HIGH BEFORE BREAKFAST READINGS

[scatterby]

Hi,

I only started testing yesterday and after lunch and tea yesterday, my readings were fine. However, this morning before breakfast the reading was 7 and after a small bowl of sugar-free muesli and a cup of tea it was 10.9. I was just wondering how you are supposed to keep the reading low in the morning before you've even eaten anything? :shock: Thanks.

 

[sugar2]

Hi,

This is quite a common thing, called the "dawn phenomen". I am not very well placed to advise you on this I am afraid. I think that you need to talk to your nurse/midwife if it happens again tomorrow. I think you are diet controlled, so it may help to reduce your carbohydrates a little, particularly the evening before, but to be honest, this rise in BG in the early morning is often very hard to avoid.

 

[scatterby]

Oh thanks sugar - I just thought it was really strange after yesterday's being okay

 

[daisy1]

For your after breakfast reading: do you know how many carbs were in your muesli? Sugar-free does not mean carb free. It could have been high carb. How long after eating did you test? Muesli contains slow acting carbs so at 2 hours could have just been the peak.

 

[scatterby]

Hi,

It was the lowest carb one I could find - and that wasn't easy I also then noticed that after I'd had lunch (brown rice and tofu), an hour later the reading was 4.2 - is it normal to get such up and down readings?

 

[ebony321]

Hi,

I only started testing yesterday and after lunch and tea yesterday, my readings were fine. However, this morning before breakfast the reading was 7 and after a small bowl of sugar-free muesli and a cup of tea it was 10.9. I was just wondering how you are supposed to keep the reading low in the morning before you've even eaten anything? :shock: Thanks.

Hi,

quick question, do you test before bed?

If you wake with a BG of 7, and go to sleep with a BG of 6-7ish then i wouldn't say it's the dawn phenomenon, however if you went to bed with BG of around 5ish and woke with a BG of around 7 then that could definately be the case.

If your bed time reading is around 7, and your looking to control your diabetes by reducing carbs you may want to look at the carb content of your last meal to try get your pre-bed reading a bit lower so your morning reading will also be lower.

If it is indeed the dawn phenomenon that is giving you a higher reading in the morning then some people find a carb-free snack before bed helps this as it sort of fools the body into not raising your Bg's overnight.

 

[alaska]

Muesli contains slow acting carbs so at 2 hours could have just been the peak.

I don't mean to add too much confusion but even no added sugar muesli can be relatively quick acting. Muesli has a high percentage of carbohydrate -you'll do well to find muesli with less than 75% carbs.

One problem is the dried fruit that contains natural sugars. These will be fairly quickly absorbed in most people.

The other problem is the oats which may be slowly absorbed by some people but can be quickly absorbed for others.

If you are getting readings as high as 10.0, I would consider replacing some of the carbs with a different energy source. The general advice is to discuss this with a dietitian -advice of different dietitians may vary though.

 

[scatterby]

Thank you both - it's very complicated isn't it?

I am not actually testing before bed, but perhaps I will tonight, just out of interest!

 

[katiem]

Hi there,

I'm controlling my gestational diabetes just by diet and have found I now can't eat muesli at all as even smaller portions were sending my BG to 9+ despite a pre-brekkie reading of 4-5. I usually make my own by chopping up dried fruit and adding it to ordinary porridge oats - so def no added sugar. I also can't eat porridge as this sends BG up too. I know that oats are on the low GI list but it seems to me these things are v specific to each person.

For example, brown/ordinary long grain rice, whole-wheat pasta, roast potatoes are fine even with fairly big portions. Mashed potato seems to release all the starch though so a big no-no!

For me a lot of the diet control has been trial and error. If I need a snack before bed I def try to make it protein based so morning reading low.

Don't know if that helps but thought I'd share my own experiences!

 

[CAT NM]

Hi,

I want to say something. I am having issues with the food that I am eating. I ate half a plate of rice and had to stop eating. My lips had a tingling feeling. Plus within an hour my reading went from 4.5 to 8.8. At times my readings are not decreasing after two hours. plus the other day my reading went to 9. plus 11.8 from 4.3 within an hour. I feel very rough. My feet are tingling and plus my fingers at times. I keep feeling faint. It does not seem to matter about the food that I eat at the moment. It sounds odd but I thought that maybe I might have to eat weetabix at night. It has a low glycaemic level. I feel I keep verging on hypo's and plus hypers. Yet I am not diagnosed. I kept getting water infections last year.

 

[CAT NM]

I dread eating. weetabix at night? sounds odd but maybe cereal at night might be better less glucose

 

[phoenix]

CAT NM
I really think you need to discuss your symptoms with a doctor, none of us can say why you are having these problems., One thing I'd point out is that Weetabix is not 'low glycaemic.' It has a GI of about 75 on the glycemic index (anything over 70 is considered high GI).

 

[dianeb10]

Hi. Higher readings before breakfast when you are pregnant in simple terms that there isn't enough insulin in your body. This can either mean literally not enough insulin is being produced or you are becoming increasingly resistant as your bump grows. If you are raesonable in control of your sugars the rest of the day, then your DSN may recommend a slow release insulin once a day. It's not unusual for breakfast to be a bit of a nightmare (my readings were a nightmare ad I was on insulin). try swapping a carb based breakfast for one with protein. Boiled egg and a slice of toast, beans on toast or one of my favourites was tomato and mushrooms on toastor a bacon sandwich . The only breakfast cereal I could touch was all bran, and just keep an eye on portion size!

 

[marjoy]

BG of 6-7ish then i wouldn't say [commercial link removed] it's the dawn phenomenon, however if you went to bed with BG of around 5ish and woke with a BG of around 7 then that could definately be the case.