Dawn phenomenon???

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Ccash

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi,

My highest blood sugars come at start of day. I am type 2 diet controlled. I have adopted a low carb diet.

I am finding that the later I have breakfast the higher my readings when I test before. I am also seeing a general upward trend for these early morning readings, small but its there.

I have been contemplating intermittent fasting but will my bloods just creep if I delay breakfast?

Is there any way of bringing it down? The figures I'm getting are generally between 6.8 and 7 which I know isn't crazy but isn't it a bit high if I haven't eaten for 10hrs? I'm aiming for remission.
 
Ccash said:
Hi,

My highest blood sugars come at start of day. I am type 2 diet controlled. I have adopted a low carb diet.

I am finding that the later I have breakfast the higher my readings when I test before. I am also seeing a general upward trend for these early morning readings, small but its there.

I have been contemplating intermittent fasting but will my bloods just creep if I delay breakfast?

Is there any way of bringing it down? The figures I'm getting are generally between 6.8 and 7 which I know isn't crazy but isn't it a bit high if I haven't eaten for 10hrs? I'm aiming for remission.
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Many do find exactly what you are and there is very little that those who are dietary managed Type 2 can do about it. It can sometimes make a difference to test in bed before doing anything. It is thought it is a bit of a hang over from our ancestors who had to go and hunt for breakfast and the liver tries to be super helpful in releasing glucose.
Some people find fasting helps but for others it makes it worse.
Keeping your 2 hour post meal readings below 8mmol/l and before eating between 4 and 7 will likely lead to a normal HbA1C if you maintain that for the 3 month period before an HbA1C test.
 
Leadinglights said:
Many do find exactly what you are and there is very little that those who are dietary managed Type 2 can do about it. It can sometimes make a difference to test in bed before doing anything. It is thought it is a bit of a hang over from our ancestors who had to go and hunt for breakfast and the liver tries to be super helpful in releasing glucose.
Some people find fasting helps but for others it makes it worse.
Keeping your 2 hour post meal readings below 8mmol/l and before eating between 4 and 7 will likely lead to a normal HbA1C if you maintain that for the 3 month period before an HbA1C test.
Click to expand...
Is it normal for my 2hr bloods after breakfast to be lower than my bloods before?
 
Some people find a low carb snack as soon as they wake up can help, so a few nuts or some cheese, as food hitting the stomach can signal to the liver that it can switch off that glucose dumping process, but that doesn't work for everyone and I think it depends how impacted your pancreas and liver balancing mechanisms are by visceral fat.
Another thing which can help is exercise the evening before. It doesn't have to be overly strenuous exercise but an evening walk or I sometimes walk or run up and down stairs 10 or 20 times if the weather is naff.... or if you have an exercise bike, that is ideal. Again it is not guaranteed to work, but worth experimenting with.
 
Ccash said:
Is it normal for my 2hr bloods after breakfast to be lower than my bloods before?
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It can be, particularly if you have a strong DP, because the food shuts down the liver from releasing glucose and triggers the pancreas to release insulin.
 
Dawn Phenomenon! 🙂
 
Might give intermittent fasting a go and see what happens, maybe test every hour from when I wake up too monitor.
 
Hope you find a fix @Ccash

Dawn Phenomenon (and it’s snarky cousin Foot on the Floor that only gets triggered when you get out of bed) can be very frustrating.

A late low can snack helps some people. Or a low carb something immediately on rising.

Let us know how the Intermittent Fasting works for you, and whether it helps with your DP.

Your results sound great though - so you should be on-target for an encouraging HbA1c reduction 🙂
 
I wouldn't say those levels are particularly bad, still between 4-7. People with DP usually see it rising to far higher levels than that - generally though to be due to a lack of insulin being produced to counter the rise (And turn off the liver.) plus insulin resistance.

It's possible for people on a low carb diet to see rises due the pancreas becoming slower to respond and the 'fixed point' being raised as a consequence. This is why people who do an oral glucose test have to carb load beforehand to try to get things responding quickly again as the result can be false if

I sometimes find if I have oats for breakfast the modest rise I see when I get to work (No idea why) doesn't happen.
 
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