There’s a prolonged record of issues that may simply spike your blood sugar, however the Somogyi Impact could be one of many strangest.
Let’s take a better have a look at what Somogyi Impact actually is and how one can deal with it if it occurs to you.
What’s the Somogyi Impact?
The Somogyi Impact is if you expertise a extreme low blood sugar adopted by a big spike — that you just don’t discover till you get up — throughout your sleep.
Throughout the Somogyi Impact, the extreme low blood sugar happens with out waking you from a deep sleep. Then your liver responds by releasing saved glycogen and breaking it down into glucose to deliver your blood sugar again as much as a secure stage.
What you’ll discover because the particular person experiencing it’s merely going to mattress with a blood sugar that isn’t low, and waking up with a really excessive blood sugar — typically above 250 mg/dL — with none clear clarification for the spike.
That is your physique’s self-protection. But it surely solely happens when the low blood sugar is extreme sufficient to set off that dump of glycogen out of your liver.
This physiological glycogen “backup plan” may also happen at different occasions of day however Somogyi Impact refers particularly to the extreme low and rebounding excessive that happens whilst you sleep.
What causes a Somogyi Impact to happen?
In brief, it’s the results of getting extra insulin than your physique wanted together with different variables.
- An excessive amount of insulin taken shortly earlier than or after train
- An excessive amount of insulin taken with meals
- An excessive amount of insulin to right a excessive blood sugar
- Taking insulin however forgetting to eat
- Taking a non-insulin medicine that lowers blood sugar
- A malfunction in your insulin pump
- By accident taking the incorrect dose/kind of insulin
Simply as you juggle the numerous variables of blood sugar administration all day lengthy, the Somogyi Impact is without doubt one of the extra extreme penalties of utmost blood sugar fluctuations.
Take into account that rapid-acting insulin stays in your physique for about 4 hours, which suggests the insulin you took at 9 p.m. might result in a extreme low blood sugar at midnight or 1 a.m.
This blood sugar and insulin juggling act isn’t simple!
In the event you suppose you’ve skilled the Somogyi Impact…
Sadly, there are a lot of issues that might trigger a excessive blood sugar within the morning.
Pinpointing the numerous variables which may have affected your blood sugar isn’t easy, and the Somogyi Impact in all probability (and hopefully) isn’t taking place to you time and again with out you waking sooner or later in the course of the evening resulting from regular signs of hypoglycemia.
First, discuss to your healthcare staff or a diabetes educator about your concern and the potential Somogyi Impact.
Secondly, set an alarm for a couple of nights to get up a couple of times in the midst of the evening and verify your blood sugar.
Thirdly, share your blood sugar outcomes along with your healthcare staff to pinpoint any proof of the Somogyi Impact. It will show you how to then make changes in your insulin or different medicines.
Lastly, for those who’re not already utilizing a CGM, begin the dialog along with your healthcare staff. A CGM can instantly present life-saving perception into blood sugar mysteries like this.
Different potential causes of morning excessive blood sugars
In case your morning excessive blood sugars don’t appear to be the results of the Somogyi Impact, ask your self if any of the next could be doable as a substitute:
Too little basal/background insulin
In the event you’re experiencing extreme excessive blood sugars within the morning frequently, chances are high that this or one of many different variables beneath is the trigger. You may very well simply want a tune-up in your background insulin doses (by way of the basal charges in your pump or your long-acting insulin dose).
You would possibly suppose, “Nicely, my weight is similar and my weight loss program is similar, why would I would like extra insulin?”
Different variables can have a huge impact, like: a rise in your day by day stress stage, a lower in your exercise stage, or a brand new medicine you’re taking.
Discuss to your healthcare staff about making changes in your basal/background insulin to forestall this recurring rise in your blood sugar ranges.
The Daybreak Phenomenon
“Daybreak Phenomenon” can simply account for constantly spiking within the morning, usually as quickly as your toes hit the ground.
The reason for this recurring excessive blood sugar and insulin resistance is a wholesome and regular a part of the human physique — hormones like cortisol, testosterone, and glycogen are all doing their job however inevitably name for extra insulin, too.
Many of us merely take a small bolus of insulin to account for the blood sugar spike this causes. (Personally, I take 1 unit of insulin as quickly as I get up and verify my blood sugar until my blood sugar is low, then I normally let Daybreak Phenomenon elevate the low for me!)
Consuming meals excessive in fats/carbohydrate within the night
For instance, whilst you could take sufficient insulin to technically cowl the carbohydrates and fats within the pizza you ate final evening at 8 p.m., the long-term impact of insulin resistance from high-fat meals can simply result in a spike in your blood sugar the subsequent morning when your huge meal boluses put on off.
A straightforward answer for that is to extend your basal charges or take one other small dose of rapid-acting insulin if you get up within the morning.
Too little sleep
In the event you went to mattress at 3 a.m. after a wild evening out with your pals or staying as much as research on your exams, your physique isn’t going to thanks. As a substitute, it responds by producing extra cortisol to compensate for the shortage of relaxation it desperately craves. That increase in cortisol manufacturing can result in cussed excessive blood sugar ranges all day lengthy!
Whereas we definitely can’t management each little factor that impacts our blood sugar ranges, the Somogyi Impact is one thing you need to be capable to forestall after getting sufficient data to grasp why it’s taking place. It ought to be taken very critically and addressed as rapidly as doable.
