dawn effect...help

tutorgirl

I am a type 2, non insulin user. From what I've researched on Byetta, it doesn't cause spikes. The nausea is probably from eating too much fat and not enough carbs with it. My doctor has exact eating requirements for her Byetta users to keep them from getting sick. That's one reason why I wouldn't consider it.

I cannot eat the low amount of carbs that you appear to be eating without causing my sugar level to rise. When I eat straight Bernstein, my numbers run higher and no amount of exercise keeps them down where I want them. 

If you are dead set on low carbing, and Bernstein proportions are not working for you, then I suggest that you read the Atkins diabetes book (not the Atkins diet book). There is a process described in there that allows you to methodically raise your carb levels until you find the level that's best for your body. I used this approach and it worked well for me.

People who struggle with dawn phenomenon have livers that kick out too much sugar for their bodies to process in preparation for the day. Lack of insulin, insulin resistance, or both are at fault. In my case, it appears that my liver kicks out too much glucose for me to handle when I don't give my body enough carbs and my numbers run higher all the time until I feed it carbs. (I am talking about non-starchy carbs, otameal, barley or beans- not junk food carbs).

On a recent trip, I found that adding oatmeal to my breakfast, peas and garbanzos to my lunch salad and a few pumpernickel croutons to my dinner salad made all the difference. When I ate omelets, I ate a piece of whole wheat toast with them which I don't have to do at home because I'm not taking 19,000 steps a day (gotta love the pedometer!).

We all have different genetics, our bodies and our diabetes are all different, our metabolic needs are all different, we are all at different stages of our diabetes journey- it only makes sense that one dietary approach will not fit all. Sure, we all take a common approach, but the fine-tuning is up to us. Take everybody's principles (Bernstein, Atkins...forum members) and use them to sucessfully manage your unique requirements.

good luck!

sandy

I know several type 2's who follow the South Beach diet- Phase 2 with great success. They are members of my hospital support group. I think they were told that Phase 1 was too restrictive. One of these gals eats the packaged products and salads (and that's about it) and has seen her A1c drop from 7.0 to 6.1 in just 3 months.

It's good that your doctor is open-minded and wiling to help you get on the right track.

I don't know if you have physical issues that prevent you from exercising, but my bg levels dropped and stabilized (no highs or lows-ever) when I started to do three short (10 minutes) walks on my treadmill every day. I continue to do the short walks (just build up my speed and increase the incline periodically) every day. I also take a nice ride on my exercise bike (7 mile/32 minutes) about 5 nights a week (after work) although that will change soon. I was riding a bike in the exercise room at my hotel last week and a very buff guy came in to use the elliptical trainer. We chatted and I left. It turns out that he was a personal trainer in Minneapolis to do demos at the State Fair. I was in the crowd watching him and he invited me to come up and try out his elliptical machine- like, "Hey- I recognize you- I know you use the exercise bike!" I have been afraid to get on one of those, but my daughter encouraged (okay, she called me a wuss) me to go up and make a fool out of myself. I fell in love- all week I found places to 'try out' ellipticals. I stalked him at the hotel and had him show me how to use it to build up my muscles and burn up my sugar. Now, the best part is that my birthday is at the end of September and my daughters, son-in-law, and husband have pitched in to buy me one of those beauties- it's coming on Tuesday- so I'm going to reserve the bike for very lazy days and TV watching. I'm hoping to reduce my insulin resistance with the whole body workout.  Prior to my diagnosis, my exercise bike was in the basement, used as a rack for shirts coming out of the dryer and I had never been on a treadmill in my entire life.

My doctor almost fell on the floor laughing when I mentioned a bump on my arm that turned out to be a muscle hiding out in the flab- I'm not losing much weight, but I am building muscle. I'm hoping to be buff in my dotage. And as an added plus, it seems that I get more carbs back in my life - a thankyou from my new-found muscles

sandy

Sandy, I was laughing at your shirt rack bike because mine also held the shirt hangers for awhile until I got back to serious use.  I go to a gym now to use the elliptical trainer and treadmill.  One of the trainers gave me some tips.  On the ET, you get a good workout especially at higher levels because of the resistance.  Level 1 seems to be too easy.  I started on level 3 and now do level 5 (over 7 months, that is).  Your speed is how fast you go.  Also, doing a couple of minutes going backward first gives different muscles a workout they wouldn't normally have, so I now do 3 min. backward and 17 forward.  On the treadmill, if someone is not comfortable jogging, they can get a very good workout by raising the elevation with only a moderate speed.  I don't like running so I start off on elevation 10 (no idea what the 10 means on this machine but the slope is steep) at a speed of 2.7 for 5 minutes and then lower the elevation to level 3 for 4 minutes and then back up to 10 and repeat the whole process for about 20 minutes.  The trainer says that raising the heart rate for a few minutes and then slowing down and then back up is particularly beneficial for people with high blood pressure.  True or not, it sure feels like it's doing something.  I know that I can get my heart rate up to about 132bpm on the higher elevation on the treadmill just by walking up the incline.  I don't need to jog.  Then, I can lower it for a couple of minutes.  The ET also gets the heart beat up quickly.  Just some thoughts.

Tutorgirl, maybe you could speak to the doctor about going off byetta and taking another medication.  What is the reason she chose to put you on byetta to begin with rather than another one?     

Hi Karen,  I'm going to try to put a website in here that talks about the different classes of drugs.  There may be more combinations of drugs than what you're using so it just might be a matter of trial and more time involved, also, what you eat and when with the particular drugs you take.  Hopefully, your doctor is up to date on all this.  And you can probably find people here taking some of the same meds.  about the machines, I was surprised to learn that alternating speed and elevation on the treadmill is excellent for the heart.  At this point, I'm not training for a marathon or looking for endurance records, but since I'm dealling with high blood sugar and blood pressure as well as getting close to being 59, having a more efficient workout on the treadmill looked good to me.  It's also less boring.  Elevating the treadmill with the controls gives you really good exercise for the heart.  The only change you can make with the elliptical trainer is the "level"  with is the resistance, similar to the elevation of the treadmill, and, again, it makes you sweat.  This and the no carb diet has taken 35lbs off me in 1 year.  And I'm sure that helps with controlling the blood sugar.  You'll be fine!  Get some new clothes to workout in.  :)    (I'm an ESL tutor and substitute teacher now that I resigned from the ESL program at our local university.  I'll be picking up more students next month.)

Lanie

www.mendosa.com/drugs.htm

Hi Karen,

One of the things that Byetta does best is ameliorate the spikes in your daily routine.  It is a designer drug that specifically fires up the bodys systems in response to high blood glucose and then backs them down when your blood sugar returns to normal.  This being said, you are on a 5mcg dose.  Your doctor probably put you on Byetta just like thousands of others, because you were reaching maximum limits on your oral meds and not achieving the results you should.  This is exactly what happened with me. 

Well, in many many cases, the 5mcg dosage is not effective or is marginally effective.  You only really see the miracle results when you step up to the dosage the makes most people sick initially.  Talk this over with your Doctor, but Im guessing if you are taking your Byetta AND your orals 1/2 an hour or more before you eat, you aren't getting the benefit from the Byetta that you should and you need to step up your dosage. (BUT typically only after you've been on byetta for a month so you can adjust to the medicine).  Im sure when this med does what its supposed to do you will find that you may even go under 100 a couple hours after you eat a low carb meal.

I have been taking Januvia with great results for about 3 months now. I replaced glipizide with Januvia and immediately stopped haveing the hi-low swings that forced me to be eating all the time. I have not had one reading out of the 75-105 range even after eating. Januvia seems to work best with people who still make a reasonable amount of insulin. I hope it works for you if you decide to try it.

sandy