Rise in bg during night

[garythegob]

Hi, i was wondering if there is anyone who can explain why, when i test before bed, during night and then in morning my bg levels RISE, last night before bed at 11pm was 4.9mmol, during night at 2.45am was 6.2mmol and on waking up this morning at 7.45am it is 9.4

I take 2x500mg metformin, 2x80mg gliclazide in the morning and evening, i also inject 5micro grams byetta before breakfast and also before evening meal as well as a few other tablets i.e. aspirin in morning, ramipril at bedtime, atorvastatin at bedtime and some others not related to diabetes!

Would like to hear some suggestions please!

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using my galaxy S2

 

[Finzi]

Really baffling when you first come across it Gary, I know, but in fact it's very common. What you have to remember is it isn't like a car with a petrol gauge running down glucose as you use it until you're "running on empty". Your liver makes glucose as and when you need it. One of the times it frequently does this is during the early hours of the morning, under the influence of cortisol which is the "wake up" hormone. I guess from your meds that you are type 2, even though you inject; because type 2's tend to be insulin resistant, the liver makes the glucose but the insulin can't handle it, so the level goes up high.

My dawn readings have been improving since I lost weight an my insulin resistance improved. They are now around 6.0, with the rest of my day around 5.0. But for a long time they were in the high sevens and rights.

 

[garythegob]

Hi finzi, thanks for your input! yes i am type 2, diagnosed 2003 but have been a ****** with my meds, i.e. not taking them, but a heart attack beginning of February just gone has basically sacred the **** out of me, and have been taking them religiously now,

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[phoenix]

Your liver makes glucose as and when you need it. One of the times it frequently does this is during the early hours of the morning, under the influence of cortisol which is the "wake up" hormone. I guess from your meds that you are type 2, even though you inject; because type 2's tend to be insulin resistant, the liver makes the glucose but the insulin can't handle it, so the level goes up high.

Also when people are insulin resistant their liver may produce more glucose than normal. Some T2s can produce 3x the amount they 'should' do.
One of the way Metformin works is by reducing this overproduction.

 

[Yorksman]

In an otherwise healthy person, BG would not deline to zero if they didn't eat. You can actually go for a long time without food, less so without water, but the body looks towards its own stores for energy. It draws on those stores and puts it into the blood where it is carried to the cells that need it. Sleep is probably the longest fasting period of the day, so the body often reacts. My BG levels are lowest before evening meal, not first thing in the morning. I used to get up at 5.30 to take a reading which may be 5.4 but, if I went back to bed and then retested at say 9.00, it would have gone up to 6.7 or similar. If on the otherhand I ate a slice of pumpernickel, or even a dark rye ryvita, with a thin amount of butter and a thin slice of cheese, I would be in the 5s in the morning because the slow release of complex carbs makes the body think it is being constantly nourished.