I've had trouble getting my morning readings as low as I like. Mine are often around 125-130 and I would like to see them down around 100. There is a thing called the "dawn effect" where the body produces a stress hormone to help wake us up and get us going in the morning where the blood glucose can be slightly elevated till we get moving. It causes the liver to give us a little more glucose at waking time. But 180 is way too high.

I can't give you a good answer but I can speculate. My speculation would be that you are insulin resistant pretty badly. By your after meal tests being as low or lower than your fasting test indicates to me the food you are eating is not the problem. It is your liver that the body has not yet determined the proper need for glucose (because of the insulin resistance). It may take a while to become fat adapted and more insulin sensitive so the insulin the pancreas is secreting is doing a better job of controlling the glucose the liver is putting out. The liver may also be fatty and divesting itself of its excess energy. I have heard the body gets rid of the visceral fat first because it knows it is the most dangerous. But remember, that is just speculation on my part.

If you can find a doctor that actually knows something about diabetes you probably should be seeing him. The problem is finding one that actually understands the disease and instead will just prescribe pills instead of looking for the underlying source of the problem. Pills will help manage the symptoms, which is not all bad and can help get the glucose levels manageable. But in my experience unless you address the root cause that got you there in the first place, you will be saddled with a chronic progressive disease exactly like most doctors will tell you (and they learned in medical school) and it will only get worse with passage of time. Been there, done that, myself. It was only after finding out what was the root cause of the problem and removed the problem that my disease reversed and got better. And that was not putting the crap in my mouth that causes the rise in blood glucose. The body mostly then just healed itself. Mostly. I'm still diabetic (barely pre diabetic by my last A1c test), but with exceptionally better blood glucose control without medication (although I have started taking Metformin again the last few months to see if it helps my fasting glucose morning readings. After 4-5 months I have seen no change though so not sure it is helping).

There are also medical conditions that can raise insulin levels continually and cause insulin resistance (pancreatic tumors). So it would be good if you could find a good doctor that actually understands the disease and get checked out.

According to multiple on line doctors I have listened to, Metformin is the "least bad" of all of the diabetes medications and some doctors actually prescribe it for some other health benefits. Something to consider when you visit with a doctor.