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Can I do anything about the dawn phenomenon?

SparkJack

Well-Known Member
Messages
152
Location
Southampton
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Quite often my highest reading of the day is the one first thing in the morning .(I aim for 70g carb per day)
I have tried taking it while I'm still in bed which helps slightly but if I wait until cats are fed and the coffee's on it's usually higher.
I tried;
Late night carby crackers
Late night cheese
Late night glass of water.
Late night brandy (very nice but no use)
Am I right in assuming that because I still have about 5 stone to lose the DP will still happen.
When I have lost my excess baggage will I lose the DP?
Yesterday and today's readings for the remainder of the day were good for me.
Last week's DP ranged from 9.5 - 7.2
Tues 7am 6.8
9am 8.6 +2 7.3
2pm 6.9 +2 6.9
6pm 7.0 +2 7.0
Am I expecting too much?
 
I have the exact same problem. My 2 hour after meal readings are now always below 6.6, but my morning readings are always between 6.8 and 7.8, so frustrating :x My only comfort is, from what ive read is that the glucose only starts to cause problems when it is over 7.8. even at that, I'm still very disapointed. :(
 
I suffer from DP. Hate it. Something is happening overnight, and I want to know how to stop it.

Some people have suggested a glass of red before bed, or even a green apple before bed. Been meaning to try both of them for a while...
 
I drink one glass of white wine with my evening meal so I will quite happily switch to red and give it a whirl.....
Trouble is I buy red and my sis. drinks more of it than I do!!!
DP is extremely frustrating.
 
I have tried just about every thing to try to lower my morning readings .Red wine, carbs ,no carbs ,whiskey , early nights, late nights, But it aint no good so I stopped testing in the morning and stopped worrying My Hba1c had come down to 6.5 . So I test after meals and especially if I eat any thing different or if I feel different in any way .I reccon DP is just with me and thats it . :evil:
CAROL
 
carty said:
I have tried just about every thing to try to lower my morning readings .Red wine, carbs ,no carbs ,whiskey , early nights, late nights, But it aint no good so I stopped testing in the morning and stopped worrying My Hba1c had come down to 6.5 . So I test after meals and especially if I eat any thing different or if I feel different in any way .I reccon DP is just with me and thats it . :evil:
CAROL
Carol, apparently the most significant reading is after a meal, and if you have good readings 1 hour and 2 hours after a meal you should be doing ok. Well, thats what I'm hanging on to
 
I was suffering from liver dumping too,and got quite despondent as I would go to bed with blood sugars of 5.0-5.5 and wake up with 6.0-6.6,every day.

This was the final spur to make me take the plunge and do an 8 week diet,less than 1000 cal per day.
The result was that I lost 1.5 stone and recovered control of my blood sugars.One part of the Newcastle University Diet splurge stated that after 2 days the body would learn to access body fat for energy.This harks back to a UCLA theory that your body is either in store mode or demand mode.In store mode excess calories are stored in the liver,providing the means by which your body liver dumps at night,in demand mode excess calories are not stored and to get energy the body burns fat.The result of course is weight loss.To get into demand mode the UCLA theory required you to run aerobically for 45-60 minutes per day,however the Newcastle diet does it with starvation!

In my case I have tested every morning since coming off the diet and my fasting blood levels are now in a narrow range of 4.6-4.9.Other diabetic symptoms,such as patches of dry,scaly skin,have also disappeared.Good luck.
 
Hi youngmanfrank
I cannot follow your example because I am under weight and if I lose any more no one could see me :cry: Not every thing works for every one
CAROL
 
I get DP but don't bother about it now. My fasting BG is seldom below 6, but if that means it's gone up by, say, 1 or 2 points for an hour or two before I get up, so what? Makes very little differtence to your overall averages. I've worked out that mathematically, the most that can effect your HbA1c by is about 0.15 Post meal is more important I think, where you can get much bigger rises if you get it wrong.
 
I usually finish my dinner about 18:30 and try not to eat anything after that. I take (up to) a 20u shot of Novorapid with my dinner and just after my evening dose of 100u of levemir. If my BG is less than 10 in the morning, then that's good for me (every now and then I get a reading of 7.5). I then take my daily shot of Levimir (80u) and have breakfast plus another shot of Novorapid and on and on it goes .........
 
Hello all... I had a fantastic result with my last blood and hb1 tests in july...I was the talk of the surgery but now the wheels have come off the bus and my readings especially the mornin ones have crept upto 8.4 ...not going any higher than 10.4 but its really getting me down...

I admit I succumbed to treats not whole cakes mind you just a slice of cheese cake once a week but this last few weeks have been trying really hard to get my levels down..after readin this thread about the DP it seems this must be the case..

The only way my readings are close to normal is if i've done a late shift and I inject my insulin late in the evenin but now that seems to be wearing off..I have had a really bad cold virus for over three weeks now and that always affects my bs's.

I had my blood work done last week and I know i'm going to get a right old talking too...I;m really dissapointed in myself...i did so well but over the months the readings crept up and I had to adjust my insulin level to cope...I had gone down to only 48mls of Levamir and am now back on 60 and am tearing my hair out!

I dont eat from 7.30pm and inject at 9pm..to 9,30 and take my glicazide with the insulin to try and get it down but its not working,,,,

I feel like I'm trying to swim against a current...and i know the stress is making the readings higher...the phebotomist agreed with me...also I'm getting really bad reactions in my injection sites..especially on the thigh area...it swells up and itches and burns like mad..i've been on levimir for over a year now ....

Any advice appreciated....am not a happy bunny....

thanks xxx
 
I've stopped taking fasting readings for now. They correlation was higher with my time of getting out of bed than it was with anything I'd eaten the day before (I usually don't eat after 7 in the evening). I'm now doing more after dinner readings and these have given me a few surprises already.
 
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