So here's a weird (or not) experience. Yesterday, and for the past few days, my sugar levels have been running a bit high. I've been working ridiculous hours, not eating very well and not getting enough rest, likely. So, no big surprise.
Last evening, a little while after dinner, I decided to enjoy a little left over birthday cake we had from a party over the weekend. I checked by blood (it was 170) and took some humalog to drop it down and cover this piece of cake.
Then last night, about an hour after lights out, I'm awake! It's midnight, and I'm doing a bit of tossing and turning. It's hot, even though the AC is on. (I blame the dog on the bed. We normally don't let her do that.) I toss and turn and drift in and out of sleep for well over an hour. My stomach's feeling a bit off too. Not nauseous or achey, just...full? Anyway, I'm uncomfortable. I get up and decide to check my sugar level around 1:30, and it's 122. Excellent! I had been sort of kicking myself for not checking it before bed, but I see now that I covered that dessert well, or I seem to have anyway.
After more tossing and turning, and generally a lousy and un-restive (is that a word?) night, by 6:30 am as I'm going through my morning routine, I check my blood and it's 258.
What?! What happened to the 122?
Now I've often checked my blood sugar in the middle of the night, either because I feel low or just because I'm up and I might as well. And I generally do not see this big of a swing, and certainly not in that direction. I could see going from over 200 down to 120 because of my nightly Lantus, and I could see going from 120 to maybe 150...maybe. But not this.
STRESS, on the other hand, has been known to make my sugar level spike and it makes me think that my tossing, turning, I-can't-get-comfortable, would-you-stop-snoring-and-move-off-my-pillow, nighttime battle, got the better of me. And the stress of this just pushed my sugar levels higher.
It's all just a crap shoot, isn't it? You think you can control it. You think you can do the right thing, take the right dosages in order to have the right effect. You think you know what you're going through, but after 24 years...you, well, I....I still don't get it.
Hey Brian - I had what they call morning phenomena - sounds similar to what you are saying - I'd test 2:00 AM I'd be great - then 6:00 AM I'm 250. First I set my pump to accomodate for it but it wasn't until I got on a sleep machine - a CPAP that my morning phenom went away. I don't like sleeping with it all the time but getting a deep sleep helped my overall sugars get back in check too. The snoring really did it to me. Hope it gets better for you. All the best.
D
Hi Brian. My doctor calls it the "morning rise". Happens to me also. I was able to control it a little better until I went off the pump. It's almost impossible for me to control with shots. I usually just deal with the highs when I wake up in the morning. Have you ever tried the pump? It worked pretty well for me until I had some issues with scar tissue. Stress really gets me too.
You're not alone. This disease just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Hope things get better!
Crystal
I have a different theory. I think that when you tested your blood sugar and it was 122, your blood sugar was on the rise, which might explain the "full" feeling. To me, high blood sugar feels like fullness, and the sensation of your blood sugar rising feels like high blood sugar. So, sometimes, when I feel like I'm high, I test and I'm not actually high yet, but when I test later, I am. So that 122 tricked you, and you just went up higher. Maybe you didn't give yourself enough insulin for that cake, or the fat in the cake make it absorb slowly.
My understanding is that the "morning rise" phenomenon is caused by having low blood sugar in the night, which causes your liver to release sugar, which causes you to have high blood sugar when you wake up. But 122 is not low -- in fact, it's on the high side of normal. So I doubt it is morning rise.
Melissa - that makes a lot of sense.