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Lower sugars later in the day

woollygal

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,485
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Coffee diabetes
is it normal for sugars to be lower later in the day.

Last couple of days in hanging around the 8 but then after I’ve eaten lunch etc by later afternoon it’s dropoing back to the 6s.
Today I woke up on 8! Stayed on I all day, even went up to mid 9. After dinner then after few hours it dropped to the 6 again.

I’m assuming it’s my body doing weird things and adapting to no meds but it’s weird.
 
It could be the same mechanism which means that I eat about 10gm of carbs for breakfast and then all the rest of my carbs in the evening as that works best for me.
It is usual for insulin resistance to change during the day, so nothing to be concerned about.
 
It’s different for me though.

I usually aim quite normal in an abnormal diabetes kind of way.
6 or 7 in morning, if I’m lucky 5.
By lunch I’m 5 by dinner I’m 5.

I know the rise is probably time of month and off meds etc, but it is definitely being odd.
I’ll see how it goes tomorrow when I’m back with normal routine,

I completely lose my eating routine at weekends, and on Sunday’s always eat far more than usual and what’s I need to.

The rise isn’t a problem because I’m not expecting my lovely low ones for a bit. But it’s just the staying higher and then coming down.

I’ll monitor it for a bit.
 
Before I get out of bed.
 
woollygal said:
is it normal for sugars to be lower later in the day.
Click to expand...

Yes it’s normal to an extent. Certainly not abnormal for a diabetic. Being type 2 with likely insulin resistance, it’s typical to experience creeping dawn phenomenon that steadily rises all morning but then wanes later in the day as cortisol levels begin to reach their lowest.

EDIT: the hormonal patterns are actually normal in everyone, but diabetics (of all types) will experience the measurable impact because they have trouble maintaining naturally regulated glucose homeostasis within the usual narrow corridor achieved by metabolically healthy individuals.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I always need to watch out for hypos late afternoon/early evening. Of course that's on insulin, but somewhere between 3 and 7 I suddenly seem to need less than the rest of the day.
 
It's probably just dawn phenomenon, the release of hormones getting you ready for the day. It can be erratic and vary day to day and what time it happens. Usually to find out if this is what's happening, you can set your alarm to test about 5 am because for most people it occurs about 5:30-6:00 am. Unfortunately it can occur at different times for different people though so that is not a sure fire way to know..

Some people this continues with what they call feet on the floor, once you get out of bed you have another increase that can occur.

Both of these issues can cause a stubborn insulin resistance for a few hours following.

This can go on for months or years or just happen for a few days off and on.
 
Gradual lowering of my levels during the day was the first pattern I saw when I started using my meter.

My understanding is that if you're eating a suitably low carb diet, then any glucose "dump" your liver gives you in the morning will get used up during the day, and because you're avoiding carbs that glucose isn't constantly being topped up again. So reduced levels later in the day.

Robbity
 
It's normal, at least for me. Seems like around 6:00 to say 9:00 in the morning my fasting glucose numbers are usually a little higher than my bedtime numbers. My lowest numbers of the day are always mid to late afternoon.
 
Woke up on 9.7 then about hour later dropped back to 7.9

Haven’t had this level of movement in ages and I’m really not liking it!!
 
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