[Protracted blood sugar increase in type 1 diabetics after brief but exhausting muscular exercise]

In eight type I diabetics-three of them under intensified insulin therapy and five on continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII)-blood-glucose concentrations fell significantly during 20-minute isometric and dynamic muscle work at about 50% of individual maximal work capacity and subsequent intensive exercise of five minutes until exhaustion. However, 6 1/2 hours later blood-glucose levels (221 +/- 39 mg/dl after isometric exercise and 219 +/- 24 mg/dl after dynamic exercise) were clearly above the mean level measured at the same time of day on the three preceding days of 138 +/- 12 mg/dl (P less than 0.05). No hypoglycaemia occurred. This blood-sugar profile can be explained by a significant rise in cortisol and growth hormone and their long-lasting blood-sugar raising effect.