Help!!!high bloods waking up!!

oliviamae2000 said:

Hello,

I need some advice with myself as I'm going to bed normal levels in between 4-6 and then waking up at a level of 16 Just doesn't seem to come down !! I've increased my bed time injection and mad myself have more and dinner time just not working Help pleaseee !!

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Hello @oliviamae2000 and a warm welcome to the forum

If I were you, I'd try taking LESS basal insulin (your bed time injection). It sounds counter-productive taking less; but it might be possible that you're having mild hypos overnight and your high morning BG is a result of rebound-hyperglycemia (also known as the Somogyi effect):

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose/somogyi-phenomenon.html

What I've described is the very reason I came to this forum over a year ago. I was dialling up my evening Levemir dose and things were not improving. Before you go adjusting things though, you should run it past your DSN. We can only advise here, we cannot tell you what to do or what insulin doses to take.

There is another issue called dawn phenomenon which gives some of us a lot of bother too:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose/dawn-phenomenon.html

oliviamae2000 said:

im not having hypo's in the night so that is not the case !! Thanks anyways

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Have you carried out overnight BG tests to confirm; or are you wearing a CGM? If not, you can't rule it out...

I'm not talking soaked in sweat hypos either, sometimes even dipping to 3.8mmol/l can cause a significant rebound hyper. It all depends on where your BG's typically sit throughout the day.

You may well need more basal, it could be as simple as that - but it's best to err on the side of caution when increasing doses. A basal test would likely benefit you, it involves overnight testing so you can kill two birds with one stone anyway:

https://mysugr.com/basal-rate-testing/

oliviamae2000 said:

Hello,

I need some advice with myself as I'm going to bed normal levels in between 4-6 and then waking up at a level of 16-18 Just doesn't seem to come down !! I've increased my bed time injection and made myself have more at dinner time but it's just not working Help pleaseee !!

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Hi @oliviamae2000 ,
Welcome to the forum. @GrantGam does make some good points..
What are you eating at "dinner time"? I'm thinking (in addition )"pizza effect."
That's assuming you basal inject before bed???

Ok...

Welcome!!

You need to see exactly what time your levels start to rise.

I have huge rises like you... I can lower till 3am (not with tresiba insulin tho). Then from 4-8 my levels climb and climb.

Then 8am to midday they are absolutely dire for climbs.

My levels jump when my feet hit the floor... do you test before getting out of bed or after you are up?

So if you can identify when you rise its a good idea to basal test for a few nights and not eat after 6pm. This will ensure all bolus and food is out of your bloods.

Then you have choices....

1.0 Ask for a pump

2.0 do a pre injection bolus for waking/gettting out of bed

3.0 you must discuss basal regime and see if timings need to be changed ie if on one basal jab, do you need to split it

4.0 do check in with your dsn / consultant if you need to.. dont just do any bolus in mornings unless you have had discussions with medics.

There could be other reasons such as takeaways or pizza etc that can also affect night time results, but I do not know your nutition so can not judge whether foods could be affecting levels.

I'm quite extreme in what I have to do to keep my levels ok for mornings.

Oh and some people (according to my medics) let rises occur and just deal with by correcting upon waking!! I, myself, do not accept any levels outside NICE guidelines and to me that would just start me off firefighting every day and giving me more struggles.

I now have two basals and a correction before getting up but as said I think I am pretty unlucky in being so extreme with what I have to do..

Hi @oliviamae2000, agree with all the comments here. I've found my libre critical in understanding my BG profile and testing/recording BG and food. Libre or CGM, although not NHS funded, is really worth the investment if you can. For example, I know that DP kicks in for me at 3am. If I eat late at night - and these days it's low carb so mainly protein and fat - I have to bolus early at 3am to prevent a massive increase. I do micro manage my diabetes now though . Also getting an Animas Vibe pump in September so hopefully I can address this issue.

Peppergirl said:

Hi @oliviamae2000I've found my libre critical in understanding my BG profile and testing/recording BG and food.

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@oliviamae2000, this is very good advice from @Peppergirl.

If you have a compatible Android phone, this can be used to scan your Libre sensor - so there's no need to spend extra on a reader. What that means is a significantly reduced initial financial outlay. One sensor costs around £48 and will provide you with two weeks worth of data, which is more than enough for you to see what's going on overnight. It's what I did.

Certainly, you can do all the tests with a standard BG meter - however the Libre makes the process a lot easier and with significantly less hassle. I understand not everyone has a spare £50, but it really is worth it - especially if it means you stop waking up at 16mmol/l - or at least identify why you're waking up at that level.

I think it can depend largely on what you eat at tea time. If it's quite high in fat it can affect you a long time after you've eaten.

Sometimes if your bloods drop unexpectly your body can react to it and raise sugars, which may also explain unusual highs.

Maybe try a handful of nuts/Apple and peanut butter before bed and see if it makes a difference. Xx

@oliviamae2000 - how have your morning BG's been over the past few days? Did you get round to any overnight basal testing?