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Type 2 Diabetics wake up at 3:00 am ?

Omar51 said:
Most or a lot of diabetics wake up at 3:am, including myself. I wonder why. Any suggestions to go back to bed ?. My thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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I find if I over eat and my sugars are higher than normal, I could be awake most of the night. If my sugars are normal I get a much better sleep.
 
glenmoray said:
I’ve never heard this one before. I’ve been a diabetic since 6th February 1977 and never really wake up at 3am. To be honest it’s often a time when I go to bed LOL. My Father In Law is a Type 2 Diabetic also and he says he sleeps all night and the only time he gets out of bed early in the morning is to empty his bladder but that’s closer to 6-6.30am. Sorry I cannot help you with this theory , May be worth asking your diabetic nurses or Diabetic Consultant. If this is correct, they should know.
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Thank for your help and response!

There is a lot of info available on this topic on this post, and a lot of people have somewhat similar issues too. I am learning a lot. My thanks to all members.
 
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Omar51 said:
Most or a lot of diabetics wake up at 3:am, including myself. I wonder why. Any suggestions to go back to bed ?. My thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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Hi Omar here’s the thing with me. I wake up between 3 and 4 almost always and though I can get back to sleep whenever I have worn a CGM (holidays) it shows my BG starts to rise soon after and by the time I actually get up at 0800 my FBG is high while my daytime numbers remain good. So I could keep my meter by my bed and record FBG when I first wake but I don’t really want to do that if I am not getting up. Last night unusually I slept through to 6am and my FBG at 0800 was significantly better than usual. As. Long as my A1c tests remain good I really shouldn’t dwell on FBG on rising. This diabetes lark keeps throwing up curved balls.
 
PenguinMum said:
Hi Omar here’s the thing with me. I wake up between 3 and 4 almost always and though I can get back to sleep whenever I have worn a CGM (holidays) it shows my BG starts to rise soon after and by the time I actually get up at 0800 my FBG is high while my daytime numbers remain good. So I could keep my meter by my bed and record FBG when I first wake but I don’t really want to do that if I am not getting up. Last night unusually I slept through to 6am and my FBG at 0800 was significantly better than usual. As. Long as my A1c tests remain good I really shouldn’t dwell on FBG on rising. This diabetes lark keeps throwing up curved balls.
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Hi PenguinMum, sometimes I wake up at 3 or 4 am, and my fasting 0800 hours are completed and I test my FBG. Sometimes I go back to bed, sleep for a couple of hours and then test. One way or the other my FBG and my A1c is in non diabetic range.
Thanks a lot for your help.
 
Omar51 said:
Hi@LivingLightly.
I wake up at night to pee, sometimes twice a night and sometimes I sleep till 5-6 am. I am pre for about 14 years (no meds). Seems like it’s connected to my diabetes. Thanks for your help .
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Pre diabetes for 14 years gee you obviously no your food lifestyle
 
BorisP said:
how would you rate your diabetes control right now?
I used to be like that (when diagnosed 3 years ago) but as you improve your control your sleep gets better and there is no need to get up at night nor there is that constant thirst that persisted before. I am on 2x500 Met and a single 50mg Vildagliptin in the morning. I swim 3 times a week, lift some weghts and walk a lot. plus my first meal of the day comes in at 3/4 pm and it’s mostly protein and healthy fat. before that it’s a single apple and nuts with coffee. latest A1c ~> 5.1 (32.25) So, believe me symptoms of T2DM are just that and they go away as you improve your BG control.
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I've had type 2 for 30 years now and my control has been good since going low to medium carb 6 years ago. Sleep has always been a bit of an issue for me so waking every night isn't unusual, what is, is that its almost the same time every night and the difficulty in going back to sleep. Once my brain switches on I can't turn it off again.
 
This happens to me off and on - I know through my local low carb group that it also happens to folks who are not diabetic . For some of us, me included, it's linked to a sharp drop in BG followed by an equally sharp rise which seems (in my case anyway) to be the start of dawn phenomenon. It also goes along with nightmares and heavy (really heavy) sweating.

I can't explain the reason for the sudden fall (although I'd guess my liver is up to something) - and there seems to be little or nothing in the literature about it. If anyone has found anything, please link it here. Before widespread CGM use (and in particular Abbott's free CGM trial) I don't see how I could have detected it. By the time you wake up properly and test, the fall is over and BGs are climbing.

My A1c has been around 36 for over four years and I rarely get a fingerprick reading anywhere above 6 these days. Until the CGM trial, I had no reason to think it was linked to BG in any way. I tend to think whatever it is has an impact on BG, rather than my BG itself being the cause.

I'm attaching a CGM graph from a non-diabetic individual that shows the 3am BG fall very well.
 

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Clase said:
I've had type 2 for 30 years now and my control has been good since going low to medium carb 6 years ago. Sleep has always been a bit of an issue for me so waking every night isn't unusual, what is, is that its almost the same time every night and the difficulty in going back to sleep. Once my brain switches on I can't turn it off again.
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I was diagnosed pre about 14 years ago. Maybe I was pre diabetic before that. Today I got my A1c 5.3 mg/dL. Same 5.3 for the 3rd time, same in non diabetic range. My control has been good since I am going low carb.

Sleep has been a bit of an issue for me too. It’s getting a little better now. I get up twice a night to empty my bladder. I also wake up at almost the same time every night.
 
lovinglife said:
I have chronic insiomnia and I can wake at 1 am, 2 am, 3 am etc, If I sleep 3 hrs in a row I’ve had a good night, my normal night is about 7 hrs in 1 or 2 hr stints with wide awake bits in between- my worse nights in no sleep at all. Last Saturday night I went to bed at 11.30 and finally got some sleep at 6am Sunday morning was up at 9.30 again.

Please don’t start and give me advice on sleep hygiene been there done it all nothing works. It’s a 30 odd year problem and I’ve learned to live with it. I could probably have better BG if I slept well but I probably never know
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I found mixed HRT worked for me. Now dr took it away I’m awake most nights.
 
lovinglife said:
I have chronic insiomnia and I can wake at 1 am, 2 am, 3 am etc, If I sleep 3 hrs in a row I’ve had a good night, my normal night is about 7 hrs in 1 or 2 hr stints with wide awake bits in between- my worse nights in no sleep at all. Last Saturday night I went to bed at 11.30 and finally got some sleep at 6am Sunday morning was up at 9.30 again.

Please don’t start and give me advice on sleep hygiene been there done it all nothing works. It’s a 30 odd year problem and I’ve learned to live with it. I could probably have better BG if I slept well but I probably never know
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Somewhat I have the same issue. I sleep 3 to 5 hrs on average. It has a lot to do with my life style, living arrangements. At least 2 times a night I have to get up to empty my bladder. Night sleep is very important and I don’t think sleep is a major issue for me. I focus more on how to control my BG w/o meds. Good luck to everyone!
 
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