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Dawn Phenomenon And Chewing Gum On Waking

ThePenguinPimp

Well-Known Member
Messages
130
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
I'm on a pump with cgm so I can see exactly what my blood sugars are and have been doing. Normally whatever time I get up (the time changes every day) in a morning there is a sharp rise of between 3 and 8 units (the lower I am to start with the bigger the spike) which is really frustrating and it can only be the dawn phenomenon..

I am not a fan of breakfast and yesterday thought maybe I can trick my body into thinking its getting some food by chewing on some sugar free gum! I did it yesterday and today.. and it seems to have worked for me! No spike! Not even a little one!

However, I did start taking berberine the night before last.. I find it difficult to believe it would have such a great and immediate effect on the DP but its always a possibility.. I am going to continue with my little experiment but I'm interested to know if anyone has heard of this working before? I can't find any reference to the dawn phenomenon and chewing gum online and can't believe I'm the first to think of this so am sceptical its even working but as I say I have not had my daily spike on waking for 2 days now!
 
ThePenguinPimp said:
. . . . . . is really frustrating and it can only be the dawn phenomenon..
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With you on that one, 100%. My concern is that a GP might prescribe more medication on the strength of an HbA1c which is slightly elevated. In my case I haven't eaten for the best part of 10 hours and up it goes every morning.

Personally I haven't noticed a drop after chewing gum, I chew "Airwaves" to clear the sinuses and as the gum is in my car, it's usually in the morning when I set off for whatever I'm doing that day.

At the moment I'm questioning the effectiveness of Metformin and as I'm also taking Berberine I'm also wondering why that isn't doing much either. If the "research" is to be believed it should work better than Metformin. I think I'm now questioning that research.

Pleased your spikes have gone for a few days, I did find that fasting for a few days would do the same thing but it's not something to do long term.
 

I chew the gum literally before I get out of bed as that is the point my sugars start to climb.. I decided yesterday to try it as I can never eat quick enough to stop my liver dumping the glucose (I actually didn't have gum yesterday so I literally chewed on my tongue lol) and it seemed to work. My thinking was to prevent the liver doing the glucose dump in first place.. It will be interesting to see if it continues to work or if its just been a fluke.

I totally get your concern about the doc just prescribing you more drugs.. it feels like you end up taking tablets to cope with the side effects from other meds! I can say however that metformin has definitely worked for me (just had my hba1c results and since starting on metformin 6 weeks ago (with no other change to my diet but I am low carb anyway) it has dropped from 84 to 56! Delighted is not the word! However, what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another..

The metformin side effects were unbearable though so since last Fri I have been taking 500mg berberine (with tumeric capsules to help with absorption) 3 x daily and 1000mg slow release metformin once a day (with meal) and I think the results are actually better than when just on metformin but time will tell. I have spent year after year of being told my diabetes is 'poorly controlled' with a huge lump of blame placed squarely at my feet despite doing nothing else but obsess over carbs and my health in general! I eventually put myself on metformin after just having enough of the insulin resistance and didnt dare to hope for the results I've had. I should have been on it 20 years ago! I hope you can find a combination that works for you.
 
ThePenguinPimp said:
I chew the gum literally before I get out of bed as that is the point my sugars start to climb.
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My BG starts to climb shortly before I wake up, but I will have my "Airwaves" next to me tomorrow and give it a go. I have tried other small things like nuts or cheese, but no joy. I've always thought that not are we all different, but I might actually be alien, my body seems to do everything "different". LOL
 
i have discovered some gut bacteria can detach the sugar molecule from the chlorine molecule, that makes up 'sugar free' gum, if u dont have a good gut bacteria balance the ones that do this may begin to dominate. SIBO is a nasty condition i am suffering with due to doctors failure to diagnose my diabetes. Before the diagnoses i had bad skin the doctors treated with antibiotics, this ruined my gut along with the proton pump inhibitors i was taking. i dont trust doctors anymore and do my own research. i am no longer diabetic, my a1c is better than my doctors. my advice- if its man made its poison, is agood way to think about your health
 

I'm really interested to see how you get on! I feel like an alien myself.. I've been type 1 for 30 years and for the first time in my life feel like I've got some kind of control over what is going on with my blood sugars. As you previously said the only way to stop the spikes is to fast for days and same for me or zero carbs and just can't keep it up and believe the really important vitamins etc come from veg (excluding potato which I only (and still rarely) have when I'm really feeling like sticking my middle finger up to the whole thing!).. berbedine may help more if you take it with something like turmeric to help with absorption.. maybe worth a try.. turmeric or milk thistle I've read are good for that.


The saying "you are your own best doctor" is so true as we do all react differently to everything! I don't chew gum (and had to buy some for the purpose (but as chewing my tongue the first day seemed to work it seems preferable).. I totally get what you are saying about if it's made its poisen.. my T1 has been uncontrollable despite being on a low carb diet and metformin did help me but the side effects so bad I've now turned to berberine which seems to be having a comparable effect! I put myself on the metformin initially (after lying to my doc saying that the hospital put me on it then just telling the hospital what I was doing and they went along with it.. but 5 years ago I took 12 tablets every morning (supposedly to help my kidneys and stomach acid and all sorts.. I've taken myself off a lot of these meds.. and my results have never been better! I firmly believe the pharmaceutical industries make their gazillions by treating the complications of poorly managed diabetes and have no real interest in helping people get better.
 
I wonder if you can get black coffee flavoured chewing gum...
 
ThePenguinPimp said:
Coffee flavoured gum is available on amazon! lol As is caffeinated gum.. just not coffee flavour with caffeine for some reason..
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Amazon UK do not sell stuff to Australian customers any more, Amazon Australia is useless as mammary tissue on a boar pig for the range of products they sell here.
 
Tipetoo said:
Amazon UK do not sell stuff to Australian customers any more, Amazon Australia is useless as mammary tissue on a boar pig for the range of products they sell here.
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Wow that's **** for you all! You''d have thought they'd have more sense its a big market over there! When I'm looking at stuff on ebay it seems like loads comes from Australia so you'd have thought they'd fill the ships going back! Hey if there's anything you really want I'll send it over to you! Crates full of coffee flavoured gum coming your way soon lol
 
ThePenguinPimp said:
You''d have thought they'd have more sense its a big market over there!
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It has only just happened here, big retail chains complained about losing trade to buying goods GST free on the internet.

So their buddies in the Federal Government changed the laws and put GST on online purchases.

Amazon said they would not be tax collectors for foreign countries, so they stopped selling to Australian customers.

Thanks for the offer to send gum, but I would have to suck it as I have dentures.
 
Tumbleweed2017 said:
Try sugar-free mints instead?
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If they do not come in heartstarter black coffee flavour, I will continue the way I start the the day as I have done for years by drinking coffee.

Come to think of it I do not think that my liver has taken a dump since I stopped shift work years ago.
 
Fully sympathize with the Dawn Syndrome complex. My readings always seem to be higher (by varying amounts) in the morning. So much so that I am beginning to discount doing the morning BG test. The trouble is I am a shift worker and sometimes the morning test is actually at the end of a "Working Day" for me, but until I win the lottery there's no chance of having a normal daily routine I'm afraid
 
I am interested in those of you who are taking berberine. In what form are you taking it? I have just been doing research on Berberis Aristata and in fact have ordered some 500mg capsules. The research paper I looked at reckoned you need to take 1 capsule at every meal and that it works as well as metformin and takes 3 months to kick in. My problem is also high fasting numbers but I sleep in 2 hours stints only . By lunch time my bg is in the mid 5's so I'm fine with that. Maybe I should post a new thread on this.
 
I am taking 500mg 4times a day and one 1000mg slow release metformin and was seeing similar results to when I was on three times the metformin but the side effects were unbearable.. Since last night my usual low carb healthy eating has gone right out of the window and I'm currently higher than I've been for weeks and feeling horrible.. But when I get back home after short break I will be back to healthy low carb eating and it will be obvious if the berberine is as effective as metformin.. I was seeing early very good results though
 
Hi, when I was first diagnosed I was told that I didn’t have dawn phenomenon, however like you when I wake in the morning I take my BG reading and within 15mins my sugars are 2/3 higher 15mins after that there another 2/3 by the time I get downstairs to have brekky they can have risen by 6-8, and like you say they tend to rise higher when I wake with a good reading.

So as soon as I wake up regardless of my BG reading (which was a bit scary at first) I take 1unit of insulin and it works a treat haven’t gone high since and that was a month ago..

Spoke with my consultant and she said it’s just your body waking up and releasing some glucose to get up out of bed.

Hope ur gum experiment works well
 
doctors are lead by the pharma industry to treat symptoms, think about it, u get a bad back what they give you? a painkiller, not a cure, same with almost everything. a pill to lower your blood pressure? why? the body know what it needs to do to survive and its put ur pressure up for a reason, instead of fixing that the doctors just offer you a drug to lower it in an abnormal way.
 
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