Bad Dreams and Glucose Levels

leon1225

Newbie
Messages
1
My diabetic doctor informed me that I wasn't taking enough night-time insulin as I was getting occasional high readings in the morning. I have found that if I've had a bad dream this happens. I've been keeping a note and I've come to the conclusion that when you are frightened or anxious in a dream the body releases adrenaline into your system. This causes the 'fight or flight response' in which case the liver and muscles release an excess of glucose into the system resulting in a high glucose reading in the morning. I explained this to my doctor but she showed no interest in my theory.
I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem.
Thanks for reading.
 

drumming_blitz

Active Member
Messages
28
Hey Leon,

I can agree with all of this and say your theory sounds pretty tight and solid. I wake with high sugars at least once a week with out making any changes to my routine the night before.

The only thing that I can't agree with is the dream releasing adrenaline part, and that's only because I don't remember when I dream, but I can't disagree with it either. It will be interesting to see if anyone else has noticed this.
 

noblehead

Guru
Retired Moderator
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23,618
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Sounds perfectly plausible as some dreams can be truly frightening, check your bg for a few nights just to make sure it isn't your basal insulin that is making you high in the morning,
 

mentat

Well-Known Member
Messages
419
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Pump
Hi Leon,

It's known that the liver dumps sugar into the blood in the morning. More for some people, less for others.You can set an alarm in the middle of the night (even try different times on different nights) to get an idea how much this occurs in your case. Going low in the middle of the night isn't good, I'd say it's worse than a high morning reading, especially as you don't seem to wake up!

Cheers
 
H

Hooked

Guest
I have more vivid dreams/become restless in my sleep if my blood sugars are dropping down to hypo level, I don't always wake up though. I've seen a few night lows where my liver has kicked in and brought levels back up again after using a CGM.