I am so aggravated with this diabetes. Just when I think I’m doing good, it throws me a curve!!! My moring numbers have been awful. I’ve been waking up in the low 170’s (170-171). At nigt for dinner I’ve been only eating protien and salad or some veggie such as brocolli, green beans, squash…etc. I have been staying away from a lot of the carb ladden foods…but NOOOOOO…my blood sugar insists on being crazy!!! Does anyone else have this problem? I know there is this thing called dawn phenomenon…but let’s face it, with me having had diabets this long…about 10 yrs…this should be over.!!! It makes me want to go ahead and eat anything I want. I exercise my butt off…only to have my numbers go up afterward…Am I missing something here!!
You know the most frustrating thing I think for a lot of us is when BG rises for no reason, or at least no good reason. One that I hate is the exercise thing. I got mine down to a science, 40 minutes of cardio is all I can take, anymore than that and I am quickly on the rise. I can walk for 60 mintues if part of that is very slow or even at rest.
Morning numbers are why they started me on insulin and to be honest it didn’t help very much, I have to really be careful of what I eat at dinner and if I have a heavy carb I get up at 2 or 3 am for a corrective bolus, no fun.
Diabetes, the thing that you HAVE to have to survive (food) is the same thing that can kill you. Lovely, it doesn’t get a whole lot more confusing than that now does it, then throw the leaky liver in there and holy cow I’m confused. :o(
Pretty sure we all feel your frustration at one time or another.
you might be getting sick, or your insulin just isn’t working today. have you tried some exercise to help out?
I had the same thing this week (sugars yesterday all elelvated for no discernible reason) and agree it is a complete pain in the ■■■.
NO KIDDING!!! IT IS A PAIN IN THE ■■■!! I have been exercising out of my comfort zone and nothing is happening!!! This has been going on all week long!!! I DID, just a few minutes ago, notice that my throat is just a little bit sore. I’m just baffeled!!! I’m so tired and don’t know why, also. I guess it’s just been a crazy week!!! 
I’m sure (at least I hope), I’ll pull thru it!. LOL
RIGHT!! With the exercise thing, I do 40 minutes of cardio, too. THEN, I do a few minutes of weight lifting!! Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I take my insulin in the moring before I go to the gym at 6:00 a.m. Come back, test, only to find that I’m high (this has been going on all week). Why can’t diabetes be a consistent, as in staying the same…lol…It just seem to have SO many faces!!! One minute you’re looking at one face…the other minute it has changed completely!!!
sometimes intense workout cause adrenaline/other hormone stuff to come out and that can cause spikes
and stress can cause high sugars as well. take care
Dawn phenomenon isn’t something that just goes away because you’ve had diabetes a certain number of years…I’ve been diabetic 19 years and I still have it. It’s not something I’ve ever heard of someone outgrowing.
When you have morning issues your workouts should be in the afternoon. I read that in numerous sites and others experiences. I used to do the same thing, be at the gym by 5, work out 1.5 hours and come home BG 225. It is very frustrating.
Well, I have had some very good numbers all weekend (thanks to the response of many of you). I did tone down my workout just a tad…and it seems to be working. My numbers have been much, much, much better. I had been going at my workout regimen full throttle and maybe I was defeating the purpose. I’m feeling really encouraged!! I am taking less insulin as a result! WOOHOOO!!!
Hey! I have no particular advice, but just want to join in the rant, because what you describe is exactly but exactly what is happening with me. How much more can you cut down on carbs when pretty much all you eat is dressing-free salad for dinner!!! Hang in there, and please keep posting on how it goes with you.
Tahira
Stress is a killer for me. One morning got into it with my mom, went from 100 to 422 in 30 minutes. I try really really hard not to let anything stress me out.
Well, Clee, welcome to getting older and diabetes. I know what you are talking about and it is horribly frustrating! I have been a diabetic type 2 for about 11 years, and up until about 2 years ago, thought I had it all under control…then I realized I was getting older, and the “D” was getting strange. I’d have midnight lows, and feel as if I had to eat or risk life. So I started eating protein before going to bed. Not a lot, maybe a stick of string cheese, a 1/4 cup of cottage cheese, some peanut butter and a small carb with this…that took care of the dawn thing…then my numbers when whacko during the middle of the day…and they’d go high for no seeable reason, so I cut down my carbs at lunch…it’s an never ending work of art. My CDE told me that as we get older, our pancreas’ age also, and the diabetes can and most likely will change. So we might have to tweek meds, tweek diet and tweek exercise. Don’t get too frustrated, cuz it’s just part of life with the “D”…change is good, and if it keeps you healthy, hey that’s all that really counts.
Thanks Cathy, because THIS weekend, my BS have been all over the place for no apparent reason! I have taken correction boluses…nothing…I have upped my base,…barely scratching the surface…I just don’t know what to do…I have tried not eating to see if it would somewhat stablize…to no avail…what’s a diabetic to do?! AWWWAK!!!
It sounds like you are working just as hard as you can at it, and it’s NOT rewarding you! 
I don’t know what medications you are on, but Type 2’s who go on insulin may still need orals, because the condition is so complex. It’s not just a lack of insulin, but other hormones and enzymes are out of whack too.
I have also experienced the rise after exercise. But in my case, it goes back down again in a few hours. A high-protein and fat bedtime snack can mitigate the dawn phenomenon, if that’s what’s causing the morning highs, but they can also occur because you’ve run out of basal insulin or just aren’t getting enough in the first place, so you need to do some middle of the night testing – a drag, I know, but the only way to find out what’s causing the high morning BGs. If you’re normal at 3 AM, it’s probably dawn phenomenon; if you’re high at 3 AM, it’s not enough basal.
For most people, diabetes will always require a lot of attention, and the realization that it will never be perfect, nor even close, sometimes. Although I know how hard it is, try to keep your emotions out of it – the numbers are just information, and give you a clue as to what to do. Not an answer, mind you, just a clue. Sometimes you just have to take it as it comes – correct highs, and treat lows, because they are GOING to happen. Not because of anything you did, but just because the body is a complex system, and you are not in control of most of it. The only thing you can control is eating, exercise and insulin (and meds if you’re taking them), but the other things are going to do what they’re going to do. You can experiment, as She Ra did about the amount of exercise, or carbs you can tolerate, but don’t expect perfection, or consistency. That’s not the way the disease works. Just do what you have to do when you have to do it, and don’t beat yourself up about it! Good luck!
Ugh it does tend to drive you crazy dosen’t it? Dawn whatever is never gone. I’ve had Type 1 for 37 years and it still happens. I belive it’s a natural thing for your liver to dump some glucose into your system in the morning to get you ready for the day ahead (or something like that it even does it to “normal” ppl.'t think your missing anything here. HOLD ON AND SHOW DIABETES WHOSE BOSS! YOU CAN DO IT!!!
I take Metformin HCL 1,000 mg twice a day, Novolog on a sliding scale, and Levamir 80 units in the morning and 90 units at night. And…I take Cymbalta…I know…that’s a lot, but this is where I am. I was taken off Glyburide because my endocrinologist felt it was not doing me any good. She told me to increase my basal gradually if I needed to. As far as testing at 3:00 a.m., I did on Thrusday night (or should I say “morning”) and I was at 161…So, I just went back to sleep. I suppose I shouid have added more basal. By the way, how IS that handled if I awaken and find that I’m high?
Thanks Doris!!! I’m trying to hang in there as you said. It just makes me crazy!!! Fortunately, I work from home and I can have all the mood swings I want even though I take Cymbalta. I’m not a moody person, but if my numbers start out high, for whatever reason, it seems to dictate how I view myself for the day…which is a failure for not getting it right. It just seems to me that I cannot get this diabetes down to a science..
Well, if you awaken at 3 AM and find that you’re high, you can take a correction using rapid-acting insulin (Novolog in your case), if you know your insulin sensitivity ratio. That is, how much insulin drops you by how many mg/dl. And then, you should test again for 2 or 3 more nights to see if that’s a pattern. If you’re consistently high at 3 AM, your basal is not sufficient. Either you’re taking it too early, and it’s wearing off too soon (not likely with Levemir), or it’s simply not enough. You should present such findings to your endo, and discuss raising your basal. The goal is to have enough insulin to get you through the night and wake up at a reasonable number. It might not be your lowest number of the day, but it really shouldn’t be over 120 or so.
So do some more testing, and see what happens.
The only thing I can say is it’s NOT your fault if it isn’t right – you are assuming that you have lots more control over your body than you really do. No two days are alike, and your body will respond differently to each of them. All you can do is your best, and if today was not ideal (how many times has THAT happened to all of us?), there’s always tomorrow.
And diabetes is NOT a science – how can it be when you have no control over most of what’s going on? You just have to take it as it comes – be prepared to deal with whatever it hands you, knowing that it is usually unpredictable, and you just have to go with the flow! And not beat yourself up over it!
Take care, and be kind to yourself!
Usually my sugars are ok when I wake up, it’s after I get up and start moving that I have the problem. My sleep schedule is out of whack, because I work nights, so sometimes I’m sleeping during the day, and sometimes I’m awake. What I’ve noticed since I started wearing a CGM is that even if my sugars are perfect when I wake up, it starts increasing within an hour or so later. I’ve seen it increase as much as 100mg/dl, but usually it is more like 20-40mg/dl, and this is with no food. Very frustrating!