dawn phenomenon... how to stop the rise?

well it was suggested to me on here, and I did check with my doctor and they said it is an option, I just had to monitor myself very closely and I did snack on greens just no carbs and nothing with additives in so I could be as basically fasting as possible. I thought it was odd but my doctors said that there shouldnt be an issue if im not injecting QA. The thing is nobody knows exactly how long carbs have an affect on people, and it could change from person to person, thats apparently why they say 2 days, so your system is completely clear.
AAAanywhos, I do not know, I have had diabetes for... a long time, but this whole watching it thing is quite new to me, and im learning from everyone so maybe my docs were idiots, but I didnt find it too hard as I dont eat big meals anyway, so yay! haha.

Yeah I found it very strange about the fact that everyone on my course knew I was suffering from really low BG levels as I woke with the Lantus but to be honest it wasn't daily, it was happening twice a week on average, and the rest of the time i wasnt really checking my BG levels on waking up... during the DAFNE week I was, and I found that every morning it was significantly higher (around 20-24) then my evening BG levels... with no real explanation as my 2am bg levels were around the same (6- as my bedtime levels. However, pre dafne my lantus dose had been 42, and on the thursday before the dafne nurses dropped me to 30, and during the dafne week to 25, which could explain why it happened so suddenly that the high levels occured, cause it was being masked by a massive dose of lantus previously that wasnt allowing the BG levels to rise?.

I am on split dose levemir yes... I think looking at my bg levels it was the obvious thing to do really and I am happy doing that extra injection for the freedom I get with it compared to Lantus. Its soooo difficult all the DAFNE stuff, such a steep learning curve hey!

Hi Stacy, thanks for the length reply ! I have scoured our forums and can't find this advice anywhere. I'm not suggesting you are wrong but... are you sure it was this site and not one of the other diabetes forums. I was just keen to ensure ANY advice like this has a disclaimer with it that says you should ALWAYS check with your DAFNE/Diabetes support team before doing something like this. We are keen for graduates to help and advise each other but this advice needs to be backed up by medical staff. We don't want people making themselves ill from advice on this site.
I accept no one knows for sure how long carbs last and it IS different in everyone, but it would be a very low GI food that lasted 24 hours ! Or I have come accross people with issues with bowel issues that cause food to be absorbed more slowly. Anyway thats an aside !
It does sound that its more likely that your closer monitoring along with the reduced dose of levimir compared to the Lantus are both factors. As I said before if its 'dawn' it should happen all the time and not only occasionally. If your 48 fast has got your BI correct then its a bit more tricky. In other forum posts its been suggested that QA is the way to tackle 'dawn' although this is difficult without a pump since you are asleep !

I don't think a 2 day carb free approach is a great idea as cutting out carbs from the diet will tend to reduce blood glucose more generally and provide an artificially low glucose profile, a 12-24h period should be sufficient to measure the effect of background insulin alone. I also agree that twice daily Detemir is probably the best of relatively limited long acting insulins. At least two of the insulin companies are working on even longer acting insulins but whether they will prove more useful is yet to be shown. Simon