Hi Wellsy. This used to happen to me so I found out some more about it from my doctor and the RPA hospital diabetes unit in Sydney.
Judy is correct, except it's called Gluconeogenesis - gluco (sugar), neo (new), genesis (origin). As I understand it, it's the process the body goes through to get a fresh supply of sugar that it previously stored in your liver when it can't get sugar from food you've eaten because there's none left. This occurs notably during the overnight fasting process, but can also occur at other times. It's why sometimes after you've taken a BG reading and then haven't eaten a thing, the next reading actually goes up.
I make it a habit of eating either 2 Vita-Weat biscuits OR a tub of NO-FAT yoghurt (Nestle or Forme brand) about 10.30 or 11pm (ie one serve of carb). It gives the body just a little carb to work on during the night. My out-of-bed readings are consistently under 6 mmol/L, but I also am on a basal insulin each day as well as the metformin (1000mg at each meal) and diamicron (120mg daily).
So you might want to also talk to your doctor about the possibility of adding a small daily insulin dose to supplement your meds. Dosage and timing will be important here, and I wouldn't presume to be dogmatic about it. I can only stress that constant and attentive monitoring of your BG levels will pay handsome dividends. I neglected mine for quite a while but have now taken them more seriously and am now throttling them big time.
I'm not sure where you are in Qld, but I recently attended two half-day sessions at the RPA hospital here in Sydney and they went right through the metabolic process and explained just how diabetes affects those processes, what foods to eat and avoid and how to read the food packaging labels so you can carefully monitor your carb, fat, salt etc intakes. I'm sure there's a similar service through the dieticians at your local hosp. I thoroughly recommend it, and it's either free or bulk-billed under Medicare.
Hope the floods didn't cause you any grief. We've all been thinking of you guys. Good luck.
Adrian
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