Morning spikes

[Dinky]

Hi, when I get up in the morning my readings rise by 2-4 mmol before eating just getting out of bed. Exercise no longer helps reduce my readings, now has the opposite effect. I follow a keto diet. Looking for advise on how to stop the morning spikes

 

[harbottle]

Sounds like foot on the floor syndrome:

Diabetes Defined: Dawn Phenomenon, Somogyi Effect, and Feet to Floor Syndrome

*Disclaimer: All content and information in this blog is for informational and educational purposes only. If you are living with diabetes, you likely have experienced one (or more) of these scenarios. Instead of scratching your head trying to make sense of what your blood sugar is doing, this...

skingrip.com

The online articles are mainly aimed at T1s who can inject insulin to compensate for the rise.

I am not sure how T2s can stop it - some of the T2 medication may help?

Low carb diet does apparently cause a slight rise ("Glucose sparing") but not by that much.

Exercise can also promote the creation of more glucose - depends on the type of exercise, high impact stuff might ceate a rise, a walk will probably see a fall.

 

[Dinky]

Thank you, I hadn‘t found the ‘foot on the floor’ topic before. I think my issue is similar, the trouble is I shoot up in minutes and if I have a shower I shoot you higher , makes me feel really unwell
the doctor won’t help as I am extremely careful with what I eat so do manage to maintain an hba1c of 43 which is the only thing the doctor cares about

 

[rebrascora]

Eating something straight away as soon as you wake up can sometimes help, because food hitting the stomach is supposed to switch off the liver from releasing glucose and stimulate the pancreas to release insulin. Worth a try.
High intensity exercise will cause the liver to release more glucose from it's stores and exercising on an empty stomach is the reason why the liver releases glucose like this in the first place.... to give you energy to "hunt or gather" your first meal of the day.

 

[Dinky]

Thank you, will give it a go in the morning

 

[harbottle]

Rising glucose and an increase in insulin signals the liver to stop producing glucose (and to convert glucose in the blood into glycogen - I believe this is by a different transporter, not insulin). This signalling is broken in T2D…

However, when carbs are digested the gut releases a substance that promotes insulin production from beta cells and inhibits alpha cells from producing glucogen. I think this substance is used in some medications as it also suppresses appetite.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hope you make some progress with it @Dinky

I get FOTF Phenomenon too, and find it ebbs and flows during the year. I've just come out of a pretty feisty-liver phase, and fingers crossed things are settling a bit more now.