Post breakfast spike

Many thanks Terry. Very helpful article.
Fiona

I can be flat line all night, not have eaten since 6 the night before and pretty as you please at around 4:30-6:00 I will spike upwards. It’s amazing to see on my graph to me as this nice flat line and then whoop upwards, sometimes slowly and sometimes a huge spike. Right now my DP is very mild and my FOTF is decreasing, but I am still eating the same way.

In my case my thyroid has always been a major factor for me. My thyroid they know is an issue and they keep a close eye on it. If I stop my thyroid supplements my thyroid levels shoot up and I start waking in sweats in the am and major DP increases. Hormones play a major part for me.

Interesting. I didn’t know about the thyroid diabetes link. My thyroid has been low for over a decade and lately thyroid has been fluctuating And my blood sugars are going haywire. If only things would be logical and stable!!! The diabetic lament!!

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I abuse my basal rate a little starting 50 minutes before breakfast. Pre-treating the morning rise is the only way I’ve found to stay ahead of it. that said, I have to get up and eat breakfast on time, or end up hypo.

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I was diagnosed with a past endo and she had been open to me trying supplements first. I stopped taking them for a little while where I have moved too and my DP hit with a vengeance and my thyroid was through the roof at my next thyroid blood test with my current endo. I told her I had been successful before with supplements and she was fine with me trying them, she knew my thyroid had been better. She now tests me every 3 months so she would catch a problem anyways.

That said the Thyroid is considered a mother hormone which sends out signals to all different organs in the body. I had a heck of a time with menopause until I helped my thyroid. But thyroid issues affect all sorts of things, it actually plays a part with a lot of body functions…

Here is kind of a nice link that lists all sorts of things.

Hi Pam, I’ll agree with the “feet on the floor” response with my plan:
Within 20-30 min of getting up, my sugars are up 15-30 points & will continue to maybe 70 points higher. What I started doing was bolus for “fake” carbs". Start with 5-10 grams & increase every few days until you do not see the rise. I can even start rising if I toss about in bed trying to go back to sleep! Good luck, there are quite a few people who notice this. I’ve even heard it called “shower rise”.

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Lol…there is a separate shower rise too. Some people drop with hot showers, some people’s numbers go up. I had heard of more people having drops, but someone actually did a brief survey of type 1’s and there were a few that didn’t experience anything, but on the ones that did it was actually 50/50 on either increasing or dropping. I happen to increase pretty rapidly, I can go up 60 points in 20 minutes. The earlier in the day if I take a long shower the more significant the increase, by night the increase is much smaller. I end up feeling pretty cruddy not because of the higher number but because of the fast increase. I take lukewarm/cooler showers now in the evenings, If it’s under 5 minutes I’m fine, but it’s when I wash my hair and I’m in longer that it’s a problem. I used to know someone that used hot showers to purposely lower her higher BG levels.

The thing I’m struggling with the most is that my numbers have been pretty steady for months and months with some tweaking but now! I am zigzagging up and down. My normal fixes either don’t work or they skyrocket me (glucose tablets) all in the same day. I am not stressed. Don’t seem to be sick. Things are crazy suddenly for no discernible reason. It is a struggle

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Are your basal rates correct for the time of day? Day light savings can throw a lot of us off and if your pump doesn’t have the correct time it will mess up your BG’s.

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I feel you on this one. Ive been type 1 for over 30 years and ometimes I almost think “I’m fixed, I’ve cracked it!”, and it’ll go so well.for weeks/months, but I am having a bit of a tough time too lately.

For me it definitely helps if i maintain roughly the same amount of carbs per day. I’ve never been able to experience that total freedom that was promised in DAFNE about eating what you like, when you like, as long as you bolus for it. Maybe that means that I have never quite got my basal right (not for want of trying), but the majority of the time - up until recently - I had my basal right for the amount of carbs I usually eat. I realise that may not make an awful lot of sense to lots of people, but that’s how it seems for me.

Recently I think hormones are playing a much larger part in the regular major swings I experience - I’m a 44 year old woman and the menopause is hovering on the horizon. I wonder if hormones (other than thyroid) could be playing a part for you?

Exactly. That feeling that “I’m fixed” followed by the inevitable week or two where none of your settings/numbers work. Frustrating. It is helpful to have people here to bounce ideas off of and get feedback.
p.s. Hormones are part of the equation for sure!

I inject insulin and have similar experiences unique to the morning. Predawn or feet-on-the-floor spikes are uncommon. I do have the occasional experience with dramatic BG rise after the bolus and before I eat. Almost like the insulin is playing an opposites game. Eventually it may fall, and I have to watch the CGM diligently. If it falls quickly I have to eat when BG hits 130+/-. Otherwise it’s likely to drop into a low before the food kicks in.

The more frequent dramatic rise is related to the speed of insulin absorption. That varies all over the map in the morning, as do my injection sites. I now consume breakfast carbs in 2-3 settings in order to monitor what’s going on. If I eat a full carb load (usually 40-45g) at one setting, I may suddenly discover BG at 200+ like the bolus is missing in action. Eating in stages is inconvenient but retirement makes it easier. And hey, the Hobbits did it all the time in LOTR. And I can simply call it done after Part 1 or Part 2 if absorption ends up a long term affair.

I have read about each person’s unique circadian rhythms in the transition from sleep to waking as being responsible for the morning crazies. And we all cope as best we can.

Just when I’ve been in a nice steadily decreasing FOTF issue for quite a while , it has stopped all together and DP is back lol… It’s been 4 days now so I am going to switch to my DP program with a few tweaks.

And you know as soon as I do I will revert back to FOTF!

I had never heard of the FOTF pattern before but definitely have been experiencing that the last few weeks

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