I have experienced the dawn phenomenon quite often. I am a type 1 and I use a pump too, so the way I deal with it is by having a different rate overnight than I do the rest of the day: it works.
As a Type 2, I have had some success controlling the overnight spikes by drinking a Glucerna shake before I go to bed at night.
Hi Khurt - yep dawn phenomenon happens with me alot. I can be 90 before bed and have 120 in the am 6-8 hours late (120 is rare however, mostly 108-110 in th am). I’ve tried to control it by not having any kind of carb snack before bed, but I have a habit of having an apple with cinnamon chopped up with a little Tupelo honey over it around 10pm. In the daytime - this snack doesn’t raise me up a bit but in combo with the natural phenom you mention above, it does raise me up in the morning. The earlier I get up, the higher the number usually - if I “sleep in” say past 9am, I have a pretty normal am reading.
Take care
Ed
I have the opposite effect.I go to bed with a BG of 80 to 90, and have woken up almost every day the last 3 weeks at 4:00 am with a BG of 50 to 55. I take 5 grams of carbs, get the BG up to the 70 to 80 range, and try to get some ZZZZZs. At 8:00 am, my BG hovers around the 70s to 80s. Don’t know what’s going on.Honeymoon period, perhaps?
I have a similar concern, but do not take insulin or meds…my blood sugars do pretty wild swings, and I too usually get up in the morning wth B.S. higher than they were the night before. In fact, my sugars often dip down right after a meal (way down), and are high 3 to 4 hours later; (around 144)…which shouldn’t be happening that late after a meal.
Non-diabetics, if tested, could experience a 20mg/dl or more rise difference between p.m. blood sugars as opposed to a.m. blood sugars. That’s a normal hormonal “circadian rhythm” thing, and nothing to really be concerned about.
Dawn phenomenon, when it rears it’s ugly head, causes one to find upon awakening a bg of 200, 300 or 400mg/dl, for example. My husband was one of the unlucky ones until he received his first insulin pump in 1996. I don’t think anyone can understand how difficult life can be with DP unless they’ve lived it. It’s terrible to wake up at 400, worry about how you can bolus and still safely drive to work, esp without eating breakfast, worrying about plummeting to a low # during who-knows-what at work, not to mention how horrible you feel when you’re high, or dropping quickly.
I’m not trying to minimize your concerns, but I’m just giving you a different perspective on DP.
Sorry Mary…I wasn’t really comparing myself to anyone, or suggesting that I’m worse off than anyone., or playing the “woe is me” game…I’m only trying to deal with what’s in front of me…I know fully well that thousands have it much worse than I .Though my B.S. don’t reach the highs of 400, they do dip pretty low…as low as 1.5 (27)…and again, I know that I’m not alone there, but this is a support group; and I just want to see who else has similar issues & what is done about it…sounds like your husband has a very rough go. Linda.