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Question re morning fasting testing

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
gossamersquare

gossamersquare

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I have got most of my daytime readings to a good place but still struggle with mornings. I generally get up at 5am cos I need to spend a penny then go back to bed, takes a while to get back to sleep then generally get up about 6.30. I get up, spend another penny, go down, feed the cat and then hit the bathroom when I do my first reading of the day.

Question is, should I be testing at 5am or is when I do test ok? :confused:
 
By how much do your BGs differ in the morning, from when you went to bed? A difference of 2-ish overnight, plus or minus, is 'normal'. (The actual clinical amount is 1.7 I believe) It's only if it's regularly more than that you need to be concerned.

The usual thing is Dawn Phenomenon, which is a primeval bodily function where the body prepares itself for the day - to give us the energy to do that, the body throws out adrenalin/cortisol, which increases our BG which the cells will need to get going. This usually starts to happen say from 4 or 5am onwards.

Another thing that happens is FHTF syndrome - stands for Feet Hit The Floor - this one is where the BG only rises when your feet hit the floor...... it depends on how awake your body is, when you get up for the loo. If you spend ages getting back to sleep, then it might be that - but it starts with the loo instead of actually getting up properly.

It would be useful for you to pin this down and find out just when your BGs start to rise. This involves overnight testing which normally involves setting the alarm clock for various hours about 2hrs apart during the night (and everybody hates it but you have to grit your teeth and do it when you need to) but actually you could start, seeing as you get up for the loo anyway, with testing at 5am then comparing it with the reading when you get up 'properly'.

Once you know which it is (if any LOL) we can probably suggest strategies to try to avoid.
 
Thanks for your reply trophywench. Its really helpful. Dont normally test before bed so will do that tonight. Will also test when I get up for loo and then when I get up properly to see what happens and will post my results tomorrow. Am on diet only and want to avoid medication if possible.
 
Yes you should test before bed; there's no point at all in attacking it as Dawn Phenomenon, if the problem really started between dinner and bedtime!
 
Hi trophywench, I did test before bed as suggested and reading had shot up to 7.8 for some reason. Tested at 4.45am and it was 8 and by the time I got up at 7.30 it was 8.8.

I have cut the carbs to stop spiking bg's and the daytime readings are great so why is it spiking before I go to bed?

Last nigh I did have restless legs for about an hour before bed, this is a sign of being really tired for me. I did have a few bad nights sleep due to terrible leg cramps but these have stopped again now but have been tired due to broken sleep. Do you think that bg could have raised because of the restless legs?
 
No there wasn't a significant increase over night, was there? Bedtime you were 7.8, that rose to 8, then when you got up it was 8.8 so the whole increase was exactly 1.0. That's very good !

What was it before and after dinner, what did you have and what time did you eat it?
 
Didnt test after dinner but only had salmon with cauliflower and green beans so this shouldnt have caused a rise like that. I had it about 6.30
 
Gossamer! - what was it BEFORE dinner then? We need to pin down when it starts rising!
 
If you want your readings to be useful, you MUST have 'before' and 'after' readings.

That means you need to test before dinner and 2 hours after - otherwise you have simply no idea how that meal affected you. You cannot assume that because a meal is low carb, it won't raise your blood sugar. Protein converts to glucose over several hours. The stretching of your duodenum after a meal can stimulate your liver to release glucagon. Stress or illness might be impairing insulin action. There's a whole variety of factors at work but unless you have before and after readings, you can't possibly know what is going on.

It's the same with going to bed - you need to test BEFORE you go to bed and when you get up.

Also, meter readings are allowed a variance of 20% to be considered 'accurate' so if you get a reading that's 10% higher or lower than a previous one, you can reasonably assume it's about the same.
 
Thanks DeusXM, dont think I have been explained how to test for effectiveness. Will start doing this. Only have a few strips left cos they dont like giving strips to T2. Have ordered a new tester an SD codefree tester and some more extra strips which have been dispatched. These are so much cheaper than the ones for the meter that the doctor gave me, these are ?20 for 50 strips and I cant afford to keep buying them whereas the strips for the new meter are about ?7, this is a big difference in price as you do need lots of them if you want to test properly.

As soon as these arrive I will start the testing as you suggested. In the meantime will have a few days off testing but now low carbing and not worry too much about my readings - perhaps this will also benefit me as am stressing about my readings being too high, dread taking them. I know that they are not that high compared to other people but still worry about them.

Sue
 
This would then be a really good opportunity to demonstrate your case for needing strips on prescription.

At the moment, you have no idea really what your blood sugar is doing. That's not your fault. But it will ultimately, be reflected in your A1c.

Therefore with these extra strips, it's really important to use them wisely. Use them to solve your current problem and really note down what changes you've made and how these changes have impacted on your blood sugar.

This then gives you EVIDENCE to give to your care team - the dream scenario is to go to your doctor and say "This is what my control was like before I had access to test strips. I got more test strips, and I did this, this and this...and it has had this massively positive impact on my blood sugar control. My A1C has gone down X% which means I am far less likely to suffer severe complications, thus reducing the overall cost to the NHS of maintaining my long term health. However, I will not be able to keep up this level of control without your support. These benefits were entirely down to me using more test strips and I cannot afford to buy more. Therefore please reconsider your decision to restrict my access to strips on prescription."

This was exactly why I tried to start up a test strip exchange, to give people the opportunity to have this discussion with their doctors. The most powerful argument around for test strip access is proving that they work.
 
Hear Hear Deus.

Sadly a lot of GPs listen to the bean counters a lot more intently than their patients ......
 
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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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