Why is my fasting glucose higher than after a meal?

Question

My fasting blood glucose in the AM is running high, around 160. Two hours after breakfast it's down to 140. Just before lunch, 115. I told my MD and diabetes nurse about it and they looked at me like I was crazy. I take Metformin and Glipizide, no insulin.

EMT - I check when I get up before I eat anything, then I chech again two hours after breakfast. The second reading -after breakfast- is always lower than the first -no food yet-

Answer 1

Sometimes your body makes your blood sugar level high in the morning as a balance to a low during the night. I am an insulin dependent type 1 diabetic and always check my nightime levels. I have noticed that if I go to bed with a 70-80 my fasting level is sometimes very high in the morning (despite no food since my nightime blood check). I asked my Diabetic consultant about this and he thought it was caused by my blood sugar levels dropping in my sleep and my body then releasing some glycogen to counterract it but then unlike someone without diabetes your body does not make insulin or enough insulin to balance that out again.You need to check your blood sugar before going to bed. It could also be caused by excessively high nightime levels that are still falling in the morning.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

I'm going to re-write my answer as I did not fully read the question and was way off base. I apologize and I stand corrected.

To have higher sugar in the morning is not all that unusual. There is something called the "dawn phenomena". When this happens, a person's sugar can rise in the early morning hours. It can sometimes lead to very high reading of 300+. While your morning sugars are high, the readings are not too bad but should be brought to your doctor's attention.

Since you are not on insulin, your medications may need adjusting to achieve a more optimal morning blood sugar. If you have been diabetic for some time, then your doctor may want to consider putting you on insulin in order to get and maintain better control (insulin isn't so bad...it's not the end of the world).

Keep careful track of what you are eating at night before bed and try to check your sugar more often (maybe every 4 hours for a few days) and see what the trend shows. It could be that a change in diet may be needed.

Take care.

EMT

Answer 4

There is a metabolic syndrome that, during the night, will cause your blood sugar to rise - I have the same problem. Keep track of your sugars and present it to your doctor. You might want to see an endocrinologist as well and it's possible that you might need an injection of a slower acting insulin before bedtime.

Good luck!

Answer 5

When are you taking your dosage of Rx? I take my long-acting insulin at night (12 hours after insulin in the morning, eat nothing after it, and still wake up fairly higher for a fasting sugar. (I'm type 1)
I don't understand it, either.

Answer 6

Besides the other suggestions, how often have you received this result. My doctor told me recently that meter reading are accepted if they are within 10-15% of accuracy. Use your testing solution to verify your results. Double check each test. Then move on to one of the other causes. The rise after a low at night is one that I have experienced. Take reading at midnight then 3am then morning and see if that explains it.
good luck!

Answer 7

I have the same thing. It is your liver putting sugar in to your system to help you get going for the day. Talk to your doctor about it and see about spredding out your meds more through the day.