Overnight Liver "Sugar Dump"

[Catcount]

Today a friend asked: when our sugar levels drop during our sleeping hours, our liver kicks in and does a "sugar dump". Why doesnt the same happen during our awake hours? Good question I thought, but I do not know the correct medical explaination.

Can anybody provide an explaination?

Catcount

[Harold]

Oh, but it does. Somewhere around 4 to 4.5 hours after I eat if I do not have a snack my bgs' go up. When I have a lite meal and have been more active than my meal would supply calories for, my bg's may run 40 or 50 point higher than normal for that meal.

[Catcount]

Good information, thanks Harold. I wonder if any others here experience the same. Lets wait and see

catcount

[DeusXM]

It can also happen in general during hypoglycaemia. The thing is, your liver only does a hypo-busting sugar dump as a last resort. If you were awake, had a hypo and didn't treat it yourself, you would probably pass out first and then your liver would release glucose.

[liz32]

mine does both waking and sleeping....right now I'm having a very hard time getting my morning numbers below 7-8 and it's ticking me off yet I'm not one to get up and test and inject at 3 in the morning...I have a hard time getting back to sleep. This is one of the reasons I'm thinking about pumping
liz

[gambi]

Try this trick to help with those fasting #s and liver dumps. I went from waking up at 160 every morning to averaging 80-90s

6. Have a glass of red wine. When your liver has to work process the alcohol in your system, it will be too busy to release glucagon into your bloodstream. One glass of red wine with dinner can help to lower your blood sugar. Do be careful, though. I've had more than one blood sugar crash after miscalculating how much medication I would need when I enjoyed a plate of pasta with a glass of Merlot.

Normally, when your blood sugar level starts to drop, your liver steps in. It goes to work changing stored carbohydrate into glucose. Then it sends the glucose out into the blood, which helps you avoid or slow down a low blood sugar reaction. However, when alcohol enters your system, this changes. Alcohol is a toxin. Your body reacts to alcohol like a poison. The liver wants to clear it from the blood quickly. In fact, the liver won't put out glucose again until it has taken care of the alcohol. If your blood glucose level is falling, you can quickly wind up with very low blood sugar.

Now, it should be noted that I am not one to recommend booze as medication. Don't think that you can break open a bottle of cabernet at lunch everyday in lieu of taking your glyburide. Unless you live in France, in which case, do what you want.

White wine also works, but not as much. Beer, which has lots of carbohydrates, may not lower your blood sugar at all. Keep in mind that the additional calories that you consume with a glass of wine may counteract any benefits that the alcohol gives you for lowering your blood sugar. So skip dessert if you are having wine.

[REDLAN]

the alcohol trick might not work...

it certainly doesn't for me - if I drink alcohol, then my BG's tend to rise over night rather than fall. As I recall there is at least one other poster on this forum who experiences a similar effect, and has to increase her basal if she drinks alcohol.

On the toxin effect - I read that the body processes alchohol in preference to glucose - it's converted into ketones by the liver, which is then utilised by the body for energy. Conversion of glycogen into glucose is suppressed, but does not completely stop, unless very large quantities of alcohol has been drunk.

[Mich]

I also have to consider the stress factor. If I get overly tired, speak to a group, handle a family crisis, or fly across country, I get a corresponding stress rise in my blood sugar about three hours later (actually I think it creeps up over that time).

At least I know when and where to look for most of the stress highs these days.

I always considered it a part of the follies we call diabetes management. Who is the person on this board who says his life is a science experiment? I couldn't agree more. It's partly an art and partly a science, in my opinion. I would be so happy to have it all down to black and white. Maybe some day.

Mich

[xMenace]

He may mean the Dawn Phenomenon or DP which happens naturally every morning in the wee hours. Dawn Phenomenon :: Diabetes Self-Management (http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/articles/Diabetes_Definitions/Dawn_Phenomenon) He may also mean the Somogyi Effect Somogyi Effect :: Diabetes Self-Management (http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/articles/Diabetes_Definitions/Somogyi_Effect) which many try to treat with evening protein snacks. The alcohol tricks may work too.

As far as other times of the day, there may be something called the dusk effect which is a mini-DP occurring in the early evenings. I experience it consistently, and my testing shows it may be more of a sugar release than a hormone release as in the DP. I see signs of it in other pumpers' basal testing but nothing firm or consistent.

Hypo-dumps can happen any time of the day or night, but they seem to me more prevalent during the nights. I've had many daytime hypos with no dumps but very few nighttime ones.

[georgepds]

Try this trick to help with those fasting #s and liver dumps. I went from waking up at 160 every morning to averaging 80-90s

6. Have a glass of red wine. ...

According to these folks, your suggestion works for type 2 diabetics

Defeat Diabetes Foundation - Awareness + Action = Prevention -- Moderate Alcohol Intake Reduces Fasting Glucose (http://www.defeatdiabetes.org/news/view.asp?catid=3822&subcatid=&id=40253)

"In patients with type 2 diabetes, moderate daily intake of alcohol reduced fasting plasma glucose (FPG) but not postprandial glucose, especially in those with high levels of glycated hemoglobin....


After 3 months, FPG decreased from 139.6 .. to 118.0.. mg/dL in the alcohol group vs 136.7 ... to 138.6 ...mg/dL in the control group "


--G

[gambi]

Typically yes, it does work better for a type 2. However, I as a type 1 tried it and it has work really well for me. I went from waking up 160 to 80-90s. My CDE was very surprised that it worked for me - she has never prescribed for a type 1 only type 2s.

But you know how diabetes is, everyone is different :-)

[peej07]

My exp with wine eneraly is that it makes me go high and then crash later on. Just my 2 cents but as we all know we're all different.

[Monogashira]

hello everyone,
I take metformin and I am suppose to take glyburide (spell?) with it. However, the glyburide only seemed to sky rocket my blood sugar level. Since I stopped taking the glyburide and only the metformin my readings are much lower and more close to normal. My doctor does not tell me much, and we play verbal merry-go-around alot. So I thought I would seek other opinions. Are there dangers to taking just metformin?