• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Massive BS drop in the morning

livitridge

livitridge

Active Member
Messages
30
Location
Seaford
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Recently I've been put on the omnipod, it's amazing and has given me amazing control, but the past few weeks I've been experiencing unexplained hypos and it has knocked my confidence fully. I'm afraid of giving insulin, I'm afraid of eating. I've been doing some tests, my basal is set relitevly high overnight as I tend to wake up on the higher side. But now it's all changed round, I've been waking up low for no reason. My sugar was 18 before bed (did not give correction) and woke up at 8 thismorning. 10 points dropped overnight without a bolas? And I've been going low through out the day too, and it's becoming very hard to bring it back up. The other week a whole bottle of lucozade wouldn't bring it up. Literally terrified. Hope someone can help me.
 
What's stopping you from making some basal adjustments to stop the overnight drop in bg levels, if your unsure what to do then ask your DSN.
 
livitridge said:
Recently I've been put on the omnipod, it's amazing and has given me amazing control, but the past few weeks I've been experiencing unexplained hypos and it has knocked my confidence fully. I'm afraid of giving insulin, I'm afraid of eating. I've been doing some tests, my basal is set relitevly high overnight as I tend to wake up on the higher side. But now it's all changed round, I've been waking up low for no reason. My sugar was 18 before bed (did not give correction) and woke up at 8 thismorning. 10 points dropped overnight without a bolas? And I've been going low through out the day too, and it's becoming very hard to bring it back up. The other week a whole bottle of lucozade wouldn't bring it up. Literally terrified. Hope someone can help me.
Click to expand...
It looks like you need to adjust your overnight basal rates - you shouldn't get a 10 point drop. Once your basal rate is set correctly you should find it much easier to bolus for meals. Probably best to get in touch with your clinic so they can help you adjust basal rates. It would be helpful if you kept a diary of BGs, insulin and food to help them see the whole picture.
 
Hi, I agree fully with the above advice.

But. The hypo treatment. Are you just taking sugar? This will/can bring you up to a sharp peak (even too high a peak in a panic over react.) & then rapidly drop back off if you are not following the treatment up with longer acting carbs... Especially if dealing with a busy day routine on a too high basal dose "afraid to eat" or just (as sometimes in my case.) to **** busy!

A concise diary of what when you are doing with food/basal/bolus/activity/hypos. Even alcohol.. Best to be straight. ;) Can help a great deal with your consultants & even the guys on the forum to understand...

Edit. I just noticed you 18? Strange times the "teens".. Even for a guy.. Anything could & did happen. Try not to panic too much. Lol See your nurse.... They are more understanding than they were in my day!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
livitridge said:
Recently I've been put on the omnipod, it's amazing and has given me amazing control, but the past few weeks I've been experiencing unexplained hypos and it has knocked my confidence fully. I'm afraid of giving insulin, I'm afraid of eating. I've been doing some tests, my basal is set relitevly high overnight as I tend to wake up on the higher side. But now it's all changed round, I've been waking up low for no reason. My sugar was 18 before bed (did not give correction) and woke up at 8 thismorning. 10 points dropped overnight without a bolas? And I've been going low through out the day too, and it's becoming very hard to bring it back up. The other week a whole bottle of lucozade wouldn't bring it up. Literally terrified. Hope someone can help me.
Click to expand...
Hi there livitridge I find when I have an hypo , I drink orange fizzy lucozade that's the only lucozade that brings me out of a hypo .hope this helps .(cruise45)
 
Cruise45 said:
Hi there livitridge I find when I have an hypo , I drink orange fizzy lucozade that's the only lucozade that brings me out of a hypo .hope this helps .(cruise45)
Click to expand...
Hi Cruise45,

Funny thing about orange Lucozade for me is it works quickly & briefly for me. But then I soon drop again. Same with "fat" coke to a degree...
Could be the nature of the beverage as a "marketing strategy" to get people hooked & crave more...?
Now a Mars bar works slower, lasts longer for me till I find "proper carb"... If I have time to come back up? I'll take the gentle curve on the rise..
But then I don't panic so long as I have something to treat a hypo. Which I always do.. ;)
 
I've adjusted my basal to almost 50% less over night, and still seem to be dropping. I also just remembered I had a massive bowl of frosties before bed without insulin on top of having a very high BS. (I wouldn't usually do this, this was just to see how far I come down overnight) and still woke up at 8! I feel like if I don't stuff my face before bed now I'm going to hypo in the night :(
 
livitridge said:
I've adjusted my basal to almost 50% less over night, and still seem to be dropping. I also just remembered I had a massive bowl of frosties before bed without insulin on top of having a very high BS. (I wouldn't usually do this, this was just to see how far I come down overnight) and still woke up at 8! I feel like if I don't stuff my face before bed now I'm going to hypo in the night :(
Click to expand...
That still indicates that you had too much basal working overnight (assuming you had no active bolus working at bedtime), unless you'd been exercising or had alcohol.
 
@livitridge . What are your bloods testing at when you wake hypo. Or if like me you treat first then test on the rise..?
 
livitridge said:
I've adjusted my basal to almost 50% less over night, and still seem to be dropping. I also just remembered I had a massive bowl of frosties before bed without insulin on top of having a very high BS. (I wouldn't usually do this, this was just to see how far I come down overnight) and still woke up at 8! I feel like if I don't stuff my face before bed now I'm going to hypo in the night :(
Click to expand...


That's not right, you need to speak with your pump nurse so that they can advice you on adjusting your basal rates, give them a ring tomorrow.
 
What are you eating for dinner and when? if you're eating too late with a high carb dinner, and just before you go to bed it could be that you're spiking (which is what you're seeing in your numbers before bed) and then your bolus is bringing your numbers down.

I'd suggest, keeping your basal at 50%. eat a low carb dinner and take as little bolus as possible. Go to bed at a somewhat safe but high number and see what you wake up as.

Whenever I get problems like these, I break one big confusing mess of a problem into small problems and deal/test them one by one.
It's always basal, bolus or how many carbs I've dosed for. The problem you've got is you're correcting for that during the day but you're asleep and unable to see what happens in the 8 or so hours.

You can also borrow a CGM from the diabetic team so you can see EXACTLY what's going on and use the diabetic teams knowledge to help you get safe overnight. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
 
Hi. Im not sure what an omnipod is but my son injects twice a day. He sometimes has rapid hypos just before bed. The only reason his dn can think off for him having these fast lows is if he puts his needle in a little too far therefore causing his insulin to be absorbed too quickly. She also said that the stomach is more sensitive to the insulin than the leg or bum. Not sure if this is of any use to you but you are not alone.
 
Hi I am type 1 diabetic on insulin injections daily. My cousin has diabetes too and is on pump. He had bad scare recently on the pump and was admitted to hospital. There is clearly a problem with pump therapy. It does not live up to all what we are been told. Problems do occur with pumps what ever type you are wearing. I am on the injections and will not change to the pump as I feel I have more control of my diabetes. The pump is a toy been sold by large companies for profit. What we require is a cure for diabetes. Sorry to been so negative.
 
Sorry but I don't think the pump makes a diabetic life better. Someone in the world has the cure but not releasing it because of jobs!!
 
livitridge said:
Recently I've been put on the omnipod, it's amazing and has given me amazing control, but the past few weeks I've been experiencing unexplained hypos and it has knocked my confidence fully. I'm afraid of giving insulin, I'm afraid of eating. I've been doing some tests, my basal is set relitevly high overnight as I tend to wake up on the higher side. But now it's all changed round, I've been waking up low for no reason. My sugar was 18 before bed (did not give correction) and woke up at 8 thismorning. 10 points dropped overnight without a bolas? And I've been going low through out the day too, and it's becoming very hard to bring it back up. The other week a whole bottle of lucozade wouldn't bring it up. Literally terrified. Hope someone can help me.
Click to expand...
Contact the pump people ASAP. They should already know your readings ....my daughter is on a pump and her pump people always know what her readings are....your insulin setting need adjusting. I inject myself and I don't think that a pump wouldn't do me any good as activities can really muck up my insulin intake as I can hypo very quickly even like cutting the lawn or even washing the car. Can you increase/ decrease your insulin flow????It must be remembered that we react to insulin differently and your settings need to reflect how things are with you. even things like going back to work after a hoilday could mean that you need less insulin. Anyway speak to the pump nurse ASAP.
 
livitridge said:
Recently I've been put on the omnipod, it's amazing and has given me amazing control, but the past few weeks I've been experiencing unexplained hypos and it has knocked my confidence fully. I'm afraid of giving insulin, I'm afraid of eating. I've been doing some tests, my basal is set relitevly high overnight as I tend to wake up on the higher side. But now it's all changed round, I've been waking up low for no reason. My sugar was 18 before bed (did not give correction) and woke up at 8 thismorning. 10 points dropped overnight without a bolas? And I've been going low through out the day too, and it's becoming very hard to bring it back up. The other week a whole bottle of lucozade wouldn't bring it up. Literally terrified. Hope someone can help me.
Click to expand...
You need to go back to basics and fast test throughout the night, the way you did when you first set your basal rates. There is probably no fixed reason it's just you need to tweak your basal! I have to do the same every 6mths or so :-)
 
I too have needed to reduce my basal rates a tiny bit to prevent goinģ low but it might be just a temporary thing with me and probably after a week, my bg will start changing direction so will need to adjust again. Could be due to colder weather, weightloss?
 
Back
Top