It is called "dawn phenomenon" or a liver dump. It's pretty common
among we T2s.

What do you eat for your bedtime snack?

Hi SS,
You'll learn a lot from this group. I have just recently delurked, so I'll
use this post to say hi to everyone.I dealt with this problem for ages,
eating less and less in  the evening which made it even higher in the
morning.My numbers would continue to get a whole lot higher the longer I
didn't eat.Even eating some protein like cheese or eggs didn't help. I
actually found, as have some others here, that a small amount of carbs in
the morning stopped it from doing this. Grandpa Chuck's questioning about an
evening snack may be the solution to your problem. It helped although not
entirely corrected mine. You'll have to experiment a little and find out how
it affects you. FWIW, my spikes were a lot worse than 0.5 to 1mmol.
Found this article which may be of interest.
http://tinyurl.com/b6qcr

Craig
Type 2
NSW
Australia

There is a very good reason.

It's called "The Dawn Phenom".

Here's some info:

During the night while you're asleep and can't be eating, the body still
needs some energy to keep it going.  So, glucose, which has been stored in
the liver as "glycogen" is released into the blood.  In preparation for
waking, the body sends out the biggest batch of glycogen in the last few
hours before waking... usually between 3a - 8a. Also in these wee hours of
the morning, the body puts out  other hormones from the adrenal and
pituitary glands... It's all part of the normal cycle for these hormones.
They signal to the body that a new day is starting.  They rev you up and
get you ready to awaken.  BUT... they also have an added effect on the
liver that makes it less sensitive to insulin.  In non diabetics, this
doesn't pose any problem...  But in us diabetics, the liver dumping
glucose, coupled with the insulin dampening hormones mean we awaken with
high BG.

Now.  What can be done?

When I was first diagnosed 6/99 ... I worked
soooo hard to gain control of my BG.  And I did pretty damn good.  The only
thing I couldn't get under control were my morning numbers (FBG; Fasting
Blood Glucose).

I read all I could on the subject. (That's how I could come up with the
lengthy response above)... but no answers.  I tried every suggestion that
anyone came up with.  High carb snacks before bed.  Low carb snacks before
bed.  Not eating anything after 6p.  A glass of wine at 10p (that one I
liked)... etc. etc. etc.

Nothing changed it.  No matter what I did, my FBG numbers were always the
highest of the day.  My other numbers were just where I wanted
them... (I tested often... 1 hour after each meal and 2hrs after each
meal, morning and bedtime... 5 - 8x a day).  And my A1cs were and continue
to be in the normal range.
Because of that, I chose not to lose any sleep over those pesky FBGs.

So, in my opinion, keep trying, but work much harder on your Post Prandial
readings (Post Prandial or PP means "after meals").  There have been
studies that say they are the most indicative of future problems... not the
FBG.

Hang in.  It's all a learning process.  The best thing you can do is TEST
TEST TEST.

Jennifer

Dawn phenomenon.

Hi everyone! Such a wonderful website. It's my first post here.

I just had one more comment on high morning values.
While it definitely may mean it's the dawn phenomenon , it may also reflect
suboptimal basal control of blood glucose ( for example if someone is on
insulin he/she may need more lantus/long acting insulin).

So before we attribute it to the dawn phenomenon and overeat at night we need
to make sure the basal control is adequate.

Just my 2 cents :)