I have wondered something......

When we check our fasting blood sugar, we naturally do it first thing in the morning. And when we go to the doctor to have it checked, we make early morning appointments of course. So therefore, we have been fasting for quite a long time.

However, do we take into consideration the Dawn Phenomanon? I mean, it happens to most of us that our fasting blood sugar is apt to be higher just because of that strange thing - how do we know what our REAL FBG is anyway? I figure that for every hour that one does not eat, early in the day, that sugar number is going to be skewed.

Do doctors even know about the DP and the effects that it can have? Makes me wonder, that's all.

My DCE knows about Dawn Phenomena. She mentioned to me that most of the Dawn Effect occurs during the night prior to waking but I am not sure I believe that for me. My BGs stay fairly constant from night to next morning but upon arising it starts to go up at least until I get something in my stomach.

I have even set alarms at various times during the night to see if perhaps it goes down and then back up prior to getting out of bed in the morning. Usually, it is fairly constant but really starts to move up after I get up and get moving.

I can't answer your FBG question though Rose.

The dawn phenomona occurs at about 2AM for me.I think
it's because the liver puts out a bit too much glucose-very
common in diabetics and somewhat common in nondiabetics.
A good doctor will ask you to record your glucose numbers at
various times of the day and examine them.Wakeup FBG is somewhat important but overrated.
Eddie

Sure doesn't seem like it, Rose... heck it seems like most of them aren't even concerned if your FGT is the high end of normal. They don't seem to think further testing is necessary. Kinda scary!

Wait a sec, Marcia - you mean there is a doctor that doesn't want to do more tests? Hee hee, this is a lead-in to a joke, my husband heard this yesterday, here it comes:

Q: What is a doctor's definition of a healthy person?

A: Someone who hasn't had enough tests!!!

(Ok I am over it now)

ROFL!!! That's a good one, Rose! Hmmm... come to think of it I wonder why they don't pursue it when they see someone with a high/normal FBG. Just think of how many more folks they could get on meds!!! That means they truly don't understand the importance of PP results.

In the past, I've awaken at 7am, checked my FBG immediately, then without eating anything, checked it 2 and 3 hours later and noticed a rise of about 20 points.

In my observation of the dawn phenomena, I think it has a lot to do with what we ate the night before and the length of time since that last eaten meal. I think it happens more when we are not consistent in our meal time, our time to take medicines, vitamins, etc..., and when we are not active enough and are still carrying around too much body weight...

As of the last month of being here in China, my BG is a lot more consistent. From my evening meal till my 1st meal of the next day, be it early or late, my numbers don't fluctuate by more then about 5 points.... I'm very thankful for that...

Any FBG reading is real... REAL for that moment! What is real and normal is our BG levels will always have some fluctuation, no matter how good our control gets...

Dawn phenomena is with us all.

However, with my insulin regimen now I have pretty much eliminated it entirely. I also still take metformin ER.

Sometimes, though, if I have had more carbs the day before I may also need some fast insulin in the morning to offset an increase in BG overnight.

But when behaving quite well and keeping my carbs below 60g or so the previous day, my morning BG numbers are good.

I am taking levemir 44/28 morning/night and it is covering quite well giving most readings now in the 80s or low 90s.

Ralph

Good question! Could it be that if they dx'ed and treated on lower #'s they'd be sending too many people to the ER with HypoG? So they (Big Phama & the Medical Industry) set the # for dx'ing at a level to support the drugs?