Fasting Levels

[Juicetin]

Hi, pre-diabetic here working hard with diet and exercise to try and combat it....I am struggling with morning highs, every single morning upon waking I am seeing 6.5 which lasts for several hours. I am aware of the Dawn Phenomenon, are there any tried and tested methods I can try to go about reducing morning highs ?
Thanks all.

 

[Lamont D]

If your liver decides to give you a morning boost to start the day, it is very difficult to prevent it!
There have been many threads about this and it is just a thing to tolerate.
That reading is just above normal, so I wouldn't worry too much about it!

I would prefer that while in the testing and prediabetic phase to ignore your waking fasting and only test just before first bite of your breakfast. It could be worth doing things before you eat before you have your breakfast.
Hope this helps!

 

[Juicetin]

Thanks for the reply.
This morning 6.7 which lasted until 2pm ! has only just gone down to around 6.
Pretty depressing.

 

[Bluetit1802]

What did you eat and drink between your fasting and 2pm, and did you do any sort of exercise, walking, or similar?

 

[Juicetin]

Nothing to eat, one cup of coffee and few cups of water.
Only walked from train station to office, nothing really

 

[Resurgam]

Perhaps you could try eating something non carb for breakfast - there is even Dr Atkins' revenge - bacon and eggs - to see if you can go into ketosis and stop your liver being so enthusiastic about glucose. I have felt so much better since going into ketosis on low carb - and my BG levels are going down from full on diabetes and 17.1 mmol/l

 

[Bluetit1802]

I agree maybe ts time to experiment with a small carb-free breakfast of protein and fat. Perhaps just a soft boiled egg. Or, put a big slurp of double cream in your coffee. Test later to see if that helps.

 

[Juicetin]

I'll try that. I can't be doing with readings that high until after lunch.
I used to walk up the stairs at work every morning, but my neuropathy in my feet is so bad now I can't do it.

 

[Juicetin]

Starting to think it could be my meter, a Bayer Contour Next. I tested my wife today, who has normal blood sugar, low if anything, and it showed 5.7, 3 hours post light meal. Think i'll pick up another variety to compare against.

 

[Energize]

Hi Juicetin

I would have thought your levels and your wife's are actually fine. Check out this link for diabetic and non-diabetic glucose levels https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html

 

[Robbity]

Nothing to eat, one cup of coffee and few cups of water.
Only walked from train station to office, nothing really

Then just maybe your poor liver thinks your throat's been cut, and is diligently doing its job by fuelling you up to get you started for the day... So you may find that a fatty breakfast (as
@Bluetit1802's suggested) will help drop your glucose levels during the morning.

But I agree that your fasting levels are not really bad enough to fuss over. These are generally the last to come down, and if you concentrate on you pre and post meal readings instead, they'll eventually follow suit. It took mine over two years of strict LCHF plus stopping statins before they eventually came down, though my other levels were much reduced.

Robbity

 

[Kristin251]

Sometimes eating a small protein/ fat snack is enough to elicit and insulin response without raising BS. Even just a few nuts. Nothing that will raise bs but just enough to elicit insulin. I do munch worse if I don't eat something right when I get up. It's most often avocado.

I have heard that meter runs high.

 

[Juicetin]

Thanks for all your replies folks

 

[douglas99]

5.7 is a perfect score, and I'm guessing you're low carbing?
That can raise your fasting into the 6's, that's a normal result.

 

[kokhongw]

Actually I find that dinner has the most direct impact on morning fasting level.

A heavy late dinner will give me > 6.0 mmol the next morning from 6am up to 9am
A light dinner will be around 5.5 mmol from 6am to 9am
No dinner will get me closer to 5.0 mmol from 6am to 9am.

A full 3 day water/coconut oil fast will bring me right down to 4.0-4.5 mmol all day long. And no I don't exercise more than 1000 steps a day...probably only 500 steps on average.

So if you want to improve your morning fasting level...consider your dinner...

 

[Juicetin]

5.6 this morning, that's better, perhaps I'll keep the Contour meter a bit longer.
I did have a lower carb dinner last night, may have helped.

 

[Jo123]

Just what I was going to say, my dinner has a big impact on my fasting level.
I have been prediabetic for 7 or 8 years, my last hba1c was 32, I can tolerate more carbs than I could at the beginning and maintain decent bg levels. But I am not cured if we go out for a curry and I have no rice, carby veg etc, but a sneaky half a garlic naan then my morning reading is prediabetic rather than 'nomal'.
As other posters have said I do find eating something low carb in the morning sometimes helps.
The other thing is when I do have a blood test at the GP's my fasting always shows lower than my monitor.

 

[Juicetin]

Mine too. had a fasting reading done through the GP a month ago and it was 5.2. Lowest i've seen on my meter is 5.6, normally 6.5+.
Out for a friend's birthday meal tonight so think i'll skip taking a reading in the morning!

 

[chalup]

My contour next is bang on the lab reading. Next time you go for bloods take your meter with you and test immediately before they draw blood. This will tell you how close your meter is and you can adjust from there. Also the batch of strips you use can make a difference. For some of us, including me, fasting levels are just frustratingly stubborn. I will keep rising in the morning until I eat, and when I do eat it must be something NO carb as I am profoundly insulin resistant in the morning.

 

[Juicetin]

Thanks, think i've given up with my fasting level, i've tried everything ! daily levels though are pretty much okay and not seeing big spikes.
I'm doing loads of cardio but can't do resistance training at the moment due to a knackered shoulder. Hoping to do some in the new year.