Is it important to test fasting BG as soon as you wake up?

[Incyb]

Or is it ok to wait an hour or two?

 

[Squire Fulwood]

What matters is how long ago you last ate and has little to do with when you wake. The big problem with fasting blood sugars is you don't know when/if a liver dump has occurred so you are never sure what you are reading anyway.

If you had it done at the surgery it wouldn't be done as you woke up anyway, it would be done at the time of the appointment.

 

[Tophat1900]

If I do test it, it's first thing upon waking. Then I go eat.

 

[Rachox]

I fasted for a blood test yesterday and took my blood sugar level every hour for four readings, from waking to when I got home. The readings were as follows:
On waking 5.3
After 1 hr. 5.7
After 2 hrs. 6.3
After 3 hrs. 5.7
I only drank water during this time. Liver dumping apparent (but also consider driving to the surgery and a bit of a wait in the waiting room).

 

[Bluetit1802]

I doubt it matters in the grand scheme of things. The important thing is to be consistent. If you vary what you do, you can't compare them or look for trends or do averages. I used to find it interesting to do both. I used to test when I woke up and then again later on whilst still fasting, and sometimes a few times. This helped me understand my own liver dumps.

 

[Incyb]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try that out ... tests a few times while still fasted. I thought liver dumps only happened when you're sleeping?

 

[Rachox]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try that out ... tests a few times while still fasted. I thought liver dumps only happened when you're sleeping?

As I understand it liver dumps can happen anytime your liver thinks your body needs an extra boost, so awake or asleep when there’s no food forthcoming.

 

[Incyb]

Thanks. Is there anything we can do to minimise it?

 

[Bluetit1802]

Thanks. Is there anything we can do to minimise it?

It all depends when your liver dump happens. If it happens during the night there isn't much you can do. If it happens when you get up and start moving about, you can minimise it by eating something fatty as soon as you get up. Personally I have a coffee with a good serving of double cream before I do anything else. This works for me, plus I don't eat any breakfast - next food is lunch time. When I was experiencing liver dumps after getting up I found that eating any carbs at all just added to the problem. It was a mixture of liver dump and glucose from the carbs. However, I tend not to do any exercise in the mornings other than a dog walk late morning. (and that includes housework, which I save for the afternoons).

You just need to discover if you do have a problem of it rising after you get up, and then experiment.

Some people say it depends on how late you eat your evening meal - and what you eat, but to me that isn't a liver dump, it is late digestion and normal glucose from the previous meal.

 

[Rachox]

Thanks. Is there anything we can do to minimise it?

I do eat breakfast but only very low carb, high fat.
I also have a very low carb snack before bed, milkshake made with unsweetened almond milk and sugar free milkshake syrup with 25g of nuts. Some people suggested the bedtime snack elsewhere on this forum, I don’t really know if it helps stop dawn phenomenon, but it helps me as I can’t sleep on an empty tummy!

 

[DCUKMod]

Thanks. Is there anything we can do to minimise it?

To be honest, until you know how much dawn phenomenon affects you, you can neither know if you can do anything about it, or whether you even want to. My own DP isn't much, even when I fast on for blood tests or whatever, but then my fasting scores when I test are in a very low range, so I just accept it and move along.

Diabetes is very much as much about the bigger picture as the devil being in the detail.

I don't snack. I never have snacked and I certainly have no interest in reaching for the cheese, or whatever just before I go to bed.

Incidentally, when I do test my fasting bloods, I always do them as soon as I wake. That way I'm limiting the variables.

 

[shelley262]

I fasted for a blood test yesterday and took my blood sugar level every hour for four readings, from waking to when I got home. The readings were as follows:
On waking 5.3
After 1 hr. 5.7
After 2 hrs. 6.3
After 3 hrs. 5.7
I only drank water during this time. Liver dumping apparent (but also consider driving to the surgery and a bit of a wait in the waiting room).

Mine would have just gone up because of the stress of the blood test and being at drs!

 

[Rachox]

Mine would have just gone up because of the stress of the blood test and being at drs!

Blood tests or being at the surgery don’t stress me, luckily.

 

[Robbity]

Blood tests or being at the surgery don’t stress me, luckily.

Well I've known my GP for many years and he's also an ex-neighbour so I never imagined I'd be stressed out, but my blood pressure has told us otherwise...

Robbbity

 

[Bluetit1802]

Well I've known my GP for many years and he's also an ex-neighbour so I never imagined I'd be stressed out, but my blood pressure has told us otherwise...

Robbbity

I think it is worse when you know the GP/nurse very well. The HCA that takes my BP and whatnot is a neighbour. We have known each other over 30 years, and I am far more stressed when she takes my markers than I am when the GP or nurse do them. (especially watching her dip stick my urine!!)