High fasting blood sugar, lower at bedtime

[Pierre Henri]

Hello all !

I wasn't supposed to be diabetic until now, but at 50 I started to check for blood sugar (I am 51)with my blood sugar monitor.
Amazingly, the fast blood level right after wake these last days was 7 (mmol). If I stay to bed til 11 am, it was 7.5 mmol. After shower, it drops to 6.5 / 6.8, 2 hours after breakfast (chicken salad and big plate of oatmeal with non-fat milk and without sugar or sweeteners) it drops to 6.1, during the day, it's 6.1, at at bed time, goes to 5.5 !

Isn't it weird ?

Thanks for reading...

[JDRF-Team-LRS]

Pierre,
We are volunteers here with considerable experience in Type 1 diabetes.  Please discuss what you read here AND your test results with your endocrinologist because only s/he can advise you based on your complete medical background.

It is quite common that our blood sugar rises in the morning even without eating.  One possible explanation for this phenomenon is called the "Dawn Effect" and another is called "Smogyi."

Some type 2s can prevent the prevent/minimize the dawn effect by eating a small snack near bedtime that includes protein & complex carbos.  This snack seems to reduce teh liver's "need" to dump glucose in the early morning hours -- which is what causes the Dawn Effect.

Smogyi effect occurs when our blood sugar drops too low during the night and so our liver dumps some glucose to raise it enough to keep us safe.  

A method to test what's going on is to do a blood test at bedtime and then every 60-90 minutes thru the night, and record the pattern.  Unfortunately, that method will make you very tired the next day.  It's good to do the testing a few times so you know if you have an "odd day" or a real pattern.

Again, discuss all this with your doctor.  Your meds and your routine can be adjust to minimize the morning rise in blood sugar.