Morning hypos

[Ellie's mum]

My daughter has been T1 for 2 months now. She's on nova rapid during the day and lantus at night. She hit the honeymoon period about 2 weeks after being diagnosed. We appear to have found a good ratio of carbs to insulin for lunch, tea and supper but mornings are becoming a bit of a nightmare!

My daughter now only takes 0.5 units of nova with her breakfast regardless of what she eats. In theory this should leave her bloods really high but it's not! She usually has her breakfast by 7am and by 10am she has a hypo and she's needing at least 2 10 carb snack throughout the morning to make it to lunch without any more hypos. The rest of the day is pretty much spot on.

Our DN has been amazing and we're in contact with her nearly every other day discussing ways to try and prevent the morning hypos.

I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this kind of thing in a morning and what if anything helped to prevent them?

Thank you

 

[catapillar]

So most people are more insulin resistant in the morning, when wake up hormones are coursing round to get you going for the day.

I am most insulin sensitive in the morning - I don't think I do wake up hormones & my body would prefer it if I had a lie in.

So it could be that your daughter is the same at the moment - especially if she is a young growing girl.

Have you spoken to your DSN about trying no insulin with breakfast - that might be something to try, especially if you can do a lower carb breakfast. You could always think about a 1/2 unit correction later in the morning if it sent her high. But definitely something to run past you DSN first.

 

[azure]

@Ellie's mum How is her blood sugar overnight and first thing when she wakes?

She could be extra sensitive then as @catapillar says or perhaps it's her Lantus releasing unevenly?

The fact that she can, you say, eat anything and still go low was what made me think of the basal insulin.

Have you tried skipping the breakfast bolus and giving her the same breakfast to see what happens to her blood sugar?

 

[Ellie's mum]

Hi thanks for your reply.

My daughter is 10 next week and is definitely not a morning person!
She tends to have weetabix and milk for breakfast despite me asking her to try other things - she is very stubborn lol

I think no insulin would be the next step for her but waiting for the DN to suggest it first as its all still quite new to us I'm a bit scared to make any changes with her routine without the DN say so first.

Just 1 morning without a hypo would be amazing!

 

[Ellie's mum]

How is her blood sugar overnight and first thing when she wakes?

Her bloods are usually between 5&6. She has weetabix and milk for breakfast. We've tried fruit with her breakfast to make the blood sugar higher but she still hypos mid morning. Her ratio was 1:35 but she's now on 0.5 units regardless of what she eats.

 

[azure]

Ok - the other thing I'd look at is trying a different cereal to see if the glucose will release slower - so maybe a fattier cereal like granola and/or a lower GI one like All Bran or a mix of the two)

If it was me, I'd also exoeriment with adding a slice of toast to see if that helped as for me toast would be absorbed slower than fruit. But if she's stubborn, then I don't know : D

Edited to,add - I've probably mentioned this before, but for people who only need tiny amounts of insulin, a pump is a fantastic choice. It would also allow you to lower her basal in the morning if necessary.

 

[Ellie's mum]

Thank you all for your replies.

Ellie's coping really well with it all and just takes it all in her stride but my head is a complete shed at the minute .