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Dawn Phenomenon
Episode 5 • 6th April 2021 • Healing in Hindsight® • Taylor Daniele™
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You read the title right. In this episode, I break down what causes dawn phenomenon and different ways I try to keep my blood sugar stable throughout the night. As a new CGM owner, I don't want my alarm going off right when I need to get sleep. Because as you know EVERYTHING can impact your blood sugar.

KEY POINTS

  1. Let's break it down: What is Dawn Phenomenon?
  2. My personal experience
  3. How to adjust for stable numbers

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Transcripts

Taylor:

What's up everybody.

Taylor:

Welcome back to another episode of healing.

Taylor:

In hindsight, your no BS source for thriving with diabetes.

Taylor:

It's me again, Taylor.

Taylor:

Daniele, I hope you guys are having a good day.

Taylor:

I am , feeling kind of moody.

Taylor:

That's why I have this, this lip going.

Taylor:

I know it's like spring, but I tend to, I don't really follow seasonal trends.

Taylor:

I'm definitely the person who aware, boots in the summer.

Taylor:

I know that there were particular colors for fall and spring, but I

Taylor:

tend to wear fall colors year round, fall, winter colors year anyways.

Taylor:

I know I'm not the only person, but , yeah, I, so today's episode is it's funny.

Taylor:

Cause I liked the title because it's kind of, it's similar, like a dirty

Taylor:

joke, but that's not your thing.

Taylor:

Sorry, not really.

Taylor:

Sorry.

Taylor:

It's funny to me.

Taylor:

But I think it's something that is going to be, kind of interesting

Taylor:

for , non-diabetic friends.

Taylor:

I know definitely diabetic friends and I know the men kind of get it cause you

Taylor:

don't really ask for this to happen.

Taylor:

I don't think , and that's talking about high blood sugar numbers in the

Taylor:

mornings, which is called dawn phenomenon.

Taylor:

Or as I like to call it diabetic morning wood know.

Taylor:

What can I say, I'm, I'm corny, but you know, it's a thing, it's a thing.

Taylor:

And when I got my CGM, I actually started really noticing when it happened, because

Taylor:

I would start to have alarms and there's technically two different types of, ways

Taylor:

that you can end up with higher numbers in the mornings, but I'll get into that.

Taylor:

But I really don't want to talk about, what it is.

Taylor:

Why it happens and how we can kind of get a handle on it, or at least what

Taylor:

I've been doing to try and, ease my spirits whenever I get up in the morning.

Taylor:

And I check my numbers because it's a little defeating when you're trying to be

Taylor:

in range and you wake up and you have not eaten a thing and your numbers are crazy.

Taylor:

So let's get into it.

Taylor:

all right.

Taylor:

So diabetic morning would let's.

Taylor:

Talk about it.

Taylor:

It's, it's such an interesting thing.

Taylor:

You, you are diagnosed with this and I don't feel like I really would have

Taylor:

understood this , until I got my CGM, like I knew it was happening, but I really

Taylor:

just thought it was something I was doing.

Taylor:

Wrong.

Taylor:

I really thought that I was just, not doing well.

Taylor:

There were some mornings where I did have good numbers, but it was

Taylor:

like I had to either super early or not at all the night before.

Taylor:

And I'm taking my medication at weird times to try to like,

Taylor:

outbeat my morning numbers.

Taylor:

It's, it's a whole crazy thing.

Taylor:

So let's, let's break it down.

Taylor:

What is Dawn phenomenon as what it's called?

Taylor:

So it's basically, while you're sleeping.

Taylor:

Your body doesn't need as much energy.

Taylor:

Right?

Taylor:

And so when you're about to wake up, it gets ready to burn fuel because

Taylor:

it needs energy for you to wake up.

Taylor:

Right?

Taylor:

So it starts to tell your liver to start releasing more glucose, and

Taylor:

then that triggers your body to release the insulin because insulin

Taylor:

is what you need to use the glucose.

Taylor:

But as a diabetic, you usually don't need more glucose in your system at

Taylor:

the time, because you probably don't have enough insulin in your system.

Taylor:

Either because you can't make it because you need to manually inject

Taylor:

it for like my type one folks or you're really resistant to it.

Taylor:

So it's not that your body doesn't make it.

Taylor:

It's just really hard for yourselves to accept it and absorb it.

Taylor:

Right?

Taylor:

So that leads to just a bunch of glucose floating around in your system.

Taylor:

And you're not able to actually absorb anything for your

Taylor:

blood sugar levels stabilized.

Taylor:

So that equates to crazy numbers in the mornings.

Taylor:

And it typically happens between 3:00 AM and 8:00 AM.

Taylor:

And at first.

Taylor:

I was like, Hmm.

Taylor:

Maybe it's just like, something that I'm doing.

Taylor:

And I used to be , a middle of the night snacker.

Taylor:

And so I'm like, Oh, it's clearly because I'm doing that.

Taylor:

But since having my CGM , I have realized 100% that it's, it's definitely a thing.

Taylor:

Now, when I was doing the fingerprint glucose meter, I was definitely

Taylor:

having crazy numbers in the mornings.

Taylor:

And.

Taylor:

My dad actually told me, kind of broke this down for me because my grandmother

Taylor:

who also is diabetic , was having the same thing and she was really

Taylor:

stressing out about her morning numbers.

Taylor:

And it's just like, your body goes through this whole wake-up process.

Taylor:

And it's just, it's just what it does.

Taylor:

There's no way for your body to know fully like, Oh, Hey, so.

Taylor:

We're having trouble with, utilizing insulin.

Taylor:

So I probably shouldn't start dumping out glucose around this

Taylor:

time, because I know that you either manually need to give me some insulin

Taylor:

or you're having some resistance.

Taylor:

So I need to kind of back off doesn't know that at all.

Taylor:

It just continues to do its normal programmed function and

Taylor:

it, it kinda messes with this.

Taylor:

Right.

Taylor:

So my dad was telling me like, because we know that this happens like.

Taylor:

Don't take your morning numbers to equate to something that you like, you're just

Taylor:

a terrible person or something like that.

Taylor:

It's just part of the process and, maybe check a little bit later, or whatever.

Taylor:

But then at that point I've eaten, so it's like, okay, well maybe I should

Taylor:

check maybe after my first meal to see I'm trending back down, whatever.

Taylor:

But when I, my first.

Taylor:

My first two weeks with my CGM, especially the very first week.

Taylor:

Now, mind you, I'm in the midst of utilizing two different medications.

Taylor:

Okay.

Taylor:

So when I got my CGM, I got it in the middle of the week.

Taylor:

And so I wanted to make sure from a changing sensor kind of thing, I started

Taylor:

it fresh , on a Sunday or Monday , I ended up going with the Sunday, cause

Taylor:

that's when I also take my ozempic shot.

Taylor:

That I was also recently prescribed , that week.

Taylor:

So my endocrinologist took me off my kombiglyze extended release and my

Taylor:

glipizide extended release, but it was literally the middle of the week.

Taylor:

And so I decided to.

Taylor:

I don't know, I just like, even, even starts stuff like that.

Taylor:

So I finished out using the common glass and glipizide that week.

Taylor:

And as I was checking my blood sugar numbers , my numbers were

Taylor:

actually pretty good in the morning.

Taylor:

So, I start the CGM.

Taylor:

Actually, let's see, I got my CGM before I got my new medication with

Taylor:

my endocrinologist, so I didn't start my CGM until that Sunday.

Taylor:

And then.

Taylor:

During that week of my first week of having my CGM, that's when

Taylor:

I saw my endocrinologist and he scrapped my current medication

Taylor:

regimen and put me on a and

Taylor:

So I used my , current, my old medication regimen while going through my first

Taylor:

week with my CGM until that Sunday.

Taylor:

So I could start my shot and the syndrome, because I don't like switching

Taylor:

stuff in the middle of the week.

Taylor:

So.

Taylor:

I'm wearing my CGM and still taking common glides and glipizide.

Taylor:

And I'm having these weird drops around like three, between three

Taylor:

and two and 3:00 AM in the morning.

Taylor:

And the alarm on, at least for the freestyle, you can adjust the.

Taylor:

High glucose number, basically.

Taylor:

So when, when do you want it to be when your blood sugars, your, I

Taylor:

think it defaults from 70 to 180.

Taylor:

I've now changed it to 70 to one 60 because I was doing really well in range.

Taylor:

So I just slowly was taking it down.

Taylor:

I think the, the standard for someone who's non-diabetic is like

Taylor:

70 to 140, so I'm slowly bringing it down so I can keep myself in

Taylor:

range and the alarms really do help.

Taylor:

They really do so.

Taylor:

The low blood sugar though.

Taylor:

I don't, I don't feel my lows until I'm in like low 60 high fifties.

Taylor:

When I'm in the mid sixties to seventies, I don't really feel it.

Taylor:

And I don't, I don't have that.

Taylor:

The symptoms, when I get into like the 50 random, like high fifties,

Taylor:

that's when I started to feel the symptoms, but I usually don't

Taylor:

let myself get that far, but.

Taylor:

This particular CGM will not let me adjust it to like 65.

Taylor:

I tried to do that, but it flipped it back to 70.

Taylor:

So I was hitting under 70, around 2 to 3:00 AM and my alarm was going off.

Taylor:

And so I would scan myself and an average between I got between 62 and 69.

Taylor:

And I would sit till I felt a really need to grab a snack or, knock back some juice.

Taylor:

I have these little applesauce packs do , that I use.

Taylor:

And.

Taylor:

So I was fine.

Taylor:

And actually what I would do is I would sit for like five minutes

Taylor:

and it was scammed myself again.

Taylor:

And because I was awake and alert because my alarm was going off, my

Taylor:

numbers started to take back up.

Taylor:

So I think I got like 65, one night.

Taylor:

So I S I scan it.

Taylor:

I see that it's 65 and then I sit up and I wait, I'm trying to check how I feel

Taylor:

if I really am super low and I need to get something, and then I scan it again.

Taylor:

And it's already back to 70.

Taylor:

And then I'm like, okay.

Taylor:

So then I sit a little bit longer.

Taylor:

I scan it again and it's giving me the even sign.

Taylor:

It doesn't give me that it's necessarily like rising.

Taylor:

Like usually what I see after I eat, but it just slowly creeps up.

Taylor:

So I lay back down and go back to sleep.

Taylor:

And then I wake up like around seven 38 and a scan it again.

Taylor:

And it's like at like a hundred something.

Taylor:

I'm just like, wait a minute.

Taylor:

I haven't had anything in my sister.

Taylor:

It's insane.

Taylor:

Isn't it?

Taylor:

I will say having a CGM, I treat myself like , a product at the

Taylor:

grocery store where I'm like scanning myself every five seconds.

Taylor:

I'll like find random things and that will not random things, but like when it

Taylor:

comes to food, I kind of want to like buy something just to see like what it does.

Taylor:

Like, I dunno, CGMs are, it's an whole nother ball game when you can

Taylor:

kind of scan in a moment in now.

Taylor:

Yeah, I was, I was rising and so.

Taylor:

I realized though that, because I kept having the crazy low

Taylor:

drops , that I was actually experiencing the same Mogi effect.

Taylor:

I hope I'm saying that.

Taylor:

Right.

Taylor:

S O M O G Y I, and I don't know why the Y and I are together

Taylor:

because it makes sense, whatever.

Taylor:

Somogyi effect.

Taylor:

And that is when you have a really when you have a drop and then because you drop

Taylor:

super low , then you have to , either take something or it's because you

Taylor:

dropped your body's like, Oh, hurry up.

Taylor:

And then it spikes you back up.

Taylor:

So even, so it's still kind of like this crazy, crazy thing that.

Taylor:

Just the motion of rising sends your numbers up.

Taylor:

And that sounds very familiar to other people that I know where just because

Taylor:

they're waking up, you have morning wood.

Taylor:

I mean, we all know what happens.

Taylor:

It's it's it happens.

Taylor:

Because I remember asking, I would just be y'all know, real talk here.

Taylor:

Right.

Taylor:

I would ask my friends like, yo, what is it with?

Taylor:

Just.

Taylor:

Hey, like do something with that, put that away.

Taylor:

Right.

Taylor:

And I use that as my guy friends like, why, why is this?

Taylor:

Like, it's just, it's just waking up, just rising.

Taylor:

The blood is flowing.

Taylor:

And so is that, and I'm just like, all right, well, cool.

Taylor:

I guess, and it's probably why a lot of women enjoy, morning

Taylor:

sex because it's already there.

Taylor:

So you might as well utilize it.

Taylor:

Right.

Taylor:

I don't know.

Taylor:

So it's just one of those things that I just thought was kind of funny

Taylor:

and yet interesting that happens.

Taylor:

I wish that, it was kind of saying like, Hey, I'm getting ready to lay down, so

Taylor:

my numbers are gonna start to go down.

Taylor:

But it, it, unfortunately doesn't, it's seems to be

Taylor:

pertaining mostly in the morning.

Taylor:

Now, what I will say is that, I've I've noticed some really interesting

Taylor:

numbers even throughout the day where I'm like, I'm literally just sitting

Taylor:

and I'll scan and it's a little higher than normal, and I might've scanned

Taylor:

it an hour ago and it was fine.

Taylor:

So, I think that's also where , at least for us.

Taylor:

Getting some form of movement helps to knock that down.

Taylor:

I actually played around with, I ate something.

Taylor:

It was, I was having a food experiment.

Taylor:

I can't remember what it wasn't that I ate , that normally, it was like, you

Taylor:

might not want to eat that according to diabetic standards, if you will.

Taylor:

And it, it made my blood sugar eyes.

Taylor:

And so I remember an episode of elementary the modern Sherlock Holmes, if you will

Taylor:

, with , Oh my God, what's her name?

Taylor:

She's in Charlie's angels.

Taylor:

Lucy, LouLiu there you go.

Taylor:

And she, I can't remember, they were working her in Charlotte,

Taylor:

we're working on a case and they needed to stay up all night.

Taylor:

And she started doing these like squats, like really fast squats.

Taylor:

And she, obviously she was playing Watson.

Taylor:

She was talking about in med school.

Taylor:

That's what she used to do to, her, her blood pumping.

Taylor:

And it would keep her awake.

Taylor:

So I'm watching TV and I'm doing, working on something and I'm noticing

Taylor:

this rise and it's like, it's going up?

Taylor:

So I'm like, huh.

Taylor:

Okay.

Taylor:

So I start doing really fast, just standard standing squats,

Taylor:

trying to get my heart rate up.

Taylor:

I think I did.

Taylor:

Like twists, like, you just, how you stand and just college, your arms twist.

Taylor:

And then I did a few high knees and I scanned myself again and sure enough, my

Taylor:

blood sugar dropped a couple of points.

Taylor:

And so, granted, I.

Taylor:

Yeah.

Taylor:

I do not like cardio.

Taylor:

I do.

Taylor:

I do not like Cari.

Taylor:

I don't like it.

Taylor:

I don't like when my heart feels like it's about to burst out of my chest and, sweat

Taylor:

in general, just, it makes me feel gross.

Taylor:

It makes my.

Taylor:

My hair shrivel, for the curly girls out there.

Taylor:

It's, it's just a lot.

Taylor:

Okay.

Taylor:

I like weights because you don't even realize that your heart rate

Taylor:

is going up, but then, it does come down whenever you're resting between.

Taylor:

I liked the idea of testing my strength, but cardio is not.

Taylor:

A final one.

Taylor:

I will say though, I am glad.

Taylor:

And I don't know if I should really be glad about this, whatever,

Taylor:

but I don't have to run, to kind of get my heart rate up.

Taylor:

I just need to do a brisk walk, so I can get on a treadmill hit three.

Taylor:

And that keeps me where I am and I'm meeting my heart rate quota for the day.

Taylor:

If I do it for at least 30 minutes or so.

Taylor:

But it's true.

Taylor:

Getting your heart rate going is something that will help.

Taylor:

So that leads me to some things that I've been doing to kind of combat that and

Taylor:

some things that I've heard others doing, especially for those that take insulin.

Taylor:

So.

Taylor:

I've heard plenty of people talk about, the same for those who have

Taylor:

the Somogyi effect, where you drop really low in the middle of the night.

Taylor:

And then you're trying to like, get yourself back up and that's having

Taylor:

a, like protein, and a protein snack.

Taylor:

Before bed , to kind of help stabilize you , protein and fiber are two things

Taylor:

that really protein, fiber and fat , you know, especially when paired with

Taylor:

carbs , help slow down the release.

Taylor:

It helps make sure that your blood sugar remains stable.

Taylor:

So especially if you're having a carb-heavy dinner, definitely

Taylor:

make sure you've got some protein, fat and fiber , in it.

Taylor:

So that way you're not sending your number skyrocketing simply because , you've

Taylor:

had nothing but carbs for dinner.

Taylor:

Usually I try to actually keep , even my complex carbs, even though they're,

Taylor:

they're definitely good carbs, I try to keep them , to a minimum with my dinner.

Taylor:

So I try to, go veggie heavy, those types of carbs , and some

Taylor:

form of protein with my dinner.

Taylor:

And then like, for those of us who take oral medications , with their dinner.

Taylor:

So when I was on kombiglyze, I've had to take two tabs of that with my dinner.

Taylor:

But sometimes my dinner would be like around anywhere between six and eight.

Taylor:

But I'm not going to bed until like 10 or 11.

Taylor:

So I did an experiment with myself when I was still using my meter to

Taylor:

try to see if i can, get those numbers low is I ate my dinner earlier.

Taylor:

And then I took my medication like right before bed.

Taylor:

So like, 10 ten-ish.

Taylor:

So I might like eat my dinner around six and then take my medication around 10.

Taylor:

So that we, when it was still doing it slow release, it kept me even through

Taylor:

the morning that worked a little bit , it was kind of hit or miss.

Taylor:

I did try, eating my dinner later , at one point.

Taylor:

And then I also tried eating my dinner earlier, but also

Taylor:

taking my medication earlier.

Taylor:

And it seemed the average that worked was eating my dinner earlier, but taking

Taylor:

my medication later seemed to help.

Taylor:

I have heard of those who are on insulin , still eating their dinner,

Taylor:

but they don't actually take their insulin until right before bed.

Taylor:

So that way they have enough in their system.

Taylor:

So that way it doesn't like send the body into overdrive and needing to

Taylor:

Basically it's when it's dumping, when your liver is dumping the glucose,

Taylor:

you have some insulin on standby to help , absorb that up a little bit.

Taylor:

So your numbers can be a little bit more even , or not as high.

Taylor:

So it's.

Taylor:

It's an interesting thing.

Taylor:

I really try my best to watch my evening routine , with that, because it's

Taylor:

hard to , always think of that, in the mornings now, especially with having a

Taylor:

CGM and you can see throughout the day, I don't worry as much when my numbers are

Taylor:

higher in the morning, because a, I know what it is now that I know what it is.

Taylor:

It's just my body, it's , Like, when a cars, you need to start it after it's

Taylor:

been sitting for a minute, it's just, it starts out, the, the engine rev

Taylor:

goes a little bit higher than that one.

Taylor:

I just remember my dad was telling me once it gets to the one or a little bit

Taylor:

below that's when you're ready to pull out when you're warming up your car.

Taylor:

Right.

Taylor:

So it starts out and engines revving really high.

Taylor:

And then after you sit for a few minutes of slowly, just creeps back down, that's

Taylor:

pretty much what your body is doing.

Taylor:

It's doing the same thing and it's not the most exciting thing in the world.

Taylor:

And it's definitely a very frustrating thing because when, part of your

Taylor:

, diagnosis is managing numbers , not that we want to, because we have to

Taylor:

think about, the numbers on a scale and the numbers , for A1C and now numbers

Taylor:

on our blood sugar in the mornings and all these things, I have an exhibit

Taylor:

with a lot of numbers and I hate math.

Taylor:

Okay.

Taylor:

But knowing what it is has definitely helped me adjust and I don't.

Taylor:

Freak out as much , when it happens.

Taylor:

Cause I understand my body is just doing its natural thing.

Taylor:

And that helps me to, prepare for it.

Taylor:

Oh, I almost forgot one other thing that you could do that I haven't tried

Taylor:

myself yet, but I've read and communicate with other people that they do is doing

Taylor:

vigorous exercise in the evenings.

Taylor:

Because again, having a higher heart rate will lower your blood sugar.

Taylor:

Yeah.

Taylor:

So being able to get some exercise in before you lay down could also be helpful.

Taylor:

I have not tested this myself.

Taylor:

So please at your own will talk with your doctor.

Taylor:

Of course, obviously is all general advice, no medical advice here.

Taylor:

Just thoughts and experiences.

Taylor:

Right.

Taylor:

But I prefer to get my workouts in.

Taylor:

Preferably in the mornings, I'm starting to , do like midday walks , with my dogs

Taylor:

too, just down the street and back , to get me some kind of movement, in the

Taylor:

middle of the day, I used to do it when I worked at an office where I would, either

Taylor:

on my lunch break, cause I usually would just eat at my desk , or my breaks.

Taylor:

I would just walk around the building a couple of times, sometimes I would just

Taylor:

have meetings where we would just go outside and walk around to get out of

Taylor:

the office and get our blood flowing.

Taylor:

So now that I work from home, I'm trying to do that more as well.

Taylor:

But evening workouts are just hard for me.

Taylor:

I always have something going on, that's what happy hour is, and then I'll be

Taylor:

tired, and you can just like go work out and they go like meet up with people.

Taylor:

I mean, I guess we're not menial, but people like that, but that

Taylor:

was my excuse at the time.

Taylor:

I don't know.

Taylor:

Maybe I feel like if I had a treadmill in my house, I'd probably

Taylor:

be down for an evening walk.

Taylor:

My uncle used to do that all the time and they used to live in Waco.

Taylor:

They would actually go on night walks.

Taylor:

So when I would spend this up, I think it's been a, yeah.

Taylor:

When I spent a summer with them, we would go on evening, walks back

Taylor:

when, being out at night, wasn't something to be concerned about.

Taylor:

So, and it's me by myself.

Taylor:

And even though I've got two dogs, like it's too, it's it was, it was more lit

Taylor:

where they were, it's kind of dark where I am , even with the streetlights.

Taylor:

So I think I will not be doing the evening venture.

Taylor:

If I were to go to the gym in the evenings, that's also when most people

Taylor:

go to the gym because they're all off of work and crowds and I even.

Taylor:

Before pandemic.

Taylor:

I did not like when the gym was crowded, I like when it's empty,

Taylor:

which is usually why I try to get there in the mornings, because

Taylor:

nobody wants to be there that early.

Taylor:

I try to be, I try if I can be there right.

Taylor:

When they open at 5:00 AM.

Taylor:

I will.

Taylor:

I've only done it like three times this year, so far.

Taylor:

So we'll, we'll see

Taylor:

anyways.

Taylor:

Well, that's really all that I had for you guys today.

Taylor:

We deal with so much and it almost feels like there's a layer upon another

Taylor:

layer of something, but the more, the more you can do stuff to prevent it.

Taylor:

So I hope this was helpful in some ways, I always feel like I'm saying that , after

Taylor:

I talked to you guys, because I want to make sure I'm giving you content.

Taylor:

That makes sense.

Taylor:

So with that being said, Hey, Apple podcast, Spotify, Google podcasts.

Taylor:

Amazon.

Taylor:

I keep forgetting them.

Taylor:

Amazon has podcasts now, wherever you can leave me some information, insight,

Taylor:

whatever, please rate, subscribe, and let me know what you think of the show.

Taylor:

Let me know if you have a question and you'd like for me to answer, hit me up

Taylor:

on my DMs and Instagram , or feel free to hop over to healinginhindsight.com

Taylor:

and shoot me a message.

Taylor:

I would definitely love your input on how I can make this more.

Taylor:

Relatable to you, because even though I'm sharing what I'm going

Taylor:

through, I know many more of you have so many stories to tell.

Taylor:

So let me know what you think.

Taylor:

If you're watching on, IETV make sure you hit the heart.

Taylor:

If you are watching on YouTube, make sure you subscribe all the things.

Taylor:

What do they do at the end of all these videos, all the pointing around.

Taylor:

I'm not going to do that.

Taylor:

Thank you guys for listening.

Taylor:

And again, I really appreciate all of your support, encouraging

Taylor:

messages and for my fellow diabetics, Peace love and good blood sugars.

Taylor:

I'm out.

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