Troubleshooting your blood sugars: Reactive Hyperglycemia (Somoygi Effect)

September 25, 2024 

It happens all the time: We go a little too long without eating, or skip a meal because we are occupied, or go to sleep without dinner or an evening snack. The blood sugar when we skip a meal begins to drop. Some of us feel when our blood sugar becomes low, but many people have no symptoms of low glucose at all. If you don't know to correct a low blood sugar, sometimes your body will try to correct it for you. This phenomenon, called reactive or rebound hyperglycemia, is a protective action that your body takes to prevent the blood glucose from becoming dangerously low.

Reactive Hyperglycemia (Smoygi Effect)

Somogyi phenomenon is also known as rebound hyperglycemia. The Somogyi phenomenon describes a rebound high blood glucose level in response to low blood glucose. The somogyi effect (first discovered my Dr. Michael Somogyi) is caused by nighttime hypoglycemia, which leads to a rebound hyperglycemia in the early morning hours. You see, when your blood glucose drops during the night, hormones are released which trigger the liver to release glucose from storage and add it to the blood. This normally results in a high-fasting glucose reading the next morning.

The Somogyi effect is a result of having extra insulin the body before bedtime, either from not having a bedtime snack, or from having your long-acting insulin not at the proper dose.

The Somogyi effect occurs mainly with type 1 diabetics, but can often occur with people who recently change eating habits, lifestyle or insulin dosage and may be a sign that an adjustment to medications needs to be made. Talk to your Care team or your doctor if you think you have reactive hyperglycemia.