T2 and snack before bed

[Grazer]

My BG's are generally well controlled, but I've always had problems with my fasting BG. I've taken it as soon as I wake, and just before brekky after showering etc, and there's no big difference. Last night I went to bed with a BG of 5.5, and woke up to 6.8. I know about the "Dawn phenomenon", but others seem to get much lower fasting BG's nonetheless. I do have half a small glass (about 100mls) of milk before I go to bed and wonder if it could be that. I wondered if other T2's on diet only have anything before bed, and what affect they may have noticed?? Obviously, feedback from those on various meds would also be appreciated.
Thanks in anticipation

 

[Dougie22]

I don't have anything normally after dinner which I'm nearly always finished by 7 o'clock at the latest. MY two hour readings are typically 6 to 7 but my morning fasting reading is almost always above 7 (7.3-7.5 normally) and can be as high as 8. No meds. I'm getting less worried about it as my HbA1c comes down.

 

[Grazer]

Thanks dougie. Interesting that you get similar things to me, and neither of us are on meds. Maybe this (high fasting levels) is common among diet-only people?

 

[viviennem]

Why not add something small but carby - a couple of oatcakes, or a crispbread or two - to your bedtime snack and see what happens?

Viv 8)

 

[LittleGreyCat]

I keep meaning to organise some testing of this.

I do find that my fasting BG tends to be higher than the late night one when I test first thing in the morning.

I found a similar effect when walking and running, which I countered by some malt loaf, butter and cheese just before I set out.

I must test to see if this works for overnight as well.

The alternative explanation, of course, is that the booze in the evening is slowing the release of my evening meal so I get a delayed food spike over night. Then again it should go down before morning, surely?

Cheers LGC

 

[diadeb]

Hi, I find that I always have a glucose dump during the night with high morning levels but the morning level can be reduced by me having soemthing to eat before bed, usually a protein snack rather that carbs and a glass of red wine. This works for me, I am D/E only, Debra x

 

[mahed63]

There is a thing called the "dawn effect" where the body releases a spurt of glucose to help you wake up in the morning,i would be more worried if i had low readings first thing in morning.

 

[smeatons]

I always have a higher reading in the morning compared to my reading at night.
I'm on meds, so this isn't unique to those managing by diet alone.

I'm not particularly worried about it because by lunchtime my numbers are much lower.

 

[brambles]

I am the same as the previous post. fasting around 7.0-8.0 all other times average 5.0-6.0
I am on metformin and no matter whether I snack at night or not it doesn't seem to make any difference to morning reading. Current Ac is 6.4 so I am not worried either

 

[Grazer]

Interesting, thanks for all the replies. An update on an experiment on myself - I always had half a small glass (100 mls) of low fat milk before bed. I've tried leaving it out four times now, and each time my fasting BG the next morning has been 1 to 1.2 lower! Wouldn't have thought a small glass of milk, about 5 grams of carbs or less, could make that difference! Seems to though for me.

 

[brill]

I get the same and I wondered if it was because I have normally been up and about for about 10 minutes before I manage to test. I will try and test in bed and see if it makes any difference.
I almost never snack after tea; if I do and it doesn't involve alcohol, my BG is about 6.5-7, if I've had alcohol it's about 5.5! With no snack or drink after tea at 7, testing at 5am, its ALWAYS 6.2, to the extent that I think I might stop bothering to test in the morning.

 

[Dougie22]

I have thought about taking a test before I get up to see if it makes a big difference. I normally get up, shave, get dressed, come downstairs and then test, say ten minutes.

But.........any fasting test taken at the doctor's surgery is obviously at least an hour after waking, maybe more. So where does that leave us on this question?

I'm still taking morning fasting tests. Sometimes thats my only test of the day. But I'm questioning whether this is sensible.

I think I may drop this fasting test and make my regular test at another time, say before lunch.

I'd like to establish a routine that shows I'm retaining control when I'm not experimenting with new foods, etc.