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February 12, 2003

Daily Care

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Question from the Middle East:

I used to take a sulfonylurea medication to control my type 2 diabetes, but I started the Atkin’s diet a month ago, and stopped the medication two weeks later after a good drop in my blood sugar in cooperation with my physician. I am currently monitoring my blood sugar two hours after every meal and they are 100-150 mg/dl [5.6-8.3 mmol/L]. Even though my breakfast is the lightest meal, the morning test yields the highest reading. Is there a logical explanation? Is there a logical explanation? Is this normal? If not, how can I control it? Is there a table that shows acceptable blood sugar levels (non-fasting) for people without diabetes?

Answer:

From: DTeam Staff

One of the fundamental abnormalities in diabetes is the elevated fasting glucose. The glucose rises in the morning because the liver puts out too much glucose over the night. The inability to suppress glucose output from the liver is caused by insufficient insulin to suppress it. If you cannot get your sugars down into the normal range for the fasting value, you need to speak with your physician about medications that will have a beneficial effect to improve and normalize this.

JTL