High levels in mornings

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tomgaret73

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Hi all.
In a nutshell, I am type 2 diabetic and did not really care about it for too long.
I am trying to get it under control, take medication (metformin and gliclazide), and invested in a blood sugar level monitor (Dexcom).
I changed my diet drastically, and levels seem to be coming down gradually.
However, I noticed a trend: every morning after I get up, levels go up quite a bit (from around 10 to 15), before I even have any breakfast.
Does anyone know of a rational explaination for this?
Thank you
 
Welcome to the forum @tomgaret73

Sounds like Dawn Phenomenon’s second cousin Foot On The Floor to me.

It’s part of the body’s Circadian Rhythm, which some say is connected to our cave-dwelling forebears needing extra energy to go out and snaffle a Woolly Mammoth for breakfast. The liver and muscles have glucose stores, and hormone changes trigger a release of ‘gluconeogenesis’ either in the early hours, or immediately on getting out of bed to sort of fire up the burners for the day.

All very well if you have a fully functioning metabolism, but actually a bit of a nuisance if you live with diabetes!

Many T2s here find their morning readings were a bit stubborn, and the last to come down into range.

Losing weight, especially weight around the abdomen, and visceral fat built up around organs, can help to improve insulin sensitivity and aid the body in responding to the glucose that is released. Some also find it helps to eat a lowish carb breakfast soon after rising, as the intake of food can help ‘switch off’ the liver dump.

Good luck with it!
 
Wow, what a fast and detailed response! I have read about Dawn Phenomenon, thank you for confirming this may be the case.
I'll carry on with my plan, hopefully start dropping pounds, and work on my patience!
Thanks again.
 
tomgaret73 said:
Wow, what a fast and detailed response! I have read about Dawn Phenomenon, thank you for confirming this may be the case.
I'll carry on with my plan, hopefully start dropping pounds, and work on my patience!
Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Great to hear you’ve decided to tackle your diabetes a little more head-on.

Sounds like you are already seeing positive progress, which hopefully will be an encouragement to keep going.

Diabetes is a marathon not a sprint, and even small improvements can go a long way to reducing the long-term risks of living with diabetes 🙂

Onwards and downwards!
 
Welcome to the forum @tomgaret73 . Very pleased that you have found us.

There is loads of experience to tap into on here. Ask any questions that arise, and know that nothing is considered silly on here. Just ask.
 
@everydayupsanddowns has already given a fabulous answer but I just wanted to add, when I was first diagnosed and testing regularly, I had to stop testing my BG first thing in the morning because the results could be very erratic and often quite alarming. The disparity between readings from one day to the next was massive.

I stuck with testing before and after lunch and the same again with dinner to determine what foods I could tolerate. My evening BG was always very low even when my HbA1c was high.

Now things have calmed down a bit, my morning BG has also stabilised funnily enough but I don't test as much now.

Good luck with tackling your diabetes head on!! Keep logging into the forum, it's a fabulous, friendly place for advice.
 
Guest said:
Imo, if your HBA1c is going in the right direction, morning fasted spikes are ok
Click to expand...
True - the trend is more relevant than the individual results. I log all my tests in Excel so that I can insert a trend line. An upward trend would suggest things are going awry and that I need to do something about it, but my trend line has been pretty flat for a good while now.
 
tomgaret73 said:
Hi all.
In a nutshell, I am type 2 diabetic and did not really care about it for too long.
I am trying to get it under control, take medication (metformin and gliclazide), and invested in a blood sugar level monitor (Dexcom).
I changed my diet drastically, and levels seem to be coming down gradually.
However, I noticed a trend: every morning after I get up, levels go up quite a bit (from around 10 to 15), before I even have any breakfast.
Does anyone know of a rational explaination for this?
Thank you
Click to expand...
Hi and welcome!
I'm a new T2 and just learning about all of this.
My day time numbers have been in range since I started testing but my morning ones, whilst remaining in range, are at the high end of normal.
I was diagnosed with Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver two years before diabetes (I know now that it's a huge predictor for developing T2 bur nobody at my surgery seemed to feel that I need to know that :( ). I understand that my fasting levels might be the last to stabilise because my body needs to de-fat my liver!
I do find that when I do 20 minutes of pilates the night before, my fasting readings are lower and I think a lot of people on here note that exercise helps their fasting reading too so that might be something to consider.
I experience insomnia quite frequently and there's strong evidence that quality of sleep can impact blood sugars too. I'm working on improving the quality of my sleep too but the insomnia still pops its head up now and again.
Hope you find the forum helps you find some solutions.
 
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