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Morning lows

jackvdbuk

Well-Known Member
Messages
65
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi all,

today i woke up at a rather worrying 2.8 sugar level... now i was under the impression my liver is a safety net and if i have a hypo during the night it would release glucose...? i went to bed at about 11 and my sugar was 5.8.

last few mornings before this i have woken up to around 10 sugars and tested in night usually lower than the morning reading

how long can it take for novorapid be fully depleted?
will the liver always release glucose if you go low during the night...im guessing not now ...
 

Hi @jackvdbuk ,

I think that most of us find that our livers generally dump glucose when we don't want it to - often first thing in the morning, which is the body's way of giving you a boost to help get you moving. The liver dump will not save you from (night time) hypo's and I'm sad to say that this is just something we have to live with unless you have very tight control.

Most nights I drop between 1 to 3 mmol during sleep, but one night last week I dropped 6 mmol and woke up at 4am with a pounding head and the shakes. Lucozade is always on the bedside table these days!

As to the time for RA insulin to remain active, I think the standard answer to this 'around 4hrs' but it also depends on other variables like temperature etc.

Hope that helps.
 
Your liver will put out glucose gradually, as it does this all the time - the issue is whether it will do it fast enough to counter any insulin you have on board. As far as I know it doesn't pump out more glucose because you are hypo directly, however if you start to get adrenaline being released (which often you will when you start getting nervous & shaky as a result of a hypo) then that does trigger glucose release.

The most important thing is to treat the hypo quickly, and then see if you can work out why it happened. Alcohol or exercise the day before? Error in carb counting on your last meal? Basal too high?

Don't adjust anything based on one data point, but if you have a pattern talk to your DSN.
 
Hi,me too,today I was 2.8 And before bed was 5.6 And I didn't eat anything After before bed testing
So I think you should test before bed and eat something that will keep it above 4 In the morning a digestive biscuit or something like that
And novo rapid activity ends after 4 hr
 
Do you take luntos"long acting" ?!
Because if you are taking you may have to reduce it a little bit
 

Hi, Jack, could you be fairly newly diagnosed? on a new regime? it is not good to go too low at night, as your body can get used to lows and adapt and stop responding at the levels it should. This must have happened to you, as it is supposed to respond at about 3.3 or above, if you were woken early because you felt hypo then that is good news, if you just found you were 2.8 when you woke, that is not good news, as it means you were probably too low for too long, and that you may have adapted. Best to eat 5 or 10 carbs, depending on your insulin sensitivity, if 5.8 before sleep, for safety, as inour above mentions. The early hours are the most dangerous - in over 35 years i personally find there are too many factors at work to be sure you will not drop too much - extent of exercise the previous day is a known important factor , mentioned above also by another post - but there are so many other factors - minor weight changes, relaxing weekend, possible minor alterations in meals etc due to weekend, post minor illness, post earlier stress, even night temperature etc - that it just is not always possible. Best to discuss with diabetes nurse or consultant......
 
yes i have recently moved onto four injections and so still ironing out issues, i may wake up earlier than normal at times but usually just stay in bed until im happy to move out and then test to find im pretty low
 
jackvdbuk said:
yes i have recently moved onto four injections and so still ironing out issues, i may wake up earlier than normal at times but usually just stay in bed until im happy to move out and then test to find im pretty low
Click to expand...
Sounds like you are beginning to adapt to being a bit too low (not good) but at the moment it seems that your body is still able to very weakly react , as it is waking you earlier than normal (good) so it shouldnt be too difficult to get back to decent warnings again. I would suggest keeping test kit on the bed and testing as soon as you wake - if it is an effort to do this then it probably is a sign you are too low - keep glucose with the kit and have 3 glucose tabs if it is really too much of an effort and you feel like going to sleep. Then test. Check this out with your team if possible as well as they may also suggest dose alterations. Hope it sorts out
 
its very likely the long acting dose that needs reduced.........

novorapid should be completely gone by 5 hours, a lot less in most people, especially with smaller doses........longer doses tend to stick around longer than 4.....

I have found my liver tends to sort me out in the event I haven't been able to treat immediately.....but you cant rely on that, especially when sleeping.....and especially if you have just had a hypo recently...

that's why getting your overnight scenario sorted should be the first thing on your to do list now your own the new regime...

what basal insulin are you using and when?
 
Hi bud, its novorapid and lantus, I usually take at about 2230. I maydo a big dose of rapid at times of around 15+ as I have alot of carbs .
 
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