought the exhaustion towards the end of my exercise was due to normal fatigue, and never thought it was caused by hypoglycemia.

Now I would exercise and closely monitor my glucose level, then adjust my intensity when it dip lower than 100 mg/dL (5.5 mmol/L). It made the cardio exercise much more bearable, and easier to stick to it as a daily routine.

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vlod ◴[01 Jul 25 03:28 UTC] No.44430293[source]▶
Stupid question (layman). If it drops below 80 mg/fl, are there not mechanisms in the body to increase it? i.e. shouldn't the liver dump glucose into the blood stream to compensate? Failing that, shouldn't hormones be activated to cause fat be broken down into energy?
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1. mlsu ◴[01 Jul 25 14:57 UTC] No.44434529[source]▶
The liver does do this with a substance called glycogen. It’s called counter regulation. It has a store of glycogen, which it will release into the blood stream if BG drops too low. It is a finite store though, so if you exercise a lot (or overdose on insulin) you can metabolize most of it.

In this case, hypos will become more severe and happen easier.

Also, the store will be replenished by pulling excess glucose out of the blood over a period of roughly 24 hours after exercise or the hypo. So exercise has a beneficial effect of keeping BG lower for some time. That’s also why you should eat a little more and carbs after heavy exercise.