Hello,
I am wondering if anyone can answer my question. My sister is not on a pump or any technology like that. She just uses Dexcom. Anyways, lately when my sister goes to bed, she’ll have a really good blood glucose. However, more often it has occurred that her blood glucose sky rockets without her eating anything. Like yesterday she went to bed with a glucose of around 130 and it went all the way up to the 200’s. It’s been occurring so much! We can’t recall a day when she woke up and her glucose was under 150. Sometimes when she wakes up, her glucose starts rising without her eating. Does anyone have an idea of why this is occurring at nights? Thanks.
There is a factor called the dawn phenomenon which can cause blood sugars to rise overnight. I recommend she share her readings with her endo so the can consider options. With a pump (which I use) you can adjust your basal insulin “hour by hour.” With injections - which I can’t speak on very much - sometimes a change in timing of the basal injection, or type of insulin used for that injection, can make a difference. Her doctor will help determine how to handle.
Hi Alexa @arodric5002! When this happens to me, I discovered I have to increase my long lasting insulin every few days until my blood sugar is stable ( the graph on my Libre is pretty much a straight line).
I routinely have to increase and decrease my long lasting insulin based on where I am in my fertility cycle.
I hope this helps!
Hi Alexa @arodric5002. Correction, your sister uses the most advanced singular bit of diabetes management technology available - the Dexcom Glucose Sensor with its readings every five minutes. Other than insulin, there isn’t anything better for her than her CGM.
Why does your sister’s glucose rise? I’m not saying this as a joke, or to make light of a very serious issue for her [and for you], is because she had autoimmune diabetes; there are dozens of things, other than food, that causes our glucose level to go up - even to get very high. This condition, T1D, does many things to us - many unexplained high, or low glucose readings.
In itself, 130 mg/dl sounds “good”, but what you didn’t say was the direction of arrows, and what were her three previous readings and direction of arrow. I get more information from looking at arrows on my Dexcom than from the actual numbers. I look at “trends” to see if I need to adjust insulin doses - and I would NOT increase [or decrease] my insulin without seeing the same pattern, or trend, for at least three consecutive days. If you are seeing what you reported in your sister’s glucose spikes on consecutive days, her insulin may need to be increased.
I hope that you are using Dexcom Clarity so that all her readings are being preserved for study. Clarity is an awesome tool and reports can reviewed and shared. Also, you can upload her Dexcom data to Tidepool [tidepool.org] , a JDRF sponsored non-profit, to study her CGM data - reports are good ones for my study of my trends.
From what you have been sharing, Alexa, I admire your efforts taking care of your sister. You are awesome!
Is your sister eating within an hour or so before she goes to bed? If yes, then she probably needs more fast-acting insulin to cover her snack. If no, she probably needs more slow acting insulin. You didn’t mention her insulin types, times of doses, etc., those should be discussed with her doctor - preferably an experienced endocrinologist. Good luck!
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