High reading in the morning?

cmor16

Well-Known Member
Messages
118
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Since getting my meter a couple of weeks ago my readings have been consistently good. However, this morning (and it was a late one as I had a late night) my reading pre breakfast was 6.7.

Can anyone tell me why this happened please? I've read about the dawn phenomenon but this was nowhere near dawn!
 

Dexterdobe

Well-Known Member
Messages
305
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Being unwell and seeing BG levels soar
Since getting my meter a couple of weeks ago my readings have been consistently good. However, this morning (and it was a late one as I had a late night) my reading pre breakfast was 6.7.

Can anyone tell me why this happened please? I've read about the dawn phenomenon but this was nowhere near dawn!
Your liver is doing it's job by dumping glucose into your blood to give you more energy in the morning. Many people who get this early morning 'dump' try a light carb snack just before going to bed as this can 'trick' the liver and avoid the dump. I have been on low carb for six months and I still get readings of around 6 to 6.3 in the morning. The good news is that my readings go down soon after and stay below 6 for the rest of the day. My last HBa1c was 42, down from 53 at diagnosis. My advice is don't worry about the early morning reading. Stick to a low carb diet and exercise and the numbers will fall in time.
 
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cmor16

Well-Known Member
Messages
118
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Your liver is doing it's job by dumping glucose into your blood to give you more energy in the morning. Many people who get this early morning 'dump' try a light carb snack just before going to bed as this can 'trick' the liver and avoid the dump. I have been on low carb for six months and I still get readings of around 6 to 6.3 in the morning. The good news is that my readings go down soon after and stay below 6 for the rest of the day. My last HBa1c was 42, down from 53 at diagnosis. My advice is don't worry about the early morning reading. Stick to a low carb diet and exercise and the numbers will fall in time.

It was 6.7 pre and 6.8 post so I'm guessing that's OK. What sort of thing would you suggest as a light carb snack Dexterdobe? I am stumped!
 

Alexandra100

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,738
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Thanks Alexandra. I thought it might have to be more "carby" than that so was a bit worried about having to guzzle down biscuits!
I am limiting myself to <20g carbs daily, so I'm extremely mean with them! I put a small container of cheddar cheese, which is I think the lowest carb, highest fat sort of cheese, in the bathroom at night, ready to eat in the morning as soon as I have checked my bg. This is partly in the hope of deterring my liver from helpfully dumping glycogen into my blood, which it seems to do if I fast for too long at any time of day, and partly to buffer the effect of the Metformin and Dabigatran pills which I take straight after eating the cheese. Both are reputed to cause digestive problems especially if taken on an empty stomach. Do read the cheese labels to check carb content. This can vary even between different brands of cheddar. Obviously, the lower fat cheeses like cottage cheese have the highest carbs. Nuts too vary between varieties, with peanuts and cashews being some of the highest carb, walnuts and almonds the lowest.
 
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cmor16

Well-Known Member
Messages
118
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
I am limiting myself to <20g carbs daily, so I'm extremely mean with them! I put a small container of cheddar cheese, which is I think the lowest carb, highest fat sort of cheese, in the bathroom at night, ready to eat in the morning as soon as I have checked my bg. This is partly in the hope of deterring my liver from helpfully dumping glycogen into my blood, which it seems to do if I fast for too long at any time of day, and partly to buffer the effect of the Metformin and Dabigatran pills which I take straight after eating the cheese. Both are reputed to cause digestive problems especially if taken on an empty stomach. Do read the cheese labels to check carb content. This can vary even between different brands of cheddar. Obviously, the lower fat cheeses like cottage cheese have the highest carbs. Nuts too vary between varieties, with peanuts and cashews being some of the highest carb, walnuts and almonds the lowest.

So when do you do your blood again after that? I thought the snack was to be before bed?? So much to learn!
 

Bluetit1802

Legend
Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
So when do you do your blood again after that? I thought the snack was to be before bed?? So much to learn!

It is all trial and error, but if you have a snack before bed that contains carbs, the glucose released from those carbs will hit your bloodstream when you are asleep and may then come down again, although you won't know about this unless you test during the night of course, which isn't practical. You would be trading off one rise for another if it stops the liver dump, and it may not stop the liver dump, so you would have two rises. In my honest opinion, we should not eat after our evening meal. I believe it is best to have something fatty as soon as possible after we get up, and a coffee with cream may be sufficient. As I said, it is trial and error. You can experiment and find out what works for you.
 

Alexandra100

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,738
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
So when do you do your blood again after that? I thought the snack was to be before bed?? So much to learn!
Sorry, my fault, I strayed from the original problem. Some people including me find that if they fast too long and their bg is low they get a glycogen dump from their over-helpful livers. This at any time of day. SO annoying to get a rise in bg when one hasn't even had the pleasure of eating! I test my bg last thing at night, and if it is low I eat a small amount of cheese. Then in the morning, when it is usually quite low, I eat a similar small amount of cheese. In my case, because of the medicines I want to take asap in the morning, I am more or less obliged to eat something even if my bg is not specially low. Cheddar cheese is about the lowest carb food I can conveniently eat, or sometimes it will be cold chicken which is zero carb (to the best of my belief).
 
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