Why All The Morning Highs?
Sometimes diabetes doesn’t make a lot of sense. Think of those mornings when you wake up to find your blood glucose looking as if you’ve been up all night eating cookies. What’s up with that? You’d think that not eating for those seven or eight hours would give you lower blood glucose, right? Such morning highs are common in people with diabetes, but one of the reasons has a particular name: the dawn phenomenon. The dawn phenomenon is a natural rise in blood glucose between 4 and 8 a.m., which happens because of hormonal changes in the body. All people have the “dawn phenomenon,” whether they have diabetes or not. People without diabetes would never notice it happening, as a normal body’s insulin response adjusts for this. However, because people with diabetes don’t have normal insulin responses, they may see an increase in their fasting blood glucose. This is primarily because people with diabetes produce less insulin and more glucagon than they need. The less insulin produced by the pancreas, the more glucagon the pancreas makes as a result. Glucagon, in turn, signals the liver to break down its storage supplies of glycogen into glucose. This is why high fasting blood glucose levels are commonly seen in patients with type 2 diabetes. The effects of dawn phenomenon vary in each person, and your blood glucose may be higher on some mornings than on others. But not to worry—there are steps you can take to get those numbers down and start your days more comfortably in your target blood glucose range. Treatment for dawn phenomenon depends on how you treat your diabetes. If you take insulin, you may be able to adjust your dosing so that peak action occurs closer to the morning rise in your blood glucose. If you have type 2, diabetes pills provide options as Continue reading >>
New Research On High Glucose Levels
American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines advise “lowering A1C to below or around 7%” and postprandial (after-meal) glucose levels to 180 mg/dl or below. But new research shows that these glucose levels damage blood vessels, nerves, organs, and beta cells. An article by diabetes blogger Jenny Ruhl analyzes at what blood glucose level organ damage starts. According to Ruhl, research shows that glucose can do harm at much lower levels than doctors had thought. This news could be discouraging or even terrifying. If it’s hard to meet your current glucose goals, how will you reach tighter goals? Such news might make some people give up. But remember, a high postprandial or fasting reading won’t kill you. All we know is that higher numbers correlate with higher chances of complications. You have time to react. In fact, we could choose to look at this as good news. We all know of people who developed complications despite “good control.” But complications are not inevitable; it’s just that so-called “good control” wasn’t really all that good. First, the numbers. “Post-meal blood sugars of 140 mg/dl [milligrams per deciliter] and higher, and fasting blood sugars over 100 mg/dl [can] cause permanent organ damage and cause diabetes to progress,” Ruhl writes. For nerve damage, University of Utah researchers studied people with painful sensory neuropathy, or nerve damage. They found that participants who did not have diabetes but who had impaired glucose tolerance on an oral glucose tolerance test, or OGTT, (meaning that their glucose levels rose to between 140 mg/dl and 200 mg/dl in response to drinking a glucose-rich drink) were much more likely to have a diabetic form of neuropathy than those with lower blood glucose levels. The higher these OGTT num Continue reading >>
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- Why do I have high blood sugar levels in the morning?
Controlling The Dawn Phenomenon
One of our most stubborn challenges is to control the dawn phenomenon. That’s when our fasting blood glucose readings in the morning are higher than when we went to bed. The dawn phenomenon is a normal physiological process where certain hormones in our body work to raise blood glucose levels before we wake up, as we wrote in The New Glucose Revolution: What Makes My Blood Glucose Go Up…And Down? Professor Jennie Brand-Miller of the University of Sydney, Kaye Foster-Powell, and I co-authored that book (Marlowe & Co., first edition 2003, second American edition 2006). These so-called counter-regulatory hormones, including glucagon, epinephrine, growth hormone, and cortisol, work against the action of insulin. They stimulate glucose release from the liver and inhibit glucose utilization throughout the body. The result is an increase in blood glucose levels, ensuring a supply of fuel in anticipation of the wakening body’s needs. If you take insulin injections, it could be that the effect of insulin you took is waning. Your blood glucose will rise if you didn’t take enough to keep your insulin level up through the night. The dawn phenomenon varies from person to person and can even vary from time to time in each of us. That much was clear when our book came out. But how to control it was a different story. A couple of years ago here I wrote about several efforts for “Taming the Dawn Phenomenon.” People have tried everything from eating a green apple at bedtime to high-maize grain to uncooked cornstarch. None of these remedies that I have been able to try ever worked for me. I always thought that the most promising remedy was one that a correspondent named Renee suggested – vinegar capsules. “I am still using vinegar tablets (usually 8) each night and have us Continue reading >>
Could Slightly High Blood Sugar Cause Neuropathy?
My glucose levels usually run between 120 and 135 with a nonfasting blood test, though do not have a diagnosis of diabetes. I suffer greatly with my feet and been told by a podiatrist that it is neuropathy. Is it possible that my high glucose levels are causing the neuropathy? Dear Terry, Thanks for your question. I like to think of blood glucose values as a spectrum of numbers with no clear cutoff between nondiabetic and diabetic. In similar manner there is a gray area of blood glucose that defines pre-diabetes. Many people use blood sugar and blood glucose interchangeably. The definition of diabetes has changed over time. The numbers you quote might very well be considered diagnostic of diabetes today whereas they were not 20 years ago. In 1997, the American Diabetes Association definition of normal blood glucose decreased from 120 to 110 mg/dL (6.1 mmol/L). In 2002, the American Diabetes Association defined a normal fasting blood glucose as less than 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L). Today we consider fasting blood sugars of 100 mg/dl to 125mg/dl to be in the realm of glucose intolerance which is sometimes called pre-diabetes. These patients are at increased risk for developing frank diabetes. Several fasting glucose levels over 125 or a single random glucose over 200 mg are considered diagnostic of diabetes. There are other tests used to make the diagnosis of pre-diabetes or diabetes. Pre-diabetes is defined as a blood sugar of 140 to 199 mg/dL (7.8 to 11.0 mmol/L) two-hour after drinking 75 grams of an oral glucose solution. The diagnosis of diabetes is confirmed with a blood sugar of 200 mg/dL or greater, two hours after ingestion of the glucose solution. Hemoglobin A1C is a blood test that gives an estimate of blood sugar levels over the previous three months. Persons with Continue reading >>
Why Is Blood Sugar Highest In The Morning?
Many people with diabetes find that their fasting blood sugar first thing in the morning is the hardest blood sugar to control. In addition, they find that if they eat the same food for breakfast as they do for lunch or dinner they will see a much higher blood sugar number when testing after breakfast than they see at the other meals. The reason for this is a normal alteration in hormones experienced by many people not just people with diabetes. It is called "Dawn Phenomenon." What Causes Dawn Phenomenon? The body prepares for waking up by secreting several different hormones. First, between 4:00 and 6:30 a.m. it secretes cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. You may recognize these as the hormones involved in the "fight or flight response." In this case, their job is more benign, to give you the energy to get up and moving so you can find the food your body needs for energy. To help you do this, these hormones also raise your blood sugar. After a long night's sleep, the fuel your body turns to to get you going is the glucose stored in the liver. So after these stress hormones are secreted, around 5:30 a.m., plasma glucose rises. In a person with normal blood sugar, insulin will also start to rise at this time but many people with diabetes won't experience the corresponding rise in insulin. So instead of giving their cells a dose of morning energy, all they get is a rise in blood sugar. Not Everyone Experiences Dawn Phenomenon Researchers who have infused different hormones into experimental subjects have found that the trigger for dawn phenomenon is a nocturnal surge in growth hormone. If they block the growth hormone, blood sugars stay flat. This may explain why some people, particularly older people, do not experience a rise in blood sugar first thing in the mor Continue reading >>
Controlling The Dawn Phenomenon
Do you wake up with a blood glucose level that’s higher than when you went to bed? You might wonder how this could be. Is this “dawn phenomenon” serious, and what can you do about it? Our reader Mishelle commented here, “I don’t eat [much] during the day. [I take metformin morning and night.] My blood sugar is still too high in the morning…sometimes 125–140ish.” How can Mishelle’s glucose levels go up if she didn’t eat anything? She probably has a mild case of dawn phenomenon. Her glucose is going up from sources other than digested food. Some of it is produced by the liver from stored starch and fatty acids. Livers that produce too much glucose are one of the main ways diabetes causes high blood glucose levels. Other organs also produce small amounts of glucose. This is called “gluconeogenesis” for you science freaks out there. Organs do this to keep blood glucose from going too low at night or other times of not eating. From about 2 AM to 8 AM, most people’s bodies produce hormones, including cortisol, glucagon, and epinephrine. All these hormones increase insulin resistance and tell the liver to make more glucose. The idea is to get you enough glucose to get out of bed and start the day. The whole process is apparently started by growth hormones. Everyone has a dawn phenomenon. Otherwise they’d be too weak to get breakfast. But in people without diabetes, insulin levels also increase to handle the extra glucose. People with diabetes can’t increase insulin levels that much, so their early morning blood glucose levels can rise dramatically. Experts disagree on how many people have a dawn phenomenon. Estimates range from 3% to 50% of Type 2s and from 25% to 50% of Type 1s. Is dawn phenomenon a serious problem? It can be serious. According t Continue reading >>
Is 6.6/ 120 Blood Sugar Level Too High?
We love answering reader questions so if you ever have one yourself, please send it in Todays question: I was wondering if a 120 blood sugar level is too high? For those measuring blood sugar in mmol, 120 is equal to 6.6 mmol/l. So let's look at a blood sugar chart, then have a chat about optimal levels. Diabetes Blood Sugar Level Goals mg/dl levels mmol/l levels As you can see from this chart, a level of 6.6/ 120 is not too high. Ideally you do want it under 110 (6.1) for your morning fasting level. But lots of people do find their morning levels higher. Read this to find out why. You can also see that having a 120 (6.6) reading 2 hours after meals would be excellent and before bed a reading of 120 (6.6) is in the mid range too, so that's perfectly okay. The Most Important Number The most important number to keep in mind is 140 (7.8). You do not want to let your blood sugar levels get above 140 (7.8) for any prolonged length of time. When your blood sugar goes over 140 (7.8) this is the ‘danger' level. Having a blood sugar above 140 (7.8) for prolonged periods does some critical damage that can lead to diabetic complications, which nobody wants. So the target is always under 140 (7.8) after meals, 120 (6.6) is even better. 6.6 / 120 Blood Sugar Level Although 120 is not too high, ideally you do want to gain very good control of your blood sugar levels by following a healthy diet and doing regular exercise. If you can get your fasting level between 90-100 mg/dl (5-5.5 mmol/l), and your 2 hour reading between 120-140 mg/dl (6.6-7.8 mmol/l) then that is optimal. These are goals to work towards. While you're here be sure to grab your FREE copy of our blood sugar levels chart. It contains some great tips on lowering high levels too. You just never know when you might need Continue reading >>
What Are The Ideal Levels Of Blood Sugar?
A blood sugar or blood glucose chart identifies ideal blood sugar levels throughout the day, including before and after meals. Doctors use blood sugar charts to set target goals and monitor diabetes treatment plans. Blood sugar charts also help those with diabetes assess and self-monitor blood sugar test results. What is a blood sugar chart? Blood sugar charts act as a reference guide for blood sugar test results. As such, blood sugar charts are important tools for diabetes management. Most diabetes treatment plans involve keeping blood sugar levels as close to normal or target goals as possible. This requires frequent at-home and doctor-ordered testing, along with an understanding of how results compare to target levels. To help interpret and assess blood sugar results, the charts outline normal and abnormal blood sugar levels for those with and without diabetes. In the United States, blood sugar charts typically report sugar levels in milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL). In the United Kingdom and many other countries, blood sugar is reported in millimoles per liter (mmol/L). A1C blood sugar recommendations are frequently included in blood sugar charts. A1C results are often described as both a percentage and an average blood sugar level in mg/dL. An A1C test measures the average sugar levels over a 3-month period, which gives a wider insight into a person's overall management of their blood sugar levels. Blood sugar chart guidelines Appropriate blood sugar levels vary throughout the day and from person to person. Blood sugars are often lowest before breakfast and in the lead up to meals. Blood sugars are often highest in the hours following meals. People with diabetes will often have higher blood sugar targets or acceptable ranges than those without the condition. These Continue reading >>
Understanding Fasting Blood Sugar
Among the most common questions people have about Type 2 diabetes is this: how can they lower their fasting blood sugar? To answer this question in a way that will help you lower your blood sugar we are going to have to first explain why doctors measure fasting blood sugar and what it does--and does not--tell us about our blood sugar health. WHAT IS FASTING BLOOD SUGAR? Traditionally, fasting blood sugar is the value you get when you test your blood sugar after an 8 hour long fast--which is usually immediately upon waking. In a normal person this fasting blood sugar would also be the "baseline" blood sugar--the level to which blood sugar returns a few hours after every meal all day long. However, for reasons we will discuss later on, this is often NOT the case for people with Type 2 diabetes, whose morning blood sugars may be much higher than the baseline level they achieve after meals for the rest of the day. Doctors have for decades relied on the FPG (fasting plasma glucose) test which measures fasting blood sugar to diagnose diabetes. The reason for this is NOT that FPG test results predict diabetic complications. They don't. Post-meal blood sugar tests are a much better indicator of whether a person will get the classic diabetic complications, and the A1c test is a better indicator of potential heart disease. But the FPG test is cheap and easy to administer, hence its popularity. The value most of us would find much more helpful in assessing our health is not fasting blood sugar but something else: the number of hours a day our blood sugar spends elevated over the level known to cause complications, which is roughly 140 mg/dl (7.7 mmol/L). A person can wake up with a FPG of 130 mg/dl (7.2 mmol/L), but if it drops after breakfast and most hours of the day are spent w Continue reading >>
Why Is Blood Sugar High In The Morning?
Here you'll find info about why blood sugar is high in the morning, along with tips and resources to lower those numbers! A while back I had a client sending me her blood sugar charts every few days and on those charts she always made some notes if she had questions. Every time she sent them through, I noticed she had 3 big question marks (???) against her morning blood sugar results. And on another morning when her morning blood sugar levels were high at 160 mg/dl (or 8.9 mmol/l). She had written: I don't understand. 97 mg/dl (or 5.5mmol/l) last night when I went to sleep. I didn't eat anything because I didn't feel well. Humm… I was also over in one of the online diabetes groups I'm involved in today and this message popped up. I'm struggling with my morning BS number. When I went to bed around 11PM my BS was 107. I'm waking up with my BS between 120 – 135. I did put two pieces of string cheese next to my bed and when I woke up around 3am, I ate one. Since I was told to eat protein at night. When I woke up 3 hours later my BS was 130. I didn't want to eat anything large since it's so close to 140 (my goal is to keep it below 140). So I had 1 piece of toast (sugar free wheat bread) and just a tiny bit of peanut butter. I checked it an hour later and it was 161! What am I doing wrong? Do these morning situations sound familiar to you? Are you constantly questioning: Why is blood sugar high in the morning? I mean, logically we'd think that it should be at it's lowest in the morning right? Well don't panic, there is a reason for it, so let's explore why morning blood sugar is often higher. And at the end, I'll also point you toward some resources to help you lower those levels. Why Is Blood Sugar High In The Morning? Although it would seem logical that your body would Continue reading >>
Want To Know If Your Diet Is Healthy? Track Your Blood Sugar.
Are you confused if what you are eating is healthy? Are whole grains good for us? Do we need to be gluten free? Should we be eating dairy regularly? What about fruit? Nuts? Beans? Ahhhhhhhh! Let’s face it, there is A LOT of conflicting diet information out there. Where do you even start? Well it all comes down to one very basic thing…your blood sugar. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to take weeks of diet diaries and calorie counting. Nor does it require reading endless books, websites, studies, and journals to get the most up-to-date nutrition advice. It is really quite simple, and it can be tested. Wouldn’t it be great to know when you eat something how the inside of your body responds? Does it give you the green light or the red light? Well, you can learn this with a very inexpensive piece of equipment that you can find at any drug store or pharmacy called a glucose meter or glucometer. Click here for a video tutorial on how to test your blood sugar. ……. So, ask your body what it thinks of the food you are eating by taking your blood sugar. Here is a quick & very basic break down on how your blood sugar works. Step 1: You eat a food Step 2: It gets broken down into two categories: stuff the body will use and stuff that will become waste Step 3: Glucose, aka blood sugar, is one of the essential breakdown products of food that the body and brain use for fuel Step 4: Depending on the types of food you just ate, your blood sugar rises. If you just ate a meal high in starch and sugar, your blood sugar rises high over a normal fasting level. If you just had a meal of healthy fats and proteins, your blood sugar does not rise as high. ……. Having a normal functioning blood sugar is the key to optimal health and the prevention of chronic dis Continue reading >>
What Is Ok For A Sugar Level?
Normal Fasting Blood Sugar Levels Your body uses glucose for energy. When you wake up in the morning after fasting for at least eight hours, your blood sugar should fall between 70 and 100 milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dL. Levels between 100 and 120 mg/dL in the morning indicate that you have pre-diabetes, a condition that makes it likely that you'll develop type II diabetes in the future, the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse warns. Blood Sugar After Eating What you eat and how much you eat influences how high your blood sugar level rises after eating. If you have a normal blood sugar level, your level even after eating normally won't rise above 125 mg/dL most of the time, according to MedlinePlus. When testing for diabetes, a level of less than 200 mg/dL one hour after ingesting a high-glucose drink or snack and less than 140 mg/dL two hours after ingestion is considered non-diabetic, MedlinePlus also reports. A blood sugar level that is between 140 to 199 mg/dL zero to two hours after ingestion indicates pre-diabetes, however. Diabetic Fasting Levels The American Diabetes Association says diabetics should maintain a normal fasting blood sugar level between 70 to 130 mg/dL. Some diabetics are prone to hypoglycemia, a condition in which blood glucose levels are less than 70 mg/dL. Hypoglycemia can lead to shakiness, sweating, trouble concentrating and loss of consciousness if not treated. If you have a tendency toward hypoglycemia, your doctor might suggest testing your blood sugar level more frequently or changing your diet. Diabetic Levels After Eating Compared to non-diabetics, blood sugar level in diabetics generally rises higher after a meal. According to the ADA, blood sugar level of diabetics should remain less than 180 mg/dL even after eating. If yo Continue reading >>
What Are Blood Sugar Target Ranges? What Is Normal Blood Sugar Level?
Understanding blood sugar target ranges to better manage your diabetes As a person with diabetes, you may or may not know what your target ranges should be for your blood sugars first thing in the morning, before meals, after meals, or at bedtime. You may or may not understand what blood sugar ranges are for people without diabetes. You may or may not understand how your A1C correlates with your target ranges. How do you get a clear picture of what is going on with your blood sugar, and how it could be affecting your health? In this article, we will look at what recommended blood sugar target ranges are for people without diabetes. We will look at target ranges for different times of the day for people with diabetes. We will look at target ranges for Type 1 versus Type 2 diabetes. Is there a difference? We will also look at what blood sugars should be during pregnancy for those with gestational diabetes. We will look at other factors when determining blood sugar targets, such as: Age Other health conditions How long you’ve had diabetes for Stress Illness Lifestyle habits and activity levels We will see how these factors impact target ranges for your blood sugars when you have diabetes. We will learn that target ranges can be individualized based on the factors above. We will learn how target ranges help to predict the A1C levels. We will see how if you are in your target range, you can be pretty sure that your A1C will also be in target. We will see how you can document your blood sugar patterns in a notebook or in an “app,” and manage your blood sugars to get them in your target ranges. First, let’s look at the units by which blood sugars are measured… How is blood sugar measured? In the United States, blood sugar is measured in milligrams per deciliter (by w Continue reading >>
High Blood Sugar And Dizziness In The Morning
A high blood sugar level due to diabetes or other situations can cause a variety of symptoms such as dizziness, and it can even lead to blindness, nerve damage, heart disease and other chronic problems. Morning can be a common time for high blood sugar levels. Understanding what causes a spike in blood glucose and knowing what steps to take to lower it can help you to prevent complications. If your blood sugar level is high in the morning most of the time, it is important to speak with your physician. Video of the Day Your blood sugar level naturally fluctuates throughout the day. The foods you eat, your level of physical activity, stress, illnesses and medications can make your blood sugar levels rise and fall. In general, a normal fasting blood glucose level is below 100 mg/dL, the National Diabetes Education Program says. Once your level reaches between 100 mg/dL and 125 mg/dL, you may be diagnosed with prediabetes. If your level climbs over 125 mg/dL on more than one testing occasion, you may have diabetes. The medical term for a high level of blood sugar is hyperglycemia. Depending on the cause, it can take hours or days for your blood sugar levels to become so high that you develop symptoms. Symptoms of high blood sugar include not only dizziness but dry mouth, thirst, frequent urination, blurry vision, fatigue, confusion and increased appetite, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics reports. In general, the more severe your symptoms, the higher your blood sugar levels are. If you are having strong dizzy spells, seek medical attention. Both those with and without diabetes can experience "dawn phenomenon," and those with diabetes can experience the "Somogyi effect." During the early evening, insulin -- whether produced by the body or taken as medication -- works Continue reading >>
Why Your “normal” Blood Sugar Isn’t Normal (part 2)
Hi, I just found this site and would like to participate. I will give my numbers, etc. First, my last A1c was 6.1, the doc said it was Pre-diabetes in January of 2014, OK, I get it that part, but what confuses me is that at home, on my glucometer, all my fastings were “Normal” however, back then, I had not checked after meals, so maybe they were the culprits. Now, I am checking all the time and driving myself crazy. In the morning sometimes fasting is 95 and other times 85, it varies day to day. Usually, after a low carb meal, it drops to the 80’s the first hour and lower the second. On some days, when I am naughty and eat wrong, my b/s sugar is still low, and on other days, I can eat the same thing, and it goes sky high, again, not consistent. Normally, however, since February, my fbs is 90, 1 hour after, 120, 2nd hour, back to 90, but, that changes as well. In February, of 2014, on the 5th, it was horrible. I think I had eaten Lasagne, well, before, my sugars did not change much, but that night, WHAM-O I started at 80 before the meal, I forgot to take it at the one and two hour mark, but did at the 3 hour mark, it was 175, then at four hours, down to 160, then at 5 hours, back to 175. I went to bed, because by that time, it was 2 AM, but when I woke up at 8:00 and took it, it was back to 89!!!! This horrible ordeal has only happened once, but, I have gone up to 178 since, but come down to normal in 2 hours. I don’t know if I was extra stressed that day or what, I am under tons of it, my marriage is not good, my dear dad died 2 years ago and my very best friend died 7 months ago, I live in a strange country, I am from America, but moved to New Zealand last year, and I am soooo unhappy. Anyway, what does confuse me is why the daily differences, even though I may Continue reading >>
