Dasterdly Dawn Phenomenon

Dawn phenomenon has been the bane of my existence since I was diagnosed with diabetes. Almost every morning I wake up with high blood sugars. It's not a rebound hyperglycemia reaction because I can see the trend on my Dexcom. I'll run in the 90's for hours and then for no apparent reason, my blood sugar goes high. Drives me out of my mind.

On the rare occasions when I wake up with normal blood sugars, they rise before I eat breakfast. In the time it takes for me to get up, get dressed, and let the dogs out, my blood sugar can go straight up. I've seen it happen on my Dexcom. Much swearing followed.



It's disheartening to wake up and see a fasting blood sugar of 167. I spend whole mornings trying to get my blood sugar to go down. Eating breakfast always sends it higher. It's frustrating and driving me crazy. I've tried every trick: red wine, pickles, cheese, zero carb snacks, 15 and 30 gram carb snacks. I have even choked down magical apple cider vinegar. Nothing works. I obviously need extra insulin early in the morning because my basal insulin needs change significantly.

I could set an alarm, get up, test, bolus, and then go back to sleep. Well, I could do that easily. If I was a robot.

I'm not even a morning person, let alone a robot. What I need is a robotic pancreas. It needs to wake up before I do and give me some insulin while I'm busy sleeping.

At my last doctor's appointment, my doctor and I were talking about damn dawn phenomenon. Changing basal insulin needs came up. So did fractional mealtime insulin doses. Finally I asked, "Can I get a pump?"

He typed some things in the computer and told me to make an appointment with Donna the clinic's CDE and pump expert. I asked my doctor about his pump. It's a Medtronic. I don't know if I'll be getting a Ping or a Medtronic. I do know that in a month or so that I'll be blogging about my new pump.You can count on it.

Once I get one there will be a Name Marie's Pump contest on Joy Benchmarks. Stay tuned!