Rise in bg during night

Really baffling when you first come across it Gary, I know, but in fact it's very common. What you have to remember is it isn't like a car with a petrol gauge running down glucose as you use it until you're "running on empty". Your liver makes glucose as and when you need it. One of the times it frequently does this is during the early hours of the morning, under the influence of cortisol which is the "wake up" hormone. I guess from your meds that you are type 2, even though you inject; because type 2's tend to be insulin resistant, the liver makes the glucose but the insulin can't handle it, so the level goes up high.

My dawn readings have been improving since I lost weight an my insulin resistance improved. They are now around 6.0, with the rest of my day around 5.0. But for a long time they were in the high sevens and rights.

Your liver makes glucose as and when you need it. One of the times it frequently does this is during the early hours of the morning, under the influence of cortisol which is the "wake up" hormone. I guess from your meds that you are type 2, even though you inject; because type 2's tend to be insulin resistant, the liver makes the glucose but the insulin can't handle it, so the level goes up high.

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Also when people are insulin resistant their liver may produce more glucose than normal. Some T2s can produce 3x the amount they 'should' do.
One of the way Metformin works is by reducing this overproduction.

In an otherwise healthy person, BG would not deline to zero if they didn't eat. You can actually go for a long time without food, less so without water, but the body looks towards its own stores for energy. It draws on those stores and puts it into the blood where it is carried to the cells that need it. Sleep is probably the longest fasting period of the day, so the body often reacts. My BG levels are lowest before evening meal, not first thing in the morning. I used to get up at 5.30 to take a reading which may be 5.4 but, if I went back to bed and then retested at say 9.00, it would have gone up to 6.7 or similar. If on the otherhand I ate a slice of pumpernickel, or even a dark rye ryvita, with a thin amount of butter and a thin slice of cheese, I would be in the 5s in the morning because the slow release of complex carbs makes the body think it is being constantly nourished.