believe me, i understand about the multiple testing. i start thinking that i didnt insert my pump right, my insulin might be bad/expired…blah blah blah. also, i like to see what differences there are at different times of day/night. mornings are the worst; everything takes much longer to budge than as the day goes on. i am very insulin resistant in the AM than i am further into the day. if i’ve learned nothing else from multiple testing it is how my body reacts to foods at these different times of the day, and that is very helpful info.
for example, if i wake up at 45, 1/2 glucose tab will raise my BG to 70; if, during the afternoon, my BG is 60, i need to take 3 tabs to get back into range, and the tabs also take longer to work (up to 1 hour) i also know that if i eat peanut butter in the AM, i need insulin to cover it; if i want PB at any other time of the day i need absolutely NO insulin (which i love not having to have IOB for a small snack)
regardless, all of this checking has helped me a great deal with regard to my D body. and, thats why i am experimenting so much with this new exercise routine. it seems that so long as i have been D, there is always so much more to learn. we can all share our collective info, but it comes down to how different our D bodies really are.
I think (emphasis “think”) that it is liver glycogen that gets used by the body when you first wake up. I think the BG rise, or “easy rise” like you described is because the body releases liver glycogen for energy. Since you haven’t eaten yet, liver glycogen is readily available and your body uses it to get you out of bed and moving! So the 1/2 tab AND the liver glycogen gets your BG to pop up so easily.
I have that same thing. Sometimes I wait out the low, and come up without eating anything. I can wake up 60 and be 90 very soon, without eating anything!
It’s not just morning, it’s anytime I wake up, like after a nap.
Try that experiment sometime! It’s a good excuse to take a nap. Do it in the name of science!
i understand what you mean about the stored up glycogen, but i am not certain that it pertains to me. i can wake up in the middle of the night with a low, correct it modestly and go back to bed, waking up at a reasonable BG without worries. also, i can have a cup of tea before bed and wake up with low BG, and then correct that easily with the “standard” amount of G Tabs. maybe its the IOB ??? dont know, but if you do, please elaborate.
I probably didn’t give a good explanation. Your body needs some form of energy all the time. Liver glycogen is stored energy from eating. So when we wake up, the energy used to get us going is simply liver glycogen. The release of that liver glycogen is what raises our BG when we wake up.
so if i understand you correctly, when i wake up at 60, my BG will naturally raise itself w/out my taking a G Tab. therefore, there is no need to take any tablets, but wait it out and test test test.
the reason i dont quite get it is that when i wake up (for example) at 45, and i take my GTab (1) and it raises my BG into a normal range and i dont go up afterwards, i should simply stick with my method?
I think we are all different, @Daisy_Mae, but what @Eric2 says is probably what many of us experience, too. Of course, so many variables play into what our actual BG does, including exercise!! I myself have been having a terrible day or so. Last night I had a bowl (1.5 cups) of homemade veg soup, 1/2 cup sweet potatoes left over from Thanksgiving minus the marshmallows, 1/2 cup mixed vegetables of cauliflower, broccoli and onion, 3 chestnuts, and 1 oz hard cheese. I took my normal insulin of 2U, and 3 hours later I was at 337! I try never to go over 140 and usually that works for my homemade dinners. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know what I did that caused this high. The day was pretty normal, including my normal run earlier in the day. I spent the remaining evening and wee hours of the morning trying to correct. My morning bg was 68 so pretty good after an awful night!
@Trying, if you don’t mind my asking, what DAY were you on with your pump? I’ve been chasing that demon for a while. I think I might have a persistent “Day 3 Problem” from bad absorption…
I wouldn’t necessarily advise you to “not” take anything. But you could experiment a little and see it if starts to come up a bit maybe. Wait a few minutes and test again. Is it still 60, or is it now 63? Maybe next time wait a few minutes longer. Get an idea of if it will come up a little bit on its own, and how much.
I am just speculating that the process of waking up contributes to the rise. Some of it is the glucose tablet, and some of it is perhaps the body’s natural response to the wake-up process.
And I apologize for being dumb to not have thought of this before - there is a recent thread on this exact topic on this site! See how many people have to take insulin just from waking up!
Man, I’m dumb. Finally thought to post this! See below:
ok; i must be missing something here; why does my morning BG remain in a healthy zone even if i wake up low, take a Gtab, and then stay in a low (but healthy) range? (not above `120, for example) ?
Yes, that immediately occurred to me also, because I had two pumps in a row fail without warning last month. I was on the first day, about 1 day plus 7 hours. It is one of the samples I received from Insulet to correct the rash I’ve been experiencing. And I’m glad to say, as of day two, I’m still rash free.
these wacky #s are simply called “life with Diabetes” it stinks but try not to fault yourself (i have a D girlfriend who always reminds me that "you are NOT your #s). i change my pump every 2-3 days (it avoids scar tissue and seems to help with my absorption) but i used to only change it when my reservoir ran out (and i would fill my reservoir completely) so i was changing sets about every 5th day. my #s reflected this (as well as my A1cs)
as far as chasing the highs, when i am over 300, i give myself a shot, instead of correcting with my pump. for whatever reason, it works much more effectively. dont know why. hope this helps some.
I think it just affects everyone differently. Did you read through the thread I posted about morning insulin? We are all the same but different!
It might be - and this is a TOTAL guess - that your liver glycogen stores are not as high as other people, so your body is more conservative with it. It saves it for central nervous system function, which your body will always favor as the most important thing.
But on the plus side for you, if your BG does not spike simply from waking up, you don’t have to worry about the same issue that those who posted to “Do you take ‘when feet hit the floor’ insulin?” So I think for you it might be a good thing.
are you on an insulin pump, which one, and are your over-night basals and early AM basals correct? maybe you need more insulin in the wee hours so that you wake up in target ??? i use to have that “dawn phenomenon” problem, but once i went on the Dexcom (which i have discontinued), i saw the BG patterns and was able to refine my rates.
i wake up, generally, 2 times during the night to P; and every time i am up, i test my BGs. if i am out of range i correct. dont know if this helps you at all, but i figured i’d throw it in the mix.
also, which site were you on that had this situation as a topic?
I am on a pump, OmniPod. I have reconfigured my basal numbers over and over. I don’t usually wake up high, I start to go high after I wake up.
The problem is that I can’t program a significant basal increase at a specific morning time, because I don’t always wake up at the same time! So for me it is just easier (and much safer) to hit a small bolus as soon as I wake up. And also for me, if I am low, like 60 or less, I don’t need it. But if I am 80 or 90, I DO need it.
Hmmm…I think there is a clue in there somewhere. Like what you mentioned about waking up 60, and taking a g-tab and not going too high. It may be that if we are low, our body is more conservative about how much liver glycogen it supplies as we wake up.
Well, it is hard not to fault oneself when one day bgs are good and the next day bad. My mind always thinks what could I have done differently… I’ve seen others say the same thing about preferring injections to the pump to correct highs. I’ve not tried that. I’m not sure why it would made a difference… Well, on second thought, maybe the insulin is injected quicker via s syringe plus the needle is longer and the site can be selected for optimum absorption so I might try that next time. Thanks for the recommendation!
If you want to drop your BG quickly, get some syringes with inch long needles (You can buy a box of BD syringes on Amazon with no prescription. Get inch long needles).
Inject in the muscle in the back of your calf, and jog for 2 miles. Watch what happens!
As long as you can reach muscle with an inch long needle, you will see an amazing speed difference. It is much faster than subcutaneous.
Just the though of injecting into muscle sounds terribly painful! BUT I think it would be worth it. I only have short needles so maybe I could try those first.
it stinks but try not to fault yourself (i have a D girlfriend who always reminds me that "you are NOT your 
I’ve seen others say the same thing about preferring injections to the pump to correct highs. I’ve not tried that. I’m not sure why it would made a difference… Well, on second thought, maybe the insulin is injected quicker via s syringe plus the needle is longer and the site can be selected for optimum absorption so I might try that next time. Thanks for the recommendation!