The "winter" phenomenon

Hi John.

Had to send this message again. 1st one disappeared and someone else's message popped into my box! Weird. Well try and try again....
I'm T2 and don't use insulin but I haven't noticed any changes in my sugar either during summer or winter. What I have noticed is changes when natural sleeping patterns are disturbed. Nature keeps our sugar regulated during the night, and I found it was the same after becoming a diabetic, unless, I get up. For a while now I've been waking up at around 2am then between 4 and 5am. If I get up that's when my sugar can plummet. I even had a hypo one night and had to rush and get something sweet.

I wont really be able to make a judgement on this as I am still not controlled. I started on Levemir @ 8 units a day and in January and I'm now @ 100 units a day plus 20 of novorapid at mealtimes, so I can only continue to monitor. However, It would be a result to get my fasting readings down to 7 consistently in winter or summer.

I do remember that last winter I kept peeing a lot more - maybe that was just the cold weather

hi im on insulin pump and when it gets colder i find i become more reseptive to my insulin i have to turn basal down

My son was diagnosed insulin dependant over three and ahalf years ago at the age of ten.

I can say that the change in temperature does affect him as in the hotter months I have to increase the insulin doses and then in the winter months reduce his doses.

We have a lot of the dawn hypo's when the temperature drops and more recently the weather has been variable milder days and colder nights making his diabetes levels difficult to control and, him incurring more of the night-time hypo's.

More recently given his age the dawn hypo's are more regular than previously owing to the hormonal changes his body is subjected to during puberty.

So yes, I do believe in the "Winter" phenomenon it was noted in a leaflet regarding diabetes awareness that in colder weather the body will be more prone to hypo's as the temperature drops the body has to compensate by burning up more of it's resources.

After 38 years with Type 1 diabetes, I have certainly noticed that I need less insulin and more carbohydrate when the weather turns really cold.
In fact, I once went into a coma overnight during a very cold snap...
Not everyone has the same experience but I can only recommend reducing your insulin progressively and checking blood sugars as often as is practical.
Also, it does help to keep well insulated, especially when outside in freezing weather. Hats, gloves, scarves and thermal underwear all have their uses!

It's well documented both here and elsewhere on the Net that heat can have an effect on your Bg levels so.......conversely it follows that when it gets colder it will also have an effect on them too.
Speaking personally I have always noticed that happens.

I was beginning to think I was the odd one out until you last 2 guys posted

My BG levels go up in the Winter & down in the summer, I'm told it's because when the workshop gets so cold in the winter that blood flow retracts from the surface to a degree to retain body heat, so slowing down insulin uptake, & the reverse in summer.
One of the million variables I have to try to factor in (making proper BG control impossible for me in my job IMO).

Btw what's that email on about 'everyone's heard of the dawn effect', BS! that's the 1st I've heard about it! What is it? (probably yet another variable by the sound of it!)

I find all sorts of non- exercise and non-food factors affect my sugar levels - I am of the conclusion that psycological factors also play a part and since many people are emotionally affected by seasonal changes I can believe this.

I have found that over the last few days my readings have been unusually high even though I have not conciously changed anything. Though I do not strictly control my diet, through most of the year I am able to maintain my HBA1c at around 6.5. I find these blips tend to settle after a while. I am curious though why after dinner last night my level was 7.5, it dropped to 6.9 by bedtime but then was still 6.9 when I woke up 7 hours later - with a level of 7.5 after dinner I would normally expect my level t have dropped to about 4-5 by the morning.

Of course my situation is complicated by having had pancreatitis a few years ago which killed off part of my pancreas so maybe I am naive in expecting too much consistency

Hi John,
I've had Type 1 for 17 years and am now on a pump due to abnormal insulin sensitivity, so my experience probably isn't typical. I am very prone to hypos when the weather gets really cold, freezing or below. During a heatwave I need a lot more insulin than usual. My body takes a couple of days to fully respond to the change in weather. This has been very consistent year by year. The pump makes it easier to deal with. My Consultant tells me some people find the opposite effect. There doesn't seem to be a definite explanation in either case. It has nothing to do with diet or excercise.