The great thing about being pregnant most of last year was that the dreaded overnight BG spikes I was struggling with (which lead me to getting on the pump in the first place) disappeared. I’m not sure it was a complete win, because with all of the other pregnancy stuff all of the rest of your blood sugars go haywire… but I have to say – there is something doubly frustrating about going to bed with a perfect BG and waking up in the morning with a sky-high one. It just seems really unfair. During the day if you have a crazy spike you often blame it on food, exercise or stress (rightly or wrongly) – but I just get super cross when I know all I’ve done is been asleep, and those pesky BGs have run away on me.
Anyway…. my son is five months old now, and about a month ago the overnight spikes started to show their ugly heads again. I was 14.4 this morn after going to bed on a tidy 7.8. Gutted.
Posted in Hypos & Hypers, Insulin Pumps, Monitoring, Pregnancy, Slice of Life
Tagged as dawn phenomenon
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13 comments have been made on this post
Saffy wrote
You weren’t alone this morning on that front
Indeed – our bodies are complex beasts, aren’t they?!
Doug Poole wrote
Nic, you really need to get onto a DAFNE course (No it is not a carb counting course) Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating. I have just completed the course and am managing my BG’s within target like never before. Anyway us Type 1’s need to get this course right through the country, it is a MUST.
Doug Poole wrote
Link to DAFNE UK….. We all need to put pressure on ourt DHB’s to provide this course NATIONWIDE.
http://www.dafne.uk.com/
Please take time to review and inquire, I am happy to talk to anyone about our experiences with it. Waitemata DHB are the only DHB offering this course nationwide!
Nic wrote
Saffy – good to have a buddy!
Doug – I’d love to do a DAFNE course, that’s for sure. However the above scenario has nothing to do with adjusting my dose for normal eating…. it happened in the night, and I wasn’t eating! It’s a strange dawn phenomenon/hormonal response I get sometimes which is the main reason I’m on a pump.
Ali wrote
I’ve always had real issues with the dawn phenomenon too so I know how frustrated you feel Nic. I’ve tried having my BGs low before bed, high before bed, supper / no supper, increasing / decreasing insulin, changing the time of insulin etc etc all with no real results (althoough I have the problem less since I started on Lantus).
The worst thing about it is the unpredictablility (although I have noticed some patterns around hormonal fluctuations)
Sophie wrote
One the DAFNE point, at this stage, unfortunately it is only available to those on MDI, not pumps.
Nic wrote
Ali, I could have written your comment myself.
ciaran wrote
have been on dafne also (in dublin). experience on that would suggest that your problem is being caused by having a low while you are sleeping and hitting a glucagen response. if you continue to get it you should/ could try a 3am test of BG to see if you are low. if that is the case you should review your lantus dose down…
Nic wrote
Thanks Ciaran. I’ve done loads of reading on dawn phenomenon in past, as well as plenty of testing in the night (oh how hard done by I felt having to wake myself up and test, it was definitely good training for having a hungry baby!) and it seems more like it’s a hormonal response which interacts with the insulin and causes the BGs to climb. I tried all sorts of things with Lantus (splitting doses, upping it, lowering it etc) and then went on an insulin pump which was the way I finally got it under control. It’s more the fact that you need to keep testing and adjusting to get the insulin balance right.
Great to see you’re logging in from Dublin!
Cheers
Nic
Amanda wrote
Doug, thank you for the link to DAFNE. Have never heard of it so will be excitedly reading it soon!
My sugars at the moment are an utter disaster. Maybe it’s that hormonal thing or I’m becoming more insulin resistant. I’m afraid it gets quite boring and frustrating after a while.
Aaron wrote
I’m hearing you too Nic – I woke at 17.5mmol/L the other morning after going to bed on a 6 or something. Change in the seasons maybe it for me though.
I don’t know about anyone else but I often find that I have all sorts of crazy stuff going on when seasons change. It kinda makes sense though right? Our metabolism changes for winter so of course our insulins needs do too. Right?
Nic wrote
You raise an interesting point, Aaron… when I get a minute I’ll do some research into seasonal changes in insulin resistance etc.