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Dawn Phenomenon - Insulin Pumps

A

AnneK

Active Member
Messages
28
I haven't been on for a while, would like to say it's because we are coping fabulously well but infact it's just cos life is crazy busy

Have just come back from the Hospital with Reece for his quarterly checks, Hba1C is 8.1% the hospital see as as good:?? However since going on Base Insulin 18 months ago, and going to bed on acceptable night time levels he always wakes up very high. I am aware that he is suffering with Dawn Phenomenon and check his bloods through the night for it to be climbing not maintaining. No amount of correction in units has resolved this so the hospital today said the best way forward was now the Insulin Pump. I'm not sure how i feel about this for many reasons and wondered what others thought.

Currently we are posted overseas in Germany and received nothing but fab care but we are moving back to UK at the end of June and wonder if they would still maintain the pump once in place...

Anny advice/help will be much appreciated

Anne
xx
 
HI Anne,

I would go for it....it gives you flexibility, to help manage teh dawn phenonomen as best as we can artificiaaly. It can be quite a lit of work, but it is not that much different from what someone on MDI would do anyway, if they were carb counting.

Carb counting is the thing that you should be reasonably confident with before starting the pump...but if you are doing this already, i would say go for it!

Do you know where about you will be when you are back in the UK? I am sure they will suppoty your son with the pump, but some hospitals, really only seem to use one pump, whilst others gie you teh choice...might be worth asking on here to see, if there is someone from your new area who can advice what happens at the local hospital?

8.1 will not be the worst, by a long, long way that teh hospital will have seen, but it is certainly something that should be improved upon...as you can prbably tell, I love my pump, so would certainly go for it!
 
Hi Ann,

I experience dawn phenomenon which has become more evident since starting on the pump and doing basal testing through the night. I now have a temporary basal rate set between 5am and 10am which has completely normalised my readings again. Nurses were a little hesitant about it, so I had to prove the behaviour was real, but now I've changed that basal rate I can't believe I managed without this possibility before.

Sam.
 
Hi Anne,
I suffer very much from dawn phenomenon and the insulin pump has all but eliminated the effects. Previously, if I took enough basal insulin to ensure I woke up with a reasonable blood sugar reading in the morning, I would be having hypos all day. Conversely if I had the right amount of basal for the rest of the day/night, I would be waking up with bs readings into the 20s. It was horrendous and went on for years, there was just no combination that resolved the problem.

Now I have the pump, it is set to give me considerably more insulin between 4am and 7am that I am getting the rest of the time and that's it, problem solved. It took a bit of fiddling about to get right but I can't tell you how wonderful it is to wake up without that horrible 'hangover' feeling from being so high.

Good luck!
 
One reason I switched to using a pump was due to night time hyperglycemia which often caused problems with wakefulness in the morning due to feeling dizzy and fatigued. When I switched to using a pump, I've never had the high b/s levels in a morning.

I'd highly suggest that Reece apply for a pump because I see no reason why it wouldn't resolve the problem you are experiencing.
 
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