Low Blood Sugar When Exercising

Last night about thirty minutes into my cardio workout I started feeling weakness and nausea. I stopped, went home and checked my blood sugar. It was 64mg/dl....Before surgery the prescription would be some quick sugar, but now I'm afraid to dump. So I mixed up some Weigh****chers Flakes and Fibers Ceral with skim milk and some granola mix that had about 5 or 6 raisins and an equal number of dried cranberries in it. 15 minutes later I was going through a mild to moderate dumping episode that lasted about 45 minutes.  This "crashing" on the treadmill has happened a few times before so my question is - What do you guys eat before your workouts to keep your sugar reserves up. I know I should have some kind of carbohydrates, but with all the dumping considerations I'm just not sure what approach to take. Just for reference my dumping threshold seems to be around 6-8 grams of sugar, anything higher and it's fetal position on the couch time for me. Your suggestions would be appreciated, Thanks!

I take dried apricots with me to the gym wrapped in a napkin, eat 1-2 20 minutes before and then 1 every 10-20 minutes.  I think it works well and keeps my energy up.  You might try one apricot at your desk and see what your tolerance is.  Some fruits cause dumping worse than others.  For me, apples, apricots, blueberries, and strawberries all seem fine.

I eat a banana in the morning and my two protein bars mid morning and two more mid afternoon.  I keep a bit of Orange Juice around for after workouts.  I'll take a couple of swallows or cut it with watre if I want to drink more than a couple of swallows.  The banana and occassional OJ have helped me in my increased workouts.  I also take a potassium supplement, that helps when I get to feeling a bit wiped out, espcially if I don't want the sugar and carbs of a banana. Experiment and find out what works for you.

Mike - I can't have semisolids/cereal with milk, or else I end up dumping as well. I still use glucose tabs occasionally when I get what is "really low" for me (like you, under 65mg/dl). Instead of the 3 they would normally recommend, I take 1-2 depending on "how low" (that's about 8 g sugar, 4 g each tab), then measure at 5 and 10 mins to see where things are going. If it hasn't risen enough, I'll take a little more.  BUT, I definitely don't take it with liquids, again, would make me dump. My threshold seems to be about 13-15g of sugar, but if it's a sugar/sugar alcohol combo, all bets on those numbers are off ;-) Unfortunately, diabetes in general (or even hypoglycemia) is one of those diseases where a) what works for one person may not work for another, and even worse, b) what worked LAST time might not work THIS time.... If I'm headed for a crash but not there yet, I grab 1/2 a granola bar (no milk tho) or the Kashi granola bars (not meal replacement, just regular crunchy or chewy granola bars), which have a good balance of protein/carbs, for what they are.  That gives some quicker carbs (not many), a few whole grain carbs for medium glycemic response, and the proteins for a longer response, to try to even out the 'spike'. Grabbing one of those before the workout, depending on intensity, might help; also a protein shake before might help because it has a higher GI so should "catch you up" into the workout some. You could check your own response on that by taking some time when you "aren't" exercising, using a few strips, and checking at 15, 25, 35, 45 minutes while just sitting what happens with your sugar when you have a protein shake, and see if it will balance out your energy expenditure. Unfortunately, I think that's going to be the best way overall to keep from crashing, although having to take in calories to keep from crashing is frustrating as all heck, because the point is to take in fewer cals.. :-( Good luck & hope some of this helps - ...Nick