Blood sugars before bed

Sianifer said:

hello,

When you do your bloods before bed, and they are say around 4 (I'm not sure what this is in the new terms) and you've done your levemir (so they're going to drop a little more) what do you eat/drink/do to bring them up a little so you don't have a hypo in the night, but you still wake up with them at a good level?

Thanks in advance!

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Hello there, I usually have a rich tea biscuit or something similar with around 10 carbs. Hope that helps.

I have a couple of Oatcakes because they're supposed to be low GI (so will keep my BG steady for longer).

I know a friend who uses Belvita breakfast biscuits for the same reason, but I find them too sweet. They're also relatively expensive.

If my blood sugar before bed is a point or two under what I'm comfortable with, then I've found that two or three Baby Bel cheeses are good to keep the level steady and with the compensation of the dawn phenomenon, I manage to hit the target the next morning.

Do you have carbs with the Babybels, @YorkshireAli ?

If I'm anxious about being too low before bed, I sometimes have a plain biscuit like a digestive or Rich Tea. I think bedtime's always a more worrying time to be 'borderline'. If I feel my blood sugar might fall, maybe because of a carb miscalculation earlier or something, I usually set an alarm to get up and test. I find it easier to sleep doing that, and any further adjustments can be made then.

I know what you mean about the borderline readings at bedtime - hardly conducive to a good night's sleep! If I'm borderline, I don't have carbs with the Baby Bel - for me, the fat and protein in the cheese acts like a half-dose of carbs, which puts my sugar up just enough, without spiking, which it would if I had carbs then. The fat content flattens out the effect.

If I'm definitely too low before bed, then I'll have a slice of toast with some cheese on, but as I'm particularly sensitive to carbs I then have to either inject a couple of units, or end up risking a double-digit reading in the morning, which I don't like, as it throws me for the whole of the next day. Sometimes I have to admit that I wing it a bit and go with just the Baby Bel and cross my fingers, trusting that it'll work out ok.

Much would depend if I had insulin on board at 4mmol/l, if my previous dose was exhausted then I'd have some slow release carbs like oatcakes as @Ledzeptt suggests above, the Nairn's Cheese Oatcakes are really nice

Sianifer said:

hello,

When you do your bloods before bed, and they are say around 4 (I'm not sure what this is in the new terms) and you've done your levemir (so they're going to drop a little more) what do you eat/drink/do to bring them up a little so you don't have a hypo in the night, but you still wake up with them at a good level?

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

i would definitely if they are as low as 4 x