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Liver Dump or Dawn Phenomenon ?

Dillinger

Dillinger

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,209
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Celery.
Hello,

I know that there are a lot of posts about the above; but I'm not sure exactly how to tell them apart.

I'm a Type 1 diabetic and have recently changed to Levemir which is working very well for me; the only fly in the ointment is I'm fairly regularly getting an unexpected high after breakfast - these are my blood sugar readings from last night/this morning:

23.52 - 7.0
08.10 - 3.9
10.57 - 8.0

We ate quite late last night having grilled salmon and stir fried green vegetables with mushrooms and red pepper at about 9:30 and I took 6 units of Novorapid to cover that. I also took 13 units of Levemir at 8:00 pm (I do split doses).

This morning I had a quick breakfast and ate a pot of Waitrose Chicken Ceasar sandwich filling (coming in at about 5 carbs) and took 5 units of Novorapid, plus morning Levemir of 15 units.

And then get that doubling of blood sugar at around 11.00 am.

That last blood sugar doesn't seem high enough to be a liver dump; as I understood these to result in very high blood sugars as all the glycogen in your liver is released. But if it's not a liver dump why is it happening at that time; i.e. after breakfast? I also had some coffee and cream with the breakfast but I don't think it's what I've eaten either. This has happened quite a lot (with sometimes after breakfast levels going to the 10's) and I can't really explain it.

Weird eh?

What do you guys think?

Thanks

Dillinger
 
I agree I don't think it's a liver dump, but one of the features of Dawn Phenomenon is a temporary increase in insulin resistance, so it could be that you need to raise your NovoRapid dose to compensate? My insulin/carb ratio is quite different in the morning compared to the evening, DP seems to have an effect until about midday with me.

Caffeine is reported to increase bg levels (by stimulating adrenalin), but I think you need to drink more than one coffee to get that sort of increase, unless you're an espresso addict of course.

Are you really taking 5 units of NovoRapid for 5g of carbs? That dosage would be enough to slaughter over 60g for me!

Someone else can pitch in about Levemir, I've been on a pump so long I can't even remember what my long-acting was called way back then...
 
yeah i always need an extra coupla units with breky compared to if i ate it for lunch, daily bit of exercise seems to help out for sure also.

think i've only experienced one liver dump, i fell asleep on the train with BG of about 4.8 and woke up with 10. i had had a big lunch and probs overestimated + rushing round getting tubes probs helped to lower it too. (+ drinking the night before)

i'm gonna try going low carb for brek, just don't really fancy a loada fat and berries first thing lol.

gotta be the dawn phenomenon,
howie
 
Thanks guys - it was weird because it did come down on its own by lunch. So, I guess that's the thing; I need more of a jolt in the morning to level things out.

Hi Kegstore - yup- I checked the carb content of the stuff I ate and it was actually about 3.5 carbs...If I eat normal amount of carbs I'd have to take huge amounts of insulin; it's funny how people have such different requirements.

All the best

Dillinger
 
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