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5/14/09 8:35 A

Just bumping this back up to page one. I saw some discussion about Liver Dumps in the sticky thread "What Happens if I Just Don't Eat?" and thought some of this could be interesting in relation to it!

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12/28/08 8:01 A

Thats a good lesson we could all learn. My numbers are higher than normal because I'm not able to exercise like I did before because of my knee surgery. Oh well I'll be back to normal once I get my knee well again. I just have to be patient. I'm better off than most people who have knee surgery so that I can be grateful for. Hope

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12/1/07 10:06 A

Just bumping this back up to the top for some of our newer members who may be struggling with liver dumps. I know I had a lot of trouble with them when I first got my numbers down.

I had cut back my carb intake so drastically because at diagnosis I was in the 500-600 range. When I finally got below 200 I was thrilled!! But I kept those carbs cut back and when I started to hit the 100 range I was ignorant of what so few carbs would do to me.

I started having strange spikes in my BG#'s that just totally didn't jive with what I was eating! And I'd be going along with my day all fine and dandy and suddenly be sweating and shaking and feeling like I was going to pass out or throw up!

It was because I wasn't feeding my body enough carbs anymore for it's needs and it was creating them in my liver and dumping them into my blood stream to 'save me' from starving!

Ah, well....live and learn!

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10/11/07 7:24 P

bumping this up so it's grouped with Dawn Phenomemon and the If I Don't Eat threads...

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8/18/07 7:36 A

Bumping up to the front page!

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7/16/07 8:35 A

bumping back to the front page

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5/21/07 7:49 A

Skipping breakfast only makes it worse. Look toward the bottom for a thread titled something like What if I just don't eat -- your numbers go high BECAUSE you don't eat...so not eating makes that worse.

As backwards as it sounds, you have to eat to bring those numbers down. But if you eat a high carb breakfast you'll know it. Breakfast is the most difficult meal of the day for most T2's because our bodies are very sensative to carbs first thing in the morning because of all of this. So if you eat a bowl of cereal expect it to kick your bum.

You want protein, fiber and a small serving of whole grain carbs.

I often have a glass of V8 juice or a Slim Fast Optima shake -- I'm not very good at eating breakfast and those seem to work for me when I'm on the go.

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5/13/07 9:05 P

I experience this (Dawn phenomenon). It makes me want to skip breakfast because I don't want my BG to go even higher. It would be interesting to hear how others handle this.

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4/4/07 8:23 A

Quoted from:
http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/tk3380
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Dawn phenomenon and the Somogyi effect

The dawn phenomenon and the Somogyi effect cause high blood sugar levels, especially in the morning before breakfast, in people with diabetes.

Dawn phenomenon

The dawn phenomenon occurs when:

Hormones (growth hormone, cortisol, and catecholamines) produced by the body cause the liver to release large amounts of sugar (glucose) into the bloodstream. These hormones are released in the early morning hours. These hormones also may partially block the effect of insulin, whether it's insulin your body produces or insulin from the last injection.
If the body doesn't produce enough insulin (which occurs in people with type 1 diabetes and a few people with type 2 diabetes), blood sugar levels may rise. This may cause high blood sugar in the morning before the person eats.
Somogyi effect

The Somogyi effect can occur when a person takes long-acting insulin for diabetes. If the blood sugar level drops too low in the early morning hours, hormones (such as growth hormone, cortisol, and catecholamines) are released. These help reverse the low blood sugar level but may lead to blood sugar levels that are higher than normal in the morning. An example of the Somogyi effect is:

A person who takes insulin doesn't eat a regular bedtime snack, and the person's blood sugar level drops during the night.
A person's body responds to the low blood sugar in the same way as in the dawn phenomenon, by causing a high blood sugar level in the early morning.
How can you tell the difference?

The Somogyi effect can occur any time you or your child has extra insulin in the body. To sort out whether an early morning high blood sugar level is caused by the dawn phenomenon or Somogyi effect, check blood sugar levels around 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. for several nights.

If the blood sugar level is low at 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., suspect the Somogyi effect.
If the blood sugar level is normal or high at 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., it's likely the dawn phenomenon.

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4/4/07 8:20 A

Quoted from:
http://www.diabetic-talk.org/dp.htm
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SOMOGYI EFFECT

Somogyi Effect, named for Dr. Robert Somogyi, its discoverer, is a high morning BG due to a low overnight. It is most commonly seen with insulin using diabetics, but is also seen with overnight reactive hypoglycemics.

The mechanism is a low overnight, which causes the body to react by releasing many of the same hormones seen in DP. The strongest blood glucose increasing hormone, glucagon, plays an important role. It tells your liver to start glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis to provide enough glucose for your body to survive. This is sometimes referred to as a Liver Dump. Often, this mechanism over-produces, and you wake to a significantly higher BG.

Setting your bedtime BG target a bit higher, will usually prevent you from having a hypoglycemic event overnight.


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Quote from:
http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/article.cfm?aid=388
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Somogyi Effect
Updated on 6/15/2006
Page 1 of 1

The tendency of the body to react to extremely low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) by overcompensating, resulting in high blood sugar. The Somogyi effect, also known as the "rebound" effect, was named after Michael Somogyi, the researcher who first described it.

When blood glucose levels drop too low, the body sometimes reacts by releasing counterregulatory hormones such as glucagon and epinephrine. These hormones spur the liver to convert its stores of glycogen into glucose, raising blood glucose levels. This can cause a period of high blood sugar following an episode of hypoglycemia.

The Somogyi effect is most likely to occur following an episode of untreated nighttime hypoglycemia, resulting in high blood sugar levels in the morning. People who wake up with high blood sugar may need to test their blood glucose levels in the middle of the night (for example, around 3 AM). If their blood sugar level is falling or low at that time, they should speak with their health-care team about increasing their food intake or lowering their insulin dose in the evening. The only way to prevent the Somogyi effect is to avoid developing hypoglycemia in the first place.


This article was written by Robert S. Dinsmoor, a Contributing Editor of Diabetes Self-Management.

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