low blood sugar when running

Does anyone in your family have Diabetes? You could have the mild version (Type I, I think), which can be controlled by exercise, diet, and insulin pills.

Losing weight, and frequent urination are signs of the more serious form where the pancreas totally shuts down.

My sister has the severe version, diagnosed at age 7, you'd never know she had it. Lives a very normal lifestyle, just gives herself shots, pricks her finger, and always has a roll of lifesavers with her.

good luck!

Try one of the bars with protien ... Balance Bars seem to be palitable to me. Some people, me in particular, don't handle straight carbs very well, and I have found this out the hard way. A recipe for disaster for me ... pancakes, syrup and coffee, the same goes for a plain bagle and jam, etc.

Ditto for me with the straight carbs. I got so lightheaded once after a straight bagel I could barely remember where my house was and I almost drifted in to an oncoming car. Same thing happened with pancakes.

I have same problem. I try to wait 2 1/2 hours or more before running if eating so many carbs. Otherwise try consuming mostly low-carb foods before. Chicken, cheese, broccoli. Only happens to me running, not when I used to race bikes. My theory is the bouncing of running causes the stomach to digest the food in it even faster than otherwise would. For first 15-20 min of running I can feel fine but then get almost sudden drop in blood sugar, feel light-headed, hungry, weak.

I get the same thing if I take in carbs (particularly something with refined sugar) within 1 to 2 hours before running. My wife, who is a registered dietician, tells me that it it is probably "insulin response" where my blood sugar shoots up with the carb intake, but then my body overacts a bit with too much insulin which can make my blood sugar go back down too much and make me feel really sluggish. Apparently, it's not anything nearly as serious as diabetes, but something that only certain people are susceptible to.

What I've found is that (1) it's better to start the run hungry than eat something too late, or (2) if I feel I really need to take in something (such as before a long race or run), I don't get the insulin response if I warm up a bit first and then take in some carbs (like a swig of Gatorade).

Thanks. I notice I do not get a sugar response when I chug gatorade, or take a gel in the middle of a long run. Even if it's super sweet - it actually helps. Drinking the same gatorade before is deadly for me - I'll end up walking within the first 15 minutes because I'm so spaced out and feeling sluggish, dizzy, and unccoordinated. The feeling passes in about 25 minutes of running, and am assuming as my blood sugar stabilizes.