Waking blood glucose 8.5

[GM1986]

My blood glucose in the mornings has been steadily rising over the past year. It used to be anything from 5.7-6.7 now I’m getting over 7 most mornings and today it’s 8.5. My doctor refuses to test me for diabetes again because he did a test several months ago and it said my HbA1c was 35 and so normal but surely having such high levels of glucose in the morning is not normal!? Could it be something else that I should be considering?

 

[JoKalsbeek]

My blood glucose in the mornings has been steadily rising over the past year. It used to be anything from 5.7-6.7 now I’m getting over 7 most mornings and today it’s 8.5. My doctor refuses to test me for diabetes again because he did a test several months ago and it said my HbA1c was 35 and so normal but surely having such high levels of glucose in the morning is not normal!? Could it be something else that I should be considering?

Higher numbers in the morning are often caused by something called Dawn Phenomenon. Your liver dumping glucose to help you start the day. It tends to be higher if you've had a bad night's sleep, woke up earlier than usual, are stressed, had nightmares... If not DP, it could be related to a tiny little summer cold you're not even noticing. Anything can up blood glucose. With a beautiful HbA1c of 35 at this point, I'd not worry overmuch about it. For all we know, it's the weather. (The heat and such can cause restless nights). Give it some more time, see if anything changes over autumn/winter. And don't just go by morning glucose, it's too fickle. Test around meals. Before the meal and 2 hours afterwards. If your body can handle food just fine, no need to worry about what happens in the mornings. If you keep seeing numbers that concern you, ask for another test after 6-12 months, and explain to your doc why you need the reassurance, giving numbers you've seen.

We can't diagnose, and we can't give medical advice, so all of the above is just basically what I'd do in your shoes... But always go with your gut.

 

[Deleted member 527103]

Those of us with diabetes experience Dawn Phenomenon as @JoKalsbeek describes as our pancreas is unable to respond to the dump of glucose from our blood. However, people with healthy pancreas would not notice the rise as their pancreas would release insulin to bring it down. The same is true for illness, weather, stress, etc. Someone without diabetes would see very little change in their BG because they would release insulin in response to the liver glucose dump.

@GM1986 a morning BG of 8.5 is surprising with a HBA1c of 35. My first thought is to check your meter before jumping to any conclusions - you can request a testing solution from the manufacturer.
If the meter is correct, you may want to look at conditions which can cause a lower hba1c. I did a quick Google and there are quite a few listed such as high altitude, pregnancy and iron supplements. But be aware that Dr Google can exaggerate at times.

 

[Melgar]

@GM1986 that rise might be because you have some insulin resistance . Insulin resistance occurs in none diabetics too, and one’s resistance to insulin can and may increase early morning, which adds to the dawn phenomenon already mentioned. So in short your bump in blood sugar early morning is a short decrease in insulin sensitivity. The difference between you and someone who is prediabetic / diabetic is your beta cells are able to secrete enough insulin to bring that blood sugar rise down and your beta cells continue to do so throughout the day, hence your good HbAc1 of 35. Exercise, weight loss, and reducing carb intake is thought to increase insulin sensitivity.