Exercise induced hypoglycemia?

[krispy1138]

I think I have it. Half of the time I do longer (over 25 minute) cardio sessions, I get all of the classic symptoms of hypoglycemia (nervousness, sweating, intense hunger, shaky, dizzy, weak). Sometimes I see spots or it feels like everything is getting darker. This has happened twice now in the last week at the gym during 25 minutes into my SS cardio (working at 70% of my MHR). Last time, I forced myself to finish my 50 minutes. Today, I quit after 42 minutes because I thought I was going to fall off the treadmill.

Last week, I took a glucose tablet (which I bought for occasions such as this) immediately afterwards and felt better within 10 minutes. The problem is, I want to PREVENT this from happening, especially so frequently, but I'm not sure what to do. If anyone has any advice on what I should be doing differently (I'm assuming I need to structure my pre-cardio meals differently or something) I would really appreciate it. I've got my food log for the last few weeks so I can post what I ate before each of these incidents happened, if that's relevant.

Oh, I should probably add that as far as I know, I'm not diabetic or anything and haven't had any blood sugar problems outside of the gym except for a couple of times about 10 years ago when I had some pretty severe (almost blacking out) episodes that were not exercise induced.

[perrogrande007]

Happens to me sometimes when I lift. Dizzy, irritable, tremors, etc.

I would dilute some type of fast acting carb and drink that during your workout. Try diluting grape juice 1:7 with H20. Finished product should be about a liter. If that helps, great, if not, 1:6, 1:5, and so on until you find a place that works. If 1:7 works, try 1:8 and work up until you have a diluted solution that works.

You could be getting reactive hypoglycemia. You may also have issues with low cortisol which in a lot of cases that I've seen is causing the hypo. If your body is not releasing cortisol properly then when your blood sugar gets too low your body will not be able to counteract it.

You could also try a WPI shake before your workout as long as you don't throw it up lol I find WPI works well to combat hypo.

[karky]

This is probably caused by your glycogen being depleted. When glycogen is depleted there is only protein that can be used to refill blood sugar as the muscles use blood sugar for energy. Though, protein isn't as effective at regulating blood sugar as glycogen is.

putting some fast acting sugar in your water could delay the hypoglycemia.

If you want to be very detailed and scientific about it:
A combination of dextrose and maltodextrin is probably best, dextrose (which is commonly used because it is a monosaccharide and is released into the blood very fast) inhibits gastric emptying, which again inhibits your body's ability to regulate hydration and heat. Replacing some dex with malt (malt is not a monosaccharide, but a glucose polymer, it is many glucose molecules bound together, however, the bonds are very weak and are easily broken) reduces this effect.

[krispy1138]

Thanks for the responses!

Karky: I don't know much about this stuff, but glycogen depletion is what I was thinking, too (I thought I read somewhere that it depletes somewhere around 20-25 minutes into low intensity exercise, which coincides with the time the symptoms start). I have some Gatorade I was using in my PWO protein shakes pre-cut. Could I dilute it with water to sip during the cardio?

Also, is there something different I should be eating before cardio? And should I be timing it differently? I usually eat about 1-1/2 hours before. Yesterday I had Greek yogurt, protein powder, berries and a little Grape Nuts on top (29 grams protein, 23 g carbs, 1 g fat); in fact, I tried to get my protein up yesterday, so I ate slightly less carbs overall than normal.

I tried to find some information about a hypoglycemic diet but opinions as to which is better seem to be evenly split between higher carb/lower protein and higher protein/lower carb, so I'm totally confused.

[karky]

Gatorade would probably help, as you would get some carbs during workout.

You're not eating a lot of carbs pre workout, IMO, but it all depends on your size, etc.
Also, it's not only what you eat right before, but what you eat in general that determines how full your glycogen stores will be. If I were you I would just try to sipp some gatorade while doing your cardio and see if that helps.

If you're trying to lose weight, remember to account for the extra calories you will get from sipping gatorade. And if you are losing weight (eating a calorie deficit) then the ability to train hard will usually go down compared to when you're eating at maintenance or a surplus.

[krispy1138]

Originally Posted by karky

Gatorade would probably help, as you would get some carbs during workout.

You're not eating a lot of carbs pre workout, IMO, but it all depends on your size, etc.
Also, it's not only what you eat right before, but what you eat in general that determines how full your glycogen stores will be. If I were you I would just try to sipp some gatorade while doing your cardio and see if that helps.

If you're trying to lose weight, remember to account for the extra calories you will get from sipping gatorade. And if you are losing weight (eating a calorie deficit) then the ability to train hard will usually go down compared to when you're eating at maintenance or a surplus.

According to the tracking program I use, my daily average for macros is 30% protein, 40% carbs, and 30% fat; yesterday was closer to 30% carbs and the pre-workout carbs were probably about 10 g lower than what I would normally have. (I weigh 136 lbs, BTW)

Re your last paragraph, thanks for the reminder! In the first week of this deficit, my training was in the toilet by day 7, so I did a "carb up" (okay, it was a high carb, high fat cheat day) a little above maintenance and was actually able to make some gains in the gym this week, so I may deviate slightly from the plan (I'm following OPT) and do a small refeed every 5-6 days. I won't forget to log my Gatorade, though; I log everything, even sugar free gum!

[Anna Kubit]

Interesting post. I get tired like this too sometimes... I've even had ringing in my ears before almost as if I pushed my limits too far (though I now I did not).

Hmm... Maybe it's in the diet. When you have little energy and you workout, what can you expect? You'll burn out faster... That's a hard balance to achieve though... Good luck ;-)

[krispy1138]

Originally Posted by Anna Kubit

Interesting post. I get tired like this too sometimes... I've even had ringing in my ears before almost as if I pushed my limits too far (though I now I did not).

Hmm... Maybe it's in the diet. When you have little energy and you workout, what can you expect? You'll burn out faster... That's a hard balance to achieve though... Good luck ;-)

It may be in my macro balance but I don't think it's the calorie level; it's also happened when I ate at maintenance or above. I'm not sure if I should be eating more or less carbs, though, or just making sure that I'm eating mostly lower GI ones and roughly the same amount each meal (ala the Zone)

[Simon C]

Originally Posted by Anna Kubit

Interesting post. I get tired like this too sometimes... I've even had ringing in my ears before almost as if I pushed my limits too far (though I now I did not).

Hmm... Maybe it's in the diet. When you have little energy and you workout, what can you expect? You'll burn out faster... That's a hard balance to achieve though... Good luck ;-)

The "ringing" in the ears could be related to dehydration. When i get dehydrated, my ears go funny and I can't hear as well as usual(I can't remember exactly what it's like, as I don't get dehydrated very often, but I think maybe its a bit of ringing too), also my vision isnt as good and I black out a little bit.

[Espi]

One thing to remember is that you may have had a lot of carbs in your diet which will fill up muscle glycogen, but this may not be sufficient when training for sustaining a healthy blood sugar level. Especially not when you're easily stressed.

Blood sugar is regulated by liver glycogen which depletes much faster than muscle glycogen. The brain , eyes and heart are all 'fed' by liver glycogen.
The only sign of hypoglycemia I got was blurry eye-vision at the end of a HIIT session.
I've noticed that I don't even need a huge carb up in order to lift well, but do extremely well with carbs during and immediately before a workout: NOT too long before as this will make me piss-poor weak due to sleepiness.
Like others said.. start using a sports drink,either one you buy or what you make yourself. I've done both.. start to like IsoSpark very much because of the extra magnesium which prevents cramping. Before I'd do anything like juices or.. even berry jams turned into slush (lotsa anti-oxidants)

[krispy1138]

I've done 3 cardio sessions now while sipping on diluted Gatorade (2 oz Gatorade to 30 oz water) and have had no hypoglycemic symptoms. (I know this isn't much Gatorade but on a 1368 calorie diet I have very few calories to spare). I've also tried to make sure that all of my meals are balanced with roughly equal amounts of protein, carbs and fat but I'm not sure if that has made any difference.

[Espi]

Good news!

[perrogrande007]

Glad to see that the diluted sugar did the trick!

[Chris Mason]

I think you should see a doctor just to rule out any underlying concerns which may be causing this issue.