High BM Readings in A Morning

[weblar83]

So after a visit to a dietitian late last week and some weekend basal tweaking, my girlfriends BM was a reasonable 8.5 this morning. Sunday morning's BM was much higher at 13.5 but still a lot less than it has been (16 plus) so I guess it shows a nudge in the right direction.

 

[Phil65]

So after a visit to a dietitian late last week and some weekend basal tweaking, my girlfriends BM was a reasonable 8.5 this morning. Sunday morning's BM was much higher at 13.5 but still a lot less than it has been (16 plus) so I guess it shows a nudge in the right direction.

Dawn phenomenon is a tricky beast.....my weekend morning readings are much lower than my weekday readings.....during the working week my liver is dumping glucose early morning to get me ready for my working day.

 

[weblar83]

Ah, that's interesting. I guess the next few days with the increased basal insulin will give us a better indication of whether its helping.

 

[Phil65]

Ah, that's interesting. I guess the next few days with the increased basal insulin will give us a better indication of whether its helping.

The accelerated rise in my levels first thing in the morning due to my DP (some call it "feet hitting the floor") used to rise so quickly no basal increase would match my profile, I found that setting my alarm for 5 am on MDI and taking a bolus injection would cover the rise....real pain! .....not any more Hoorah for the pump!

 

[Josco]

You sound as though you are both beginning to get on top of the DP. I had severe dawn phenomenon for a long time (waking BGs of 25 - 27) and until I got my pump, which has resolved the issue, the only way I could stop the steep rise was, like the previous poster, to take my morning Levemir in the middle of the night. Not good but I had it down to a fine art and could fall asleep again straight away. Mind you I always left it ready to use with the dose already dialled up and separate from my Novorapid pen so as not to get muddled when I was essentially still asleep! However I only took a single injection of 96u of Levemir (no, not a typo!!) a day as any Levemir at night caused me to have a hypo. It is all very much trial and error unfortunately. Well done to your girlfriend for taking control of her diabetes and to you for giving her the support she needs.

 

[bev]

Hi Weblar83,

You sound like a brilliant partner to have - well done for being such a support to your girlfriend - it makes all the difference when your partner is involved.

My son (15) also suffered with DP and nothing we tried ever helped - so he went onto a pump as he was also insulin sensitive and needed really tiny amounts of basal at times and now has 6 or 7 different basal rates going throughout a 24 hour period. We could never have gained good control using injections - it just didnt work for us and now if he gets high levels on waking we just alter his basals accordingly which is quite a lot as teenage growth hormones also play havoc!

The best advice I can give is to test test and test again throughout the night to help build up a picture of whether this really is DP or something else. Once you have the data you can act on it as knowledge is power and all that. Like others have said there are things you can do on injections to try to help - its about timing and only when you know what your dealing with can you work out the solution. If it doesnt work then maybe apply for a pump if your girlfriend is interested in one - but having the data will help show her team what she is up against and also that she is committed to gaining good control. A pump initially is hard work and you have to be patient - but it is worth it and my son would never go back to injections now as its so much better dealing with issues on a pump🙂Bev

 

[Maryanne29]

Try this for morning highs

My blood sugar can be very high in the morning, despite being good when I go to bed. My dietician suggested it could be because it is dropping very low during the night and as the body tries to compensate for this, a rebound high is the result in the morning.

She suggested checking my BM during the night to see if this is showing low and if so adjust the insulin taken before dinner - or have something to eat before bed. I only saw her yesterday so haven't had a chance to try this out yet but I will.

See if it works for your girlfriend.

Maryanne

 

[Josco]

My blood sugar can be very high in the morning, despite being good when I go to bed. My dietician suggested it could be because it is dropping very low during the night and as the body tries to compensate for this, a rebound high is the result in the morning.

She suggested checking my BM during the night to see if this is showing low and if so adjust the insulin taken before dinner - or have something to eat before bed. I only saw her yesterday so haven't had a chance to try this out yet but I will.

See if it works for your girlfriend.

Maryanne

I discovered that as well as DP as I was also having problems with overnight hypos which my body was dealing with. I then had high BGs in the morning but they way that I knew that they were not being caused by the DP was that I felt extremely unwell for several hours after getting up in the morning. I would feel very sick, have a splitting headache and generally felt "toxic". I used to thing I was coming down with something but eventually realised that there was a pattern in terms of timing and duration of the symptoms. Once my Levemir was sorted out at night i.e. stopped! then my symptoms did not recur

 

[PattiEvans]

Some overnight testing was done last night.

At 1:30am BM was 5.3, at 3:30am BM was 7.9 and at 7:20am this morning it was 16.9!

I think we're going to repeat the same exercise for the next couple of days but with a slight increase in the basal insulin - from 22 units up to 24 or 26 units to see what effect that has.

I know this was posted a while back, I was just going to say that with Levemir even a half unit makes a huge difference, I'd never increase by 2u. Get your g/f to ask for a half unit pen. I take 12.5u at night and 11u in the morning. When I tweak I do it by half a unit and this nearly always works.

My other suggestion is to get a copy of Gary Scheiner's book "Think like a Pancreas". It is easy to read and gives you a real grip on what you need to do to gain good control.

FWIW I too suffer DP and it drives me mad! I can go to bed in the 5s and test up to about 6am in the 5s and get up in the 10/11 range and it will continue to rise and rise until I eat something and take a correction dose with the meal dose. It was this that pushed me to ask for a pump and thankfully I am getting one next month 🙂

I'd also like to say how great it is that you are supporting her like this!