Hypoglycemia or sugar crash after sportive?

northo

Hi All,

Need some opinions on what I experienced yesterday and how to avoid it again. Did the epic route of the Haywards Heath Howler on Sunday (approx 100 miles and 8000ft of ascent). Felt fine on the ride, although the last twenty miles were tough and my legs were cramping from 10 miles out.

At the finish, felt fine so had a stretch and jumped in the car to head home (luckily being driven by a mate on the 1.5 hour journey home). Took on some water and a sandwich, and as I was feeling pretty drained/ exhausted after 4 hours sleep (and a few beers the night before) I though I'd have a nap in the car.

As soon as I shut my eyes, my head span, and when I opened them again, I thought I was going to black out. Head swimming, couldn't see straight etc. I actually told my mate to pull over on the hard shoulder of the M25! Recovered after a minute, but was in a terrible cold sweat and felt sick, woozy all the way home. As soon as I got out of the car I felt a lot better and 1 hour later felt brand new - if a little tired.

All pretty traumatic to be honest. Have never experienced this before and it was deeply unpleasant. I've done a few sportives in my 18 months as a roadie, as well as some very tough mountain marathon's and adventure races over the years where the physical effort and duration is far higher than a sportive (for me at least). My general eating regime on a sportive is gels and energy drink with a few fig rolls and bananas thrown in at food stations. I must have had 6 750 ml bottles of High 5 and 6 or seven gels over the course of the day.

A friend suggested this may be related to low blood sugar or even too much sugar. Any thoughts?

markhewitt1978

You did a century ride after only 4 hours sleep and a night on the beers? Hardly surprising you didn't feel good.

andyk19

It sounds like hypoglycemia (too low blood sugar) as those are some of the usual symptoms of this. A sugar crash would be the same as hypoglycemia but many people seem to use it when talking about low blood sugar which is not serious enough to be called hypoglycemia.

Having said all this, 4 hours sleep and too many beers may not have helped and could certainly have made any blood sugar low feel even worse!

AK_jnr

From how you felt better as soon as you got out the car - motion sickness?

chrisaonabike

AK_jnr wrote:

From how you felt better as soon as you got out the car - motion sickness?

Coupled with tiredness and lowish blood sugar, quite possibly.

bigmat

Can't believe you could have 7 gels, gallons of energy drink and still have low blood sugars! I guess you burn a lot of energy on a century ride but I'd be surprised if hypoglycaemia was the cause. Alcohol can cause a drop in blood sugar levels though so if you drank quite a lot, I guess that could be a factor.

northo

Thanks for the response guys. Think I have probably generally overdone it and seem to have come down with a bug today. May explain it.

imposter2.0

northo wrote:

As soon as I shut my eyes, my head span, and when I opened them again, I thought I was going to black out. Head swimming, couldn't see straight etc.

At the risk of getting into internet diagnoses, this might be something to consider. I only mention it because I've had this myself and the symptoms/feelings are very similar.

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Benign- ... ertigo.htm

team47b

if you have just eaten a sandwich you wont be suffering from a hypo.

Herbsman

4 and a half litres of drink + more water afterwards?

northo

Imposter wrote:

northo wrote:

As soon as I shut my eyes, my head span, and when I opened them again, I thought I was going to black out. Head swimming, couldn't see straight etc.

At the risk of getting into internet diagnoses, this might be something to consider. I only mention it because I've had this myself and the symptoms/feelings are very similar.

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Benign- ... ertigo.htm

I'd considered this - I have a client who has it.

In actual fact, think my ride coincided with the onset if some sort of child-carried bug. On that basis, looks like I've overdone it.

northo

Herbsman wrote:

4 and a half litres of drink + more water afterwards?

A bottle an hour - yes, that's about right. You'll be losing a litre an hour, and a minor drop in hydration equals a much bigger drop in performance.

phreak

If you ate what you said plus fig rolls/bananas etc. then you'd have got through a good 2,500 calories of food on the ride itself. So unless you had an awful evening meal/breakfast it seems incredibly unlikely that you're suffering from a lack of sugar.

imposter2.0

northo wrote:

I'd considered this - I have a client who has it.

In actual fact, think my ride coincided with the onset if some sort of child-carried bug. On that basis, looks like I've overdone it.

What kind of 'child-carried bug' presents with symptoms like that?

Herbsman

northo wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

4 and a half litres of drink + more water afterwards?

A bottle an hour - yes, that's about right. You'll be losing a litre an hour, and a minor drop in hydration equals a much bigger drop in performance.

That's what sports nutrition companies say, yes.

There's no conflict of interest there, is there?

northo

Herbsman wrote:

northo wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

4 and a half litres of drink + more water afterwards?

A bottle an hour - yes, that's about right. You'll be losing a litre an hour, and a minor drop in hydration equals a much bigger drop in performance.

That's what sports nutrition companies say, yes.

There's no conflict of interest there, is there?

I'd drink a litre of water an hour. Always have.

markhewitt1978

Perhaps too much sugar? Body reacts to extreme amounts of sugar by releasing a tonne of insulin - then you crash?

Herbsman

northo wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

northo wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

4 and a half litres of drink + more water afterwards?

A bottle an hour - yes, that's about right. You'll be losing a litre an hour, and a minor drop in hydration equals a much bigger drop in performance.

That's what sports nutrition companies say, yes.

There's no conflict of interest there, is there?

I'd drink a litre of water an hour. Always have.

There really is no need to drink that much unless the weather is so warm it's causing heavy sweating. There is no need to replace all of your water losses while on the bike. Unless you blindly accept what the sports nutrition companies say.

Try drinking a litre an hour during an 80 mile road race... You'd need in excess of four large Camelbak podium bottles.

ju5t1n

Imposter wrote:

northo wrote:

As soon as I shut my eyes, my head span, and when I opened them again, I thought I was going to black out. Head swimming, couldn't see straight etc.

At the risk of getting into internet diagnoses, this might be something to consider. I only mention it because I've had this myself and the symptoms/feelings are very similar.

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Benign- ... ertigo.htm

I've had this too. Performed the Epley on myself, which isn't easy

sloppyschleckonds

Imposter wrote:

northo wrote:

I'd considered this - I have a client who has it.

In actual fact, think my ride coincided with the onset if some sort of child-carried bug. On that basis, looks like I've overdone it.

What kind of 'child-carried bug' presents with symptoms like that?

ADHD

northo

Turn's out it's Labyrinthitis. Not recommended. Virus contracted, symptoms triggered by ride.

prawnlover

hopefully you'll recover alright mate and hopefully people will decide to stop commenting "CANT BE HYPO YOU ATE TOO MUCH LOL" now

team47b

CAN'T BE A HYPO

hope your ear's better soon