Rise at wakeup time

[Finwiz]

I am on single 24hr Insulin - am Type 2.

I find that soon after I wake up my sugars rise although I have not had anything to drink or eat. Is this common please? Any way to avoid this? I make sure my dinner has as few Carbs as possible.

 

[Leadinglights]

This is often Dawn Phenomenon or Foot on the Floor syndrome depending on when it occurs, quite common for people to get this as the liver releases glucose in the absence of food to give you energy for the day and for your organs to function.
Depending on when you take your insulin it may be running out by the morning if you are taking every 24 hours in the morning

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, it is very common. It is caused by the liver releasing a flood of glucose into your blood stream to give you energy for the day ahead and is part of the body's circadian rhythm. Unfortunately those of us who are diabetic are not able to deal with it because our insulin production is hampered or we can't use it efficiently, so we see our levels rise. Some people find it starts in the early hours and is referred to as Dawn Phenomenon (DP) but for others it waits until we get up out of bed.... referred to as Foot on the Floor syndrome (FOTF). My levels can rise by as much as 6mmols in an hour if I don't inject a couple of units of fast acting insulin to deal with it as soon as I wake up.
It is believed to date back to prehistoric times when we didn't have kitchens and fridges with food and it was to give us energy to go out and hunt or forage our first meal of the day. It doesn't take nearly as much energy to walk into the kitchen and put something in a bowl as it does to hunt down a wooly mammoth! 🙄

Sometimes you can stop it by eating something like a few nuts as soon as you wake up. Food hitting your stomach is supposed to switch this liver function off, but some Type 2s have poor switching mechanisms in their liver and pancreas due to fatty deposits, so that may or may not help. I find exercising on an evening can mean that my muscles are clawing back glucose for their stores during the night and the following morning and so they can suck up some of the glucose that the liver releases and dampen the effect on BG levels.