Morning Highs

[cbonnar01]

Hi all,

Im a complete newbie to the forum so hello!

I am looking for a bit of advice regarding my morning highs which are occurring a lot recently.

I am 24 and have been Type 1 diabetic for 19 years.

Every night before bed, I give myself 14 units of Humulin I (BG insulin). This usually keeps my bloods stable, but for the past couple of weeks I have been waking up at around 20.5 mmol/s. I have tried giving myself more Humulin I but this seems to fail also and end up waking at around 16-20 mmol/s when my bloods before bed are 5.2.

I don’t smoke, rarely drink and normally get good amounts of exercise (reduced due to COVID-19).

Anyone had anything like this before? Very weird one!

Thanks again

 

[Outlawe]

Hello - As usual there's no simple answer but a while ago my DSN gave me two possible theories. The first is that the morning high is caused by a low (or even a hypo) during the night which didn't wake you and for which your body has overcompensated by itself. She suggested setting an alarm for the middle of the night to do a test... which didn't appeal to me. The second cause (which is certainly true for me but everyone is different) is a delayed reaction to daytime activity levels or a change in these. When on sightseeing holidays after a few days I often end up with consistent high morning readings because during the day I am more active than at home and hence reduce the fast acting insulin to avoid daytime lows which is great but somehow it screwballs my overall balance. Perversely the same happens when I'm less active .... Hope this helps.

 

[urbanracer]

Hi all,

Im a complete newbie to the forum so hello!

I am looking for a bit of advice regarding my morning highs which are occurring a lot recently.

I am 24 and have been Type 1 diabetic for 19 years.

Every night before bed, I give myself 14 units of Humulin I (BG insulin). This usually keeps my bloods stable, but for the past couple of weeks I have been waking up at around 20.5 mmol/s. I have tried giving myself more Humulin I but this seems to fail also and end up waking at around 16-20 mmol/s when my bloods before bed are 5.2.

I don’t smoke, rarely drink and normally get good amounts of exercise (reduced due to COVID-19).

Anyone had anything like this before? Very weird one!

Thanks again

It's not easy to answer but you write that you're exercise regime has changed so that's probably having some affect.

I changed from glargine to Levemir last summer and have found that I generally need a higher dose. Around 4 units a day for me.

All through the winter months I was waking up with high glucose levels but this has inexplicably changed to very acceptable numbers since the Covid nonsense started.

I did notice that if my evening meal is very low carb, say like a meat and veg stir fry, then the overnight rise didn't happen. If I introduced any carbs then I started going high in the night, long after the rapid insulin has stopped working.

 

[cbonnar01]

Thanks both for the replies. It is very much appreciated.

I’m thinking the same (exercise regime change) has had an effect on my BG’s.

I think to ensure that it isn’t my bloods dipping during the night I will check these through the night and see how I get on.

Will report back in a night or two.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Chas C]

There is also an issue called dawn phenomenon details on this site can be found at: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose/dawn-phenomenon.html a lot of us suffer from this and for me a pump was the only solution.

 

[cbonnar01]

Thanks again for all the advice and links.

As promised I am coming back with the past two nights results.

13th April
—————
Bedtime Blood Sugar - 3.4 mmols
Carbs taken (20g)

Background Insulin - 18u

14th April
—————
3am Blood Check - 7.4 mmols
Morning Blood Check - 6.4 mmols
Bedtime Blood Sugar - 8.4 mmols

Background Insulin - 18u

15th April
—————
Morning Blood Check - 18.1 mmols


So at the minute I’m no further forward with what the possible cause is. I am going to increase my background insulin to 20 mmols and do another 3am check, lets see how this goes.

Will need to make an appointment with my DSN also.

Again thanks everyone for their help .

 

[Chas C]

I did try for some time before pumping two smaller half ish doses of Humulin split by 12 hours. So morning around 6-7am and same again in the evening. With the evening dose being slightly higher, this made a bit of an improvement but didn't resolve it completely. Hope you find a solution or maybe take the plunge and opt for a pump.