• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Dawn Phenomenon

notafanofsugar said:
Hi @Iain Byrne - i wondered if things had stabilised? sounds a lot like myjourney.
Click to expand...
Hi,
Still sticking to my morning routine of wake, BS rises take morning dose of Lantus and breakfast dose of Novorapid then wait for BS to drop, then eat breakfast. Usually works ok.
I have yearly appointment with DSN next month so will see what amazing suggestions she makes not. Still not had a consultant appointment in the 12 years I have been with this department, they say they will refer me if required I get the feeling that when you reach 70+ the NHS is not really interested
 
I didnt have breakfast for years, then carb-free salad at 12 and first sandwiches at 3pm which kinda helped. Since ive been using Fiasp my morning highs are gone and I can finally have (light) breakfast again!
 
Iain Byrne said:
Hi all,
I was diagnosed as type 1 at the age of 5 and now at the grand old age of 71 I think I maybe suffering with the dreaded dawn phenomenon or foot on the floor thing.
When I wake my sensor reading is about 5 get up and move around and it shoots up to 10+
I have increased my Novorapid from 10 to 15 but by the time I have had breakfast my readings are up to 14-15 and a pain to get down. I am allowing 30 minutes between my insulin and breakfas.
Spoke to DNS briefly and she more or less told me to ignore it, have my normal insulin and don’t bolus until it’s above 17. The speed Novorapid works my readings would be 20+ by the time the insulin takes effec.
Any advice would be gratefully received
Iain
Click to expand...
Do you inject into your tummy or arm or leg? I used to always inject into my thigh before breakfast and like you I suffered the dreaded (and rather depressing)Dawn Rush. However I changed to shooting up into my tummy about 20 mins before breakfast and I've noticed my readings now are usually between 5 and 10 after breakfast. Interestingly taking more insulin to deal with the Dawn Phenomenon had very little effect. In fact, if anything, it made it worse. I've been Type 1 Diabetic since 1974. This Dawn Phenomenon only started a couple of years ago though when I hit 60. Hope this might work for you.
 
Iain Byrne said:
.......not had a consultant appointment in the 12 years I have been with this department, they say they will refer me if required I get the feeling that when you reach 70+ the NHS is not really interested.
Click to expand...
12-years without seeing a diabetes Specialist Consultant is a long time. I assume that you have found your hospital Diabetes Nurses very good, if you have not asked for an appointment with a Diabetes Consultant. "..if required.." seems to me to be the opening to request an appointment. I see my Diabetes Consultant once a year, and the hospital DSNs once a year. Thus I have a hospital diabetes team appointment every six months. However, if something happens that warrants attention, then I will request an extra appointment with the "hospital team". Then I may get an appointment either with the DSN or the Consultant,

I have experienced that "over-70s; let us ignore them" phenomenon with other specialities; more often with the hart specialists. With them, I have to chase appointments. I think this varies from hospital to hospital.
 
ElenaP said:
12-years without seeing a diabetes Specialist Consultant is a long time. I assume that you have found your hospital Diabetes Nurses very good, if you have not asked for an appointment with a Diabetes Consultant. "..if required.." seems to me to be the opening to request an appointment. I see my Diabetes Consultant once a year, and the hospital DSNs once a year. Thus I have a hospital diabetes team appointment every six months. However, if something happens that warrants attention, then I will request an extra appointment with the "hospital team". Then I may get an appointment either with the DSN or the Consultant,

I have experienced that "over-70s; let us ignore them" phenomenon with other specialities; more often with the hart specialists. With them, I have to chase appointments. I think this varies from hospital to hospital.
Click to expand...
Wow, that sounds amazing. In 45 years on insulin I haven't see a consultant since diagnosis but have an annual review once a year at my surgery. That worked very well until last year when I started to get weird numbers after eating and couldn't get anyone to respond for months. The other evening I had a salad plus dough sticks about the size of a tea plate. Later was 7.6 then 9,5 at bedtime that I thought would take me through the night. At 1.45 my sensor woke me with a blood sugar of 14.2. I had an extra bolus but as discussed above it takes a long time to get back to normal. Advice would be welcome as foods I have eaten before with no problems are now sending me through the roof 4 hours later?
I am fit, healthy, very active and weigh 44kgs and have done for a while so I'm at a loss to cope with the changes.
My time in range is still 80% but I'm currently 16% above target which worries me. Maybe it's age?
 
Although the DP seems to have become a recent thing for me (more or less since i retired a couple of yrs ago), my specialist didn't seem particularly concerned about how i dealt with its effects. I decided on a somewhat weird routine of waking up at the time the DP hits, injecting my degludec + a small dose of novorapid (2u), then going back to sleep for another 2-3 hrs. On waking up properly, getting up and having breakfast, my BG stays generally under control. I don't know why this way works for me, but it does.
 
Back
Top