Dawn Phenomenon - Diabetic Type II

ansonrinesmith

So, has anyone had to deal with this? Is there anything you've found that helps?
Here is my scenario from yesterday (but is similar every day, just with higher numbers yesterday).
I woke up yesterday with a high number 339. I had an Atkins shake for breakfast and by lunch my number was down to 249. I had another shake for lunch. I had a salad for dinner at Subway on my way home from work, so didn't measure till I got home. 5 minutes after dinner, I was home and had a 201. I had nothing else to eat before bedtime, 3.5 hours later and I was at 168. After 8 hours sleep, I wake up with a 216. An increase almost 50 points, after just sleeping and seeing a steady decline all day.

I am not currently on insulin, and am usually able to control my numbers better than this, but many mornings I'm seeing an increase over my bedtime number.

Purplebunnysarah

(Disclaimer: I am not a diabetic, but I'm the daughter of one and have had gestational diabetes so I'm high risk.)

When I was pregnant I experienced this. For me, it meant going on overnight insulin. My morning blood sugar level had basically nothing to do with what I had for my bedtime snack. Sometimes supper affected it. Poor fasting glucose numbers were what got my mom on insulin as well.

Have you considered a keto diet? If there's no glycogen in your liver, then it can't dump it into your blood overnight.

Amazon_Who

I am pre-diabetic dawn phenomenon. Having a protein snack before bed helps me. YMMV

jgnatca

ansonrinesmith wrote: »

So, has anyone had to deal with this? Is there anything you've found that helps?
Here is my scenario from yesterday (but is similar every day, just with higher numbers yesterday).
I woke up yesterday with a high number 339. I had an Atkins shake for breakfast and by lunch my number was down to 249. I had another shake for lunch. I had a salad for dinner at Subway on my way home from work, so didn't measure till I got home. 5 minutes after dinner, I was home and had a 201. I had nothing else to eat before bedtime, 3.5 hours later and I was at 168. After 8 hours sleep, I wake up with a 216. An increase almost 50 points, after just sleeping and seeing a steady decline all day.

I am not currently on insulin, and am usually able to control my numbers better than this, but many mornings I'm seeing an increase over my bedtime number.

I had to convert that to Canadian mmol/L. Aack! Those are not good numbers! What were your numbers at bedtime?

When I look at your eating habits all day the calories/protein seem far too low (other than the shakes). If you are in a fasted state (which you had from dinner until breakfast the next morning, more than twelve hours), the liver will release it's reserves of glycogen to make up the difference, and you have a very enthusiastic liver (dawn phenomenon).

My morning numbers were ALWAYS the highest, and all the suggestions I was given didn't seem to make a whit of difference. Here are the suggestions I tried:

- Have a snack at midnight, protein and carb to try and tide you through the night. Type 1's sometimes have to get up and have a mid-sleep snack. I hope you don't need that!
- Carefully control your fat intake a good twelve hours before morning (but I don't see a lot of fat in your day so I don't think that's it).

I would also pump up that dinner of yours to include more protein to tide you over.
Take your blood sugar just before you go to bed, too.

nvmomketo

I too experience dawn phenomenon but with prediabetes. My morning BG is always the highest of the day, especially if I ate anything in the evening before - even a fatty treat like cheese or a pepperoni stick. My morning BG could be as high as 115 but it is down to the 80s by the end of the day. A bit of apple cider vinegar at bed helps a very small amount but not much. Fasting works the best for me for controlling dawn phenomenon, and a LCHF diet helps me keep my overall numbers low.

Your numbers are alarmingly high. You really need to get better control of your BG as soon as possible before you start experience organ damage or other complications. Perhaps look into a lower carb diet so insulin does not go as high, and avoid high protein too. Exercise will help lower BG too. You may want to consider medication if you can't get it down soon.