My blood sugar was 89 after drinking a regular Coke. Does anyone have an idea what it may have been before the coke? In other words, how many points would a regular Coke raise one’s blood sugar? Thanks everyone in advance!
depends, everyone is different. for me about 70-80 points. 40 grams of carb
this is what I found online Click here
as for me it seems to be a little higher - 5 grams = 30 or so points
1/2 cup of regular soda is said to be 15 g of carbs
if i drank a whole can of coke (8 oz)… it would probably bring me up more than 100 points. because, calorieking.com says that 1 can of coke has 27 grams of carbs.
so… i’m guessing that you were REALLY low if you drank a whole can… and was only 89 after drinking it!!! however, it may be different for you (my insulin/carb ratio is 13:1… and my correction factor is maybe 35:1).
WAIT!!! i just looked at your profile, Mac. you’re not diabetic, are you?
I am figuring about 300 points, and here is why. First it tastes so nasty, I would throw up. After I did that I would need to eat. I am figuring I would over eat. then of course I would be sick. Now since i would be sick I would lay down. Now after I lay down I would go to sleep and while sleeping I woujdl get sick again meaning more lay down time. Well that takes about a day and when I wake up I will no doubt have a morning high of about 300.
Dude pass the diet coke.
LOL
Really i was raise don diet products, I can’t even put one of htose regular one to my mouth these days. Yuckers.
Rick
Your profile says you are a RN?
Oh , my …we may never get an answer from Mac to Emily J. and Brad’s question or will we ??..Emily Joy and Brad …how observent you both are 
Thanks…
I am not diabetic. I care for many people whose diabetes is their secondary problem…they are hospitalized with something else. I had an incident myself where was very dehydrated and passed out AFTER drinking a can of Coke. My blood sugar was taken and was 89 after the Coke…I was wondering what the ball park figure of my blood sugar was before drinking the coke. When I care for pts, I see their BS level and administer juice, glucose gel or D5 (sugar water) based on a sliding scale. I never myself converted soda to blood sugar points per se. I was just looking for info from people who experience this much more frequently than me. Thanks for your input. I’m interested in diabetes, and I hope I don’t have to be diabetic to see what all of you have to say. I wasn’t trying to trick anyone…I wanted some info from people who actually measure their BS regularly. Thanks again!
Yep. Never really checked my own BS and don’t normally administer cans of Coke to patients! Thanks for the info on your site…very informative.
Again, not trying to pull one over on you. I am genuinely interested. I don’t work with this every day, and I’m a new grad. Your site is way more informative (in a practical, useful manner) than what’s found in textbooks. Thanks.
There is no way to calculate backwards to your BG before Coke from your BG after Coke without knowing a) how long after you finished the Coke you measured your BG b) how long it took you to drink the Coke c) your height and weight d) what food you had in your stomach or with the Coke and a hundred other factors. Also factor in the fact that you’re not diabetic so insulin went to work converting the glucose immediately and finally factor in the fact that every body reacts differently.
For me 4 grams of carb will raise my BG 10 points, so 40 g would raise it 100 points in 15 minutes. At least. Depends on whether I was active or not. This measure is clearly not applicable you to, a non-diabetic, because if you drank a Coke and measured your BG 15 minutes later and found it at 89 that would mean your BG before the Coke was negative 11. In other words, you were either dead or in a coma. In which case, how did you manage to drink a Coke?
In summary, you cannot use the way your non-diabetic body reacts to carbs as a gauge to how one of your diabetic patient’s body will react to carbs. Please don’t even go there.
The average blood sugar for a non-diabetic, by the way, is between 80 and 90.
Terry
Again, I was just looking for a ball park idea on how a big sugary Coke would affect different bodies. If I have offended any diabetics, I would like to clarify, that was not my intent. One innocent question seems to have ticked people off. I DO appreciate your input but also withdraw my question!!! Seriously!!!
Appreciate the fact you’re seeking knowledge.
Please excuse us when we get a little sensitive or lose patience (as opposed to losing patients)–it’s darn complicated to live with diabetes and we can sniff out poseurs faster than we can smell ketones in urine.
Ha! (Lose patience/lose paitents!!) Thanks for that. I didn’t realize I was stepping on toes…people see “RN” and think you know more than you do. But, I filled out the member profile since the site said for people who have been “touched by” diabetes…I work with it daily, and I’d like to know more from people who live it, not people who write about it. : )
Unlike textbooks, we real-life people with diabetes do talk back. Sometimes politely, sometimes not. People probably see “editor” and think I use better grammar than I do …
mac:
Sometimes the problem is that folks want to slam a diabetic for doing something like drinking a coke. Well we all eat things that folks don’t think we should. Sometimes for very good reasons, and sometimes because we just darn well want to.
You know nurses just do not usually get it. We all have the stories, of nurses who just don’t get it and will want to substitute their clinical judgment for a multiyear well experienced diabetic. There are terrible stories and that makes all of us long termers pretty skeptical of nurses in general.
I want to thank you for visiting our little corner of the world. It will make you a better nurse, and I appuld you for it. Incidnetially 300 is about right.
Rick
Mac,
If I sounded offended, I was, but I wasn’t offended by you and I was trying NOT to sound offended.
The reason I was offended was that I think the medical education system has failed you and us by not teaching you things about diabetes that I think you ought to know. I am overjoyed to see you come here try to learn from actual diabetics and I hope you’ll put what you learn into practice. You are right that people see ‘RN’ and assume you know a lot of stuff - that would be me. I think you should know as much or more about diabetes than I do, but I forget there are other diseases out there.
Maybe it’s me, but I would think the nursing school would tell you that you can’t use your own body to judge how a body with a disease will react. (For example, taking 4 units of insulin will keep my blood sugar down but might kill you.) I would think that the nursing school would tell you that the only way to know a number is to measure - no guessing or estimating allowed.
Anyway, I didn’t mean to drive you off by sounding impatient and such. I think it would be helpful though if you made it clear in your post(s) that you’re seeking information/education and you’re not diabetic yourself. I, for one, assume that everyone posting is actively caring for their own diabetes. Some people are caring for a child or parent, but their posts always say so. I know it’s in your profile, but a lot of us don’t look there. I don’t anyway.