Dawn Effect

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papa369
papa369 Posts: 31 Member
Last night I had supper at 6pm. 2 hours later checked my sugars and they were 101. went to bed around 10pm. woke up this morning around 8am and my sugars were 180. This is so extremely frustrating, now I have to spend all day again trying to get the numbers back down. My doctor said I have the Dawn Effect and has had me take 2 Glipizide pills 1/2 hour before dinner. Been doing this for a week and the only thing changing is my after dinner are getting way to low. Any one ever have this issue or ideas as to how to deal with this. I normally take a 1/2 walk after dinner.

Replies

  • jknops2
    jknops2 Posts: 171 Member
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    I have the same. For me metformin and Januvia keep it down.
  • papa369
    papa369 Posts: 31 Member
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    Would you mind telling me the amounts of each? If so I'll run it by my doctor and get her option.
    Thanks
  • missfittin_missy
    missfittin_missy Posts: 184 Member
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    same issue here, I am on Bydureon weekly injections, Januvia, and a new one called invokana... #'s are great during the day but are from 150-180 upon waking.... I have found however if I wait about an hour after I wake before I eat to check them they are pretty close if not in range... I can't tolerate metformin it is pretty much poison to me...which stinks because it works wonderfully. I have even tried Janumet (combo of Januvia and metformin) and couldn't tolerate it in that form either. SO VERY FRUSTRATING!
  • sandrak1000
    sandrak1000 Posts: 4 Member
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    I used to have the same problem. Even with 40mg of levimir before bed they were still between 150-200 in morning.. I think what really helps is that i now have a tiny snack before bed such as cracker with peanut butter or sometimes a piece of frigo light string cheese. Protien and a little carb before bed seems to be working. I know everyone reacts differently but my numbers have been normal every morning for weeks now.
  • RaineyLaney
    RaineyLaney Posts: 605 Member
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    ^^^^ This is what works for me too. I use to get high numbers in the morning and now have learned if I eat a Carb master yogurt (only 4 carbs, but 9 protein), my numbers stay down. I sometimes will have a serving of nuts or 1oz of cheese. I have learned to keep the protein a bit higher than the carbs for this - right before sleep snack.
  • LauraDotts
    LauraDotts Posts: 732 Member
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    Dawn effect is when your blood sugar is dropping too low during the night/early morning when you are asleep. Your liver compensates by dumping glycogen into you blood stream thus giving you a high reading when you get up. The solution as has been suggested is eating a snack before going to bed that will prevent the initial drop during the night. If you're interested in seeing when and how low you go when you are asleep, test at 2 am one night, 3 am the next night, 4 am the following night and so on.
  • jknops2
    jknops2 Posts: 171 Member
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    2000 mg Metformin, 1000 morning, 1000 evening
    100mg Januvia
  • cathylopez1975
    cathylopez1975 Posts: 191 Member
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    I've struggled with this in the past and couldn't wrap my mind around it. The first thing my endo did (after putting me on Byetta) was to change my Metformin to extended release. I would take 1000 mg in the morning and another 1000 mg in the evening. That brought my high morning numbers down, as did continuing weight loss and some sort of movement in the evening. I'm 9 pounds from my goal, down to 500 mg metformin twice a day and my morning fasting numbers are consistently in the 80s.
  • halinds
    halinds Posts: 3 Member
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    I too have the "dawn effect' with diabetes. I am t ype 2 and have been for about 4 years. I have started losing weight recently and have noticed that if I do my workouts at night and have a protein supplement or drink before bed, this does in fact help my morning sugar levels. I am ranging about 120-150 in the am. Prior to this, it was about 180.
  • momjmd
    momjmd Posts: 296 Member
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    I take bydureon (weekly injection) and 1000 mg of ER metformin at night. I have gotten my a.m. to go down to 120 which is not great but I will take it.

    I generally eat a protein snack like cheese before bed- that seems to help a lot.

    good luck- it is frustrating!
  • djshari
    djshari Posts: 513 Member
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    How long have you been on those meds? I also tend to wake up with higher readings although I went from 140-200 to 100-130 now that I am on metformin. It could just be that you are still adjusting. I have tried the protein snack and it hasn't done much for me but maybe I need to try different foods. I usually go to bed between 10pm-midnight and try to test as soon as I get up around 6-7am.