Spike in BG for no reason...why?

[SCAPER]

So since I was diagnosed about 6 days ago I've been keeping myself on a strict very low-carb diet. The only carbs I get is in my diet waters or diet drinks, some of which have 1g or 2g. of carbs. Otherwise, it's just been proteins and vegies. That has kept my BG down to around 115-140 most of the time. The one time I tried to eat anything with a little carbs in it (had a low-carb rice crispy treat that I got at the low-carb store) it made my BG skyrocket up to 241. So I just went back to basically no-carbs and it's been keeping my BG pretty low.

So I'm testing myself before every meal, 2 hours after every meal, and at night before I go to bed. Been getting some pretty low numbers so I felt pretty happy - like I was controlling it pretty well. Also, I do take 1 pill (glyburide) once a day too. That seems to help.

So this morning I wake up and all of a sudden I'm up at about 170 - for no reason. I'm like, "What the heck?"

It's slowly going down. But how can you just spike your BG overnight like that? What makes that happen?

[Subby]

It's very common Scaper, don't panic. It's likely caused by something called "dawn phenomenon", a release inside the body of hormones and sugar. It's a bit of a mysterious (but common) event, but best guesses are that it is to do with the body activating itself for the day, and that growth hormones may be involved.

You may need to take further action to try and combat the effect, and it might be tricky. It can actually be one of the harder things to eliminate, baring being on insulin therapy (and then, often only easily with a pump).

Just a point about rice-cracker type foods - the carb count may not be that high, but they are notoriously high GI, which means they may spike you quickly (which is harder for your body to deal with than a slow spike). If/when eating carbs, you need to not only look at the amount but also at how quickly that carb gets absorbed by your body, creating a faster spike. That can be different for everyone, but there are many offenders that are common. In general, avoiding refined foods like this is a good start (put aside health claims or just "low carb" claims). I'm sure some will pipe in with some befitting type 2 dietary approaches. Good luck!

[Subby]

Just as a little background to the dawn phenomenon, it might help to realise that your body is constantly releasing and using glucose - either from food, or generated and stored and released from the liver and muscles. Just to stay alive and do anything, such as breathing or thinking or all the autonomous systems, your body is constantly using this internal glucose and constantly using a small amount of insulin to facilitate that energy. When you get a release of adrenalin, guess what? The adrenalin causes more sugar to be released, more energy to fight or fly.

For the type 2, this biological process is partly what FBG is about, but in general it's an unseen process as you are not encouraged to consider these bodily processes. But they are there - there is more to it than diet alone.

So, dawn phenomenon is not all that unnatural, it's part of a normal process of 24 hour energy use or release and insulin need, but a heightened time, where your pancreas can't keep up with the glucose that gets released at that time of day!

Hope that makes sense.