The effects of dawn phenomenon typically go unnoticed. As far as the way an individual feels, the real feeling is of frustration because an individual's trying to do the right thing in taking their medicines and eating appropriately. Many times, a patient will say, "I didn't eat anything this morning and I noticed my blood sugar escalating." We have to check closely, do questions, try and figure out ... Is it something that you're doing? A stressful event? Is it unaccounted for carbohydrates like creamer in coffee? Is it a healthy meal, but yet a meal that has carbohydrates and you're not really accounting for that, so the blood sugar's escalating? Are your medicines wearing out and you actually just need a change of how or when you're using your medicines? Or, is this dawn phenomenon?
If we can identify it as dawn phenomenon, or separate it from those other causes, then we can try and attack that. As far as feeling poorly, a person might feel an elevation of blood sugar, particularly if it's more extreme. If it's in a more modest, reasonable range, as would be more typical, it may go unnoticed unless you're checking or monitoring the blood sugar.
