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I think I might be getting the hang of this...

It’ll be dawn phenomenon, here’s some stuff about it:
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose/dawn-phenomenon.html
It’s the last reading to normalise so try not to worry about it. Just to check, are you testing as soon as you wake up? Literally before getting out of bed, as any activity, getting dressed, having a shower etc.. will raise your result. Eating a low carb breakfast should stop the rise. Even 18 months from diagnosis I test in bed as soon as I wake, have a wee, then head straight downstairs for breakfast, I dress and shower afterwards.
 
Shem S said:
Thanks. Though my waking BG this morning was a bit of a shocker. 5.5 when I went to bed 8.6 when I got up. Do you know why that might be and what I can do about it?
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It's most likely the dawn phenomenon where your liver releases extra glucose into your blood to give you a boost to get up.. bit like a natural alarm call. When you have a lot of excess glucose (which most Type 2's have on the early days) you might get an extra boost as the liver takes an opportunity to shove out a bit more to get rid of it. Of all the numbers its usually the last one to "normalise" .. of course we don't really know what normal FBG is because regular folks don't prick their fingers as soon as they get out of bed to test their blood sugar but I imagine nearly everyone gets it. There are a load of threads about it on the forum but to be honest it took about 6 months for mine to get down to regular levels so don't stress.
There are also various suggested things to help but I never bothered.. some people give up even testing it because it can be very volatile but I record it always and graph it (cos I have a spreadsheet!) and its quite nice to watch it slowly descend over time but if you find it disheartening then just pre meal and post meals are fine too. If you have breakfast of course then you'll be testing it anyway..
Just for your edification and delight here's my nov 2015 to dec 2016 graph

Not sure what happened at the end of Dec 2016! The very low ones were probably down to my first attempts at fasting.
 
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Thank you. This is helpful. I’m so new at this and still very early days for my new regime (less than a week since I started LCHF) that knowing what to expect makes a big difference. I’m going to stick with what I’m doing cos I don’t have enough data yet for my readings to be statistically significant, plus I need to be clear on what my body is doing and what my trends look like.

You make a VG point about ‘normal’. I’d been thinking about that too.

Your graphs are a thing of beauty. Thank you for sharing them with me
 
My liver dump readings are worse than several months ago. No idea why that might be but I made executive decision not to bother with early morning bg. So not done for several weeks. Sky has not fallen on my head as yet. As I limit my carbs and don’t knowingly do sugar apart from xylitol, I hope my second post diagnosis HbA1c mid December will be ok. Last one was 34 down from first result of 89. All,part of life’s rich tapestry...
 

Mines not improving either in similar time scales. Though I do tend to get up and downstairs before taking readings so maybe remembering to take the meter up to bed would give better numbers even though I would then just miss the dump on the meter. Definitely find a small low carb breakfast usually puts a stop to it. But then that precludes IF which I’d also like to do for overall improvements. Confusing to know what to do next.
 
bulkbiker said:
And for more fun 2018 so far
View attachment 29466

Again lows are down to periods of fasting April, May and last week.
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Sidebar - have you tried LCHF combined with 5:2 at any point? I only ask cos I’ve tried 5:2 in the past. The 2 v low calorie days I can cope with but my results were patchy at best. Thinking this may have been down to still doing LFHC on the other 5 days. So, once my BG is a bit more stable and in control wondering if this might be feasible or worthwhile
 

Thank you. Like you, I’ve dumped all visible sugar and trying to keep all food choices to those that are <10% carbohydrate. My first post diagnosis HbA1c won’t be til early Feb so fingers crossed I can emulate your improvements. My pre-op HbA1c was 88 and at diagnosis was 78.

I’m seeing my doctor on Thursday and this is one of the questions I’ve got so will report back if I find out anything useful.

Good luck with your readings - this tapestry does take some odd turns doesn’t it. I feel like I need to go back and unpick the last 20 years
 

I’ve been taking my meter up to bed with me so I can test immediately upon waking. I wonder if having a wee first might make a difference?
 
Shem S said:
I’ve been taking my meter up to bed with me so I can test immediately upon waking. I wonder if having a wee first might make a difference?
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I guess it depends how early your liver sets it’s glucose dump alarm. I still think testing instantly on waking will just miss the dump that comes once my feet hit the floor not get rid of that dump. Oh I don’t love a Libre for a few weeks just to understand what’s happening. But as my phone is ancient it doesn’t have the capabilities and a full kit, even after the waiting period, is too steep for a on every off test
 
Shem S said:
I’ve been taking my meter up to bed with me so I can test immediately upon waking. I wonder if having a wee first might make a difference?
Click to expand...
Personally I keep my meter beside my bed and test in bed as soon as I wake up. I know I may miss the liver dump by testing this way but see it as an absolute base line for how I’m doing. Much like weighing after a wee but before I’ve eaten in the morning.
You could maybe try testing before and after your wee to see if it makes a difference.
 
Do you mean the liver dump does not happen as your brain begins to wake? I assumed this to be true as I always did a test before getting out of bed, never after I had been for a wee. Oh well, such is life. I would love one of those implant jobbies so I could actually monitor myself hour by hour but it’s not going to happen. I rarely eat before midday.
 
I’ve read that liver dump occurs between 8-10 hours after you go to sleep. I generally sleep for 6 1/2 to 7 hours and it does seem that my blood sugar does rises after I get up if I don’t eat straight away. I too would love to try a Libre or similar to see what goes on while I sleep but way too expensive!
 
I sleep like a log for over 8 hours with a couple of brief wees during the night after which I fall asleep pretty much immediately. I think my first waking bg is probably the maximum it gets first thing. Very annoying that I don’t understand the logic or the process.
 
Personally no... but I fast every morning anyway skipping breakfast and replacing with tea and coffee only so I eat in a max 8 hour window from 1 pm to 9 pm
 
Shem S said:
I’ve been taking my meter up to bed with me so I can test immediately upon waking. I wonder if having a wee first might make a difference?
Click to expand...
My morning regime has settled into get up, wee, weigh and then test and add to spreadsheet of course!. TMI perhaps..?
 

Yep. Think I’m gonna give that a go. So far, like you, I’ve been testing as soon as I wake up
 

Thanks. Right now I have absolutely no idea if/when my liver does a glucose dump, just going to keep on monitoring and try to work out what, if anything, makes a difference
 

There will probably still be plenty I never understand about this mysterious body of mine and whilst I wouldn’t go as far as saying I’m enjoying finding out, it’s certainly starting to answer a lot x
 
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