morning bg high

Mdude · #1 (**permalink**) 01-30-2006, 08:13 AM

I've been having morning glucose levels of 117-122 recently, and increasing the amount of ultralente U doesn't seem to help. I'm going to switch to Lantus, but I still have a bottle left that I want to get through.

My target morning glucose is 90. I have to be careful, because I had experiences with lows if I took too much, but at least right now, increasing the dosage has no effect. I believe Dr. Bernstein commented that that the Dawn effect destroys all the ultralente in your system.

I've even tried getting up about an hour before I normally "wake up" and taking insulin, but it's like my body knows, so if I go back to bed and get up an hour later, there's the same effect.

I think my body does "know" to some extent because I wake up if my BG is over 110 or under 75.

I have gained some weight since I've been on insulin, so I was thinking that maybe my fat or muscle content was making it harder for the insulin to work. I'm about 20 lbs overweight according to the chart. However, I haven't had any insulin resistance--R insulin works during the day the way it's supposed to.

notme · #2 (**permalink**) 01-30-2006, 08:53 AM

Maude have you tried have a small protein snack at bedtime? There are several people here who have tried that and it works for them. I know it worked for me. I used to eat a cracker with a small amount of peanut butter on it before bed. The protein seemed to keep my blood sugar level and stopped the liver dump before sunrise. Try it. I know it sounds odd, but it worked for me.

duck · #3 (**permalink**) 01-30-2006, 09:05 AM

Typical dawn phenomenon is much higher than the 120's, more like the 200's and up. Personally, I think you are to be commended for trying to get a waking level of 90, but for about 99% of us, we'd be very pleased to wake up in your current range.

vrocco1 · #4 (**permalink**) 01-30-2006, 01:54 PM

You got it Duck. I'd be very pleased if I had numbers like yours. Don't drive yourself crazy over that. There is very little difference between 90 and 120. In fact, that may be wiithin the fudge factor of your meter!

notme · #5 (**permalink**) 01-30-2006, 02:00 PM

There is fudge in my meter?????

rzrbks · #6 (**permalink**) 01-30-2006, 02:19 PM

Quote:

vrocco1

You got it Duck. I'd be very pleased if I had numbers like yours. Don't drive yourself crazy over that. There is very little difference between 90 and 120. In fact, that may be wiithin the fudge factor of your meter!

While that's true, at this point Mdude prolly has % understood as to where Mdude actually is working from.

When I hit this morning range, I:
1. carefully watch pre-bed carb intake (for several days)
2. watch B/G during the day (for several days)
3. am checking to see if 24 hour insulin needs an adjustment

SugaryOne · #7 (**permalink**) 01-30-2006, 04:55 PM

I have the same problem, trying to keep my waking blood sugar between lows and highs (200s and up). And yes I think your body does know when you wake, because I've tried to fool mine too without success. :P

The best thing that's worked for me like a couple other people have said, is to take a protein snack. I have a string cheese snack and that holds me constant until morning without going low or super high.

duck · #8 (**permalink**) 01-30-2006, 05:02 PM

Souds like a lot of you deal with liver dumps to various degrees overnight if you are on an "empty" stomach. For whatever reason, I seem to be relatively lucky and do not suffer from that.

KNOCK ON WOOD

rzrbks gives the best advice here, do what he says and make adjustments based on what you observe.