Explanation please.'Dawn Phemomenon'.

[zolabud]

Can some kind person explain the 'Liver Dump' or 'Dawn Phenomenon' please?

I have had fasting readings of 5 all week and this morning it was 6.9.

I'm not that bothered as they are steadily going down so I must be doing something right with new low carbing but I never eat after my dinner at 6.00pm... I always have a few glasses of Rose of an evening. (Nothing too heavy but I still drink everyday )

Is my evening drinking contributing to the 'liver dump' ??

Why when I drink the same amount every night does my morning reading vary ??

Sorry if this has been answered before...

 

[Yorksman]

Liver dump is normal. Be thankful for it. Without it you'd collapse. If you ate nothing at all, you'd still have occasions where you got high BG readings. Your body needs energy.

In otherwise healthy individuals, when your BG levels fall to roughly 4.0, your liver puts glucose into your blood for energy. It does this by drawing on the stored fats. Normally, it doesn't have to do this during the day because you are eating. At night however, you are fasting so it usually does. I have gone to bed with a reading of say 5.7 at 11 pm, taken a reading at 4 am, which has been around 4.2 and then woken up to a reading of 6.0 at 9am. This is the basis for a fasting test. If you fast for 12 hours, your BG should drop so low that at some point, the liver puts glucose into the system. Then it is a question of seeing how good the insulin is at coping with it. That's why they do that test.

If you are not eating after 6pm, your bg levels are going to drop to a level of around 4.0 at an early stage in sleep. Hence, you might have a few hours for your insulin to bring it down to the 5s. The wine could of course be altering this procedure. Alcohol can bring down glucose levels but sugar in the wine can raise it so, it's a question of what type of wine, how much you drink, at what time you drink etc.

However, it may not be the wine at all. You may be losing weight. I often have readings in the range of 4.7 to 5.7 and consider a postprandial reading of 6.5 as high. A couple of days ago however I got readings of around 7.8 and have even had 8.5 three or four hours after a meal. The next morning I am back in the 4s and 5s. When this happens, it is nearly always followed by a drop in weight. It used to be a regular thing for me but now that I am finding it difficult to lose more weight, it is only every two or three weeks.

Just keep an eye on your morning readings or even experiment with the wine, drinking earlier, later, more of it or less of it and see if there are effects. Also do some nights without wine and see if you are back in the 5s. Using a meter is about gathering data and seeing patterns.