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Blood sugar going up with no intake of food

JasonKingston85

JasonKingston85

Member
Messages
15
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I have not eaten anything since 8.30pm last night. Here's the time line: -

8.30pm (last night) - mmol reading 5.4, after eating a bowl of chilli with no carbs, after which I decide to eat a small bag of crisps with no injection to see me through the night, so we're talking nearly 10 hours here.

6.55am (today) mmol reading 9.5 - high but I am not thinking panic stations as sometimes blood sugar goes up when you wake, Dawn Phenomenon, etc

8.03am - after washing, dressing and showing, it's gone up to 11.3

9.48am, at work, after 1 hour 10 mins commute, including tube and overground train, plus walk to work....10.5.

No carbs of any kind ingested since the bag of crisps (small) last night.

Any thoughts people?

thanks.
 
They'll be some carbs still in the chilli and the protein and fat in the meal will push up bg many hours after the meal is finished. You will find in time that there's no such thing as a free meal with type 1 diabetes and most meals (even in the absence of carbs) still need some insulin.

As for your morning readings, I find if I miss breakfast my bg will go up into double figures so make a rule never to miss it (except when getting a fasting cholesterol check done), this way I have better control over my bg levels.
 
The 9.5 in the morning was probably the crisps/any carbs in the chilli. The slight rises afyet that sound like a bit of Dawn phenomenon or maybe some stress on your commute?? But if you were to fast for 24hrs you'd see that blood sugars can go up and down at different times of the day anyway, my hourly pump basal rates are quite different throughout the 24hr period. If you inject a daily basal bolus it will be a fairly steady release of insulin but your body doesn't necessarily behave in the same way. Hence why some people manage better on pumps.


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I went a program called JIGSAW a few years ago (with the local N.H.S. hospital) and we discussed this phenomenon while there.
When you wake, your body calls for insulin, this reduces the amount that you have in your blood stream also you can convert protein to carbohydrate have a look at the programme on the BBC (http://www.dietdoctor.com/sugar-vs-fat-on-bbc-which-is-worse). This is normal human reaction to having no sugar in the blood first thing. You should always have food when you wake with insulin to help sugars to be absorbed.
 
AndyOD said:
I went a program called JIGSAW a few years ago (with the local N.H.S. hospital) and we discussed this phenomenon while there.
When you wake, your body calls for insulin, this reduces the amount that you have in your blood stream also you can convert protein to carbohydrate have a look at the programme on the BBC (http://www.dietdoctor.com/sugar-vs-fat-on-bbc-which-is-worse). This is normal human reaction to having no sugar in the blood first thing. You should always have food when you wake with insulin to help sugars to be absorbed.
Click to expand...

Thanks. How soon would you do so after waking?

I find it very difficult to eat within say the first hour of being awake, sometimes more, because eating too soon makes me feel sick,
 
JasonKingston85 said:
I flit between 25 and 30 on background insulin, which is Lantus. I believe I overdid it for a bit, and it increased hypos.

Got my review with the nurse later this month, so I will examine it with her.
Click to expand...

I guess that is the case....but sometimes requirements change!! But yes consult with her! :) Also don't fret too much as they aren't extremely high readings! x
 
This is where the new Libre can be very useful, in my opinion. It allows you to see how your blood glucose trends following insulin injections and will give you a significantly greater amount of insight into how you fluctuate. This will enable you to correct your dose much more effectively.
 
tim2000s said:
This is where the new Libre can be very useful, in my opinion. It allows you to see how your blood glucose trends following insulin injections and will give you a significantly greater amount of insight into how you fluctuate. This will enable you to correct your dose much more effectively.
Click to expand...


Thanks, I've been reading up on this Libre device, it sounds very interesting, wasn't clear to me though in my initial researches is whether it's available on the NHS. The flexibility of it and the ability to track and monitor more effectively is of very real appeal!

At the moment, I won't want to sound or appear to be lazy, but I'm usually quite pleased if my readings at circa 9 mmol or under.
 
JasonKingston85 said:
Thanks, I've been reading up on this Libre device, it sounds very interesting, wasn't clear to me though in my initial researches is whether it's available on the NHS. The flexibility of it and the ability to track and monitor more effectively is of very real appeal!

At the moment, I won't want to sound or appear to be lazy, but I'm usually quite pleased if my readings at circa 9 mmol or under.
Click to expand...

It's not available on the NHS, and there is no indication of when it will be.

In terms of your levels, I agreed with my diabetic consultant about 5 years ago that I would target being below 8mmol/l as that seemed sensible with finger prick testing and hypo fun, so I know how you feel.
 
tim2000s said:
This is where the new Libre can be very useful, in my opinion. It allows you to see how your blood glucose trends following insulin injections and will give you a significantly greater amount of insight into how you fluctuate. This will enable you to correct your dose much more effectively.
Click to expand...
Oh no don't start on the libre lol! I REALLY want one haha!
 
Once again back JIGSAW - what the specialist told us was :-
In the morning you can be high because:-
1/ You had a hypo in the night while asleep, in which case your body releases glycogen from the liver to boost you blood sugar.
2/ You don't have enough insulin in your system which is what most people think
so there are a number of options - 24 hour monitor = good idea to find out what your blood sugar is.
Also high or low can make u feel sick
High as not enough insulin (obvious)
or Low too much insulin no Blood sugar so your body burns fat.
This causes a sick feeling - from top of your stomach area, if you eat when you feel like this you will feel better believe it or not.
Hope this helps a bit.
So the message is that monitoring is vital.
 
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