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Dreamfields pasta & the Somogyi effect

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Dennis

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Type of diabetes
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Non-insulin injectable medication (incretin mimetics)
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People who join web forums to be agressive and cause trouble
Last night I had one of the Dreamfields pastas (5g digestible carb per portion) with minced beef and a tomato based sauce (also low carb). Nothing else except a black coffee with 2 Splendas. So pretty low carbs in my final meal of the day.

I woke up at around 4 am bathed in sweat, but went back to sleep. I test twice a day and my pre-breakfast BS tests are usually higher than the evening ones (the dawn effect that many of us experience), but today the morning test was about 3mmol higher than usual. So it looks like during the night my sugar levels have dropped to hypo level and my liver has compensated by kicking out more glucose (known as the Somogyi Effect - sometimes referred to as the dawn effect although technically that is something different). As I am on Glucophage, which is a slow release metformin, the medication would keep on triggering the pancreas to produce more insulin, even though my meal didn't contain enough carbs for it to work on.

Anyone else experienced something similar after having a low carb evening meal? If so how have you overcome it?
 
"As I am on Glucophage, which is a slow release metformin, the medication would keep on triggering the pancreas to produce more insulin"

metformin doesn't work like this, it doesn't cause the pancreas to produce any more insulin.

If it happens again you should test to see what your blood sugar is, so that you can treat if appropriate, without testing you can only guess that it was low
 
Sofaraway, Your are absolutely right, on both counts. Metformin doesn't stimulate the pancreas, it is the other medication I am on that does that and I'm quite annoyed with myself for getting the two confused! And you are also right in that I should have tested when I woke, otherwise I am just guessing that it was a Somogyi hypo during the night.

In the new year I intend to try a low carb diet (the Dr Bernsteins diet) so what I was particularly interested in is whether night-time hypos, followed by a significantly high morning BS, are common in people who have a low carb evening meal.
 
no worries, we all make mistakes. i'm guessing you are on a sulf- gliclazide maybe?
I used to be on that and had some serious hypo's on it. if you do go low carb then you will need to be really careful so not to get too many hypo's. I would say that as long as your medication dose isn't too much for the amount of carbs you are eating then night time hypo's (followed by early highs) shoudln't be a problem.

What you may expereince by the reduced carb especially at night is that DP may worsen. I know of people (from other forums) that say that having a carby snack at night prevents their DP, whilst others find a high fat/protein snack works best. definatly one of those YMMV things.

good luck with the new diet in the new year
 
Hi Sofaraway,

I have been on glicazide before, so am well versed in hypos!! No, my other med now is Byetta. I am one of the 70 or so in the UK who are on "lizard spit" as it's known in the states.
 
only around 70? I've met 5 people on it in the past 2 weeks, seems that the DSN's really like it where I am and are putting quite a few people on it. they are reporting a decent level of weight loss for their pateints.

how long have you been on it?
 
The 70 figure is what my consultant told me around a month ago, so there are probably more by now. I've been on it since August and have seen a small improvement in my BS levels, not as much as I would like though, but have lost 10 kilos in weight. After my next consultation I expect to have to add a small amount of glicazide to the meds.
 
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