Higher BG in morning than bedtime

[Juliette40]

Hey there!

I eat tea at about 7.30pm and then have nothing until breakfast. I test my sugar levels before bed (about midnight) and they are generally around 4.7. Every so often, I wake up and for no apparent reason have readings of about 5.5 before breakfast (they are normally around 4.5). I'm not stressed, haven't exercised or eaten so can't explain this. Any ideas? Is it a night hypo and my liver is producing glucogen? roblem:

Concerned
Juliette

 

[dawnmc]

Hi Juliette, its called the Dawn phenomenom. I would love to have a BG like yours, mine never goes below 7 unless I starve myself.

 

[Juliette40]

its called the Dawn phenomenom.

Hi Dawn

Thanks for that. So do I just accept that this happens? Do you know why it happens? Is it common?

Regards
Juliette x :?:

 

[dawnmc]

It is fairly common. I think something to do with eating carbs before bed or medication at the wrong time. I think monitoring your blood during the night can give you an idea as to whether the above have made a difference. But are you up for that?

 

[xyzzy]

DP is a pain Juliette. It occurs because everyone's liver decides that a few hours prior to waking up you'll need some glucose is your bloodstream to give you energy for the coming day. In non diabetics it's not an issue because an insulin response quickly mops up the excess. In diabetics with either weakened or resisted insulin responses the raised level can hang around for hours. There is little you can do although low carbing seems to gradually reduce the amount of DP you experience over weeks and months. What I have found is actually producing a small safe but definite spike with breakfast kicks my systems into action and will reduce the DP level quicker than either having no breakfast or a very low carb one that would produce very little insulin response. I will specifically eat around 25g of fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries etc.) with some plain Greek yoghurt so that the sugar in the berries will provide the "kick start".

You can also do a brisk 5 or 10 minute walk after breakfast as I've found that helps too. Nowadays my BG's are largely in the 4's from late morning onwards but can still reach high 5's first thing on many days because of DP.

Wouldn't worry about it too much though.

 

[Juliette40]

Thank you soooooo much for explaining the Dawn Phenomenon to me and what I can do to combat it. It all makes sense now. I'm type 2 and this used to occur a lot. Now I've lost weight (9 .5 stone) and my HbA1c is in the non-diabetic range, it occurs less frequently which would tie in with what you were saying. I have continued to have breakfast (All Bran and Benecol) irrespective of higher readings and, yes, by lunchtime things have usually settled down. I shall take on board your advice about fruit and short exercise and see if this helps on those days too. You are such a help. Thank you.

Hugs
Juliette x :thumbup: