I have a similar reaction sometimes. Let me know if you learn anything interesting.
I truly don’t think it is coffee or creamer. I believe it is the dawn phenomenon. Upon waking our liver dumps glucose to give our bodies energy for our day and it just so happens to be the time when we drink coffee or do our morning work out.
I just bolus an extra unit when I start my morning/wake up. I don’t mess with my basal because I do not start my morning at the same time everyday.
I suspect that the caffeine in Coke Zero makes my sugar spike. I had a random spike up to 15.4 (277) the other day, and the only thing I did differently was to drink a can of Coke Zero. I don’t want to believe it though!
Cereal and milk are the worst for me…I just don’t eat them any more. I can’t figure out how to bolus for them.
My GP had a patient who ate sugar free ice cream w/splenda and the splenda gave him a false positive reading of over 300 and after doing a bit of research my GP said its a documented known issue. He warned me of this but, it does not affect me that way. So sometimes splenda could be the cause also. Again everyone is different!!! I am a big tea drinker…
Mine Too! But thats because of the creamer I think… I use Sugarfree Hazelnut or Vanilla Carmel and it spikes it every time but I love it. I can’t drink coffee black so I wouldn’t know if that effects it? But I use Stivia (natural sweetener) which you may want to try.
Hi Mady,
I believe it has to do with glycogen dumping, which is worse in the morning for Type 1s. Without the counter-regulatory hormones to balance it, we either go super high or super low from heavy work-outs. Hard to know how to adjust food/bolus. I once went high just from walking in the morning. It was all uphill (very hilly where I live). Some people (like Dr. Bernstein) suggest that Type 1s stay away from really strenous exercise & instead do weights, walking, swimming. Find this frustrating because we need heart pumping cardio, too.
There has actually been research done in type IIs that demonstrates that caffeine intake decreased glucose uptake (basically, increased insulin resistance). In type Is it makes sense that the same thing may be happening. It looks like they’re still not sure exactly why caffeine does this but they know that it happens!
Here’s a link to a summary of the study.
I’ve experienced the same, but more frequently when having a coffee at a caffe or outside in general…
the first thing i’ve done to check if there’s really something here ('cause plain black coffee PBC, is supposed to be calorie free!) was to dring only homemade coffee.
-No milk (as we all know it works it’s way “high”)
-No aspartame etc.
I’ve seen that it actually does raise the blood sugar levels, especially when been seated (office) after sipping coffee…
But,
when having some early at morning before working out (usually Mountain Biking) it seems to affect me not.
So, all these deferences we added at my “small mysteries list” just like why the hell do i get (sometimes) a high blood sugar level, after the same meal, when other times everything seems normal…
I have been testing my sugar in the mornings, since when I do it just before I eat and two coffee’s later (milk no sugar) i go high, this morning when I tested I was 7.7 at 4:51 am and at 7:10 am I was 10.5 and 8:49am I was 12.4 grrrrr maybe something else is going on, don’t know nice to find out however. What I am hearing is some of you are taking more insulin to cover your coffee? I have just started to use the carb/ratio method, go figure. and not sure how it all works yet, all I know is to calculate my carb intake to what the diabetic centre tells me. ordered the book using insulin so hope that helps me learn but is not being told to me also have the book think like a pancrea’s.
I always take one unit of Novolog to cover my coffee. It does not matter what time of day it always spikes me at least 50-80 points. I do use half and half and sweet and low in my coffee.
This will be a silly question but have never taken insulin as corrections (not much help where I live) any hoot how do you know how much to take? I use humalog unsure when it actually takes affect. So if I were to take a unit to lower my bs how long to wait to test again before I eat?
Been there - done that. I had big discussion with the nuts who make the sugar free coffee - creamer.
It is NOT sugar free - it is sugar reduced. Add up the calories and look for the small star on label - where they fess up to the corn sugar solids in the creamer.
Drink the coffee black. Other wise canned cream and sugar free creamers will hammer your BG first thing in am.
This is one of life's little disgraces.
You have to figure out your insulin sensitivity at various times of the day. But usually for me, one unit will drop me about 30 points or so. You have to experiment to see. It's better to err on taking too little at first because you can always add more if you have too. I will wait about 15 minutes to eat if I am high and correcting. I add my correction bolus to the amount of insulin I am taking for that meal. For instance, if I am having coffee and yogurt and i normally take 3 units of insulin but I have awakened high I will take 4 instead.
Agreed...the sugar free creamers are loaded with corn syrup! I do okay with half and half though.
I can see how the coffee can raise the blood sugar leves, when:
-It has cream (come on! Even the "lofat" milky products, when metabolize raise the blood glucose... we all know that)
-Milk. Well milk does that.
-Additives (many of those are not calorie-free.
But, what about black coffee? Well, i still get the most differential results, when running a test after some coffee.
-Some times it is normal (as it theoretically should be for black-plain-nothing added coffee)
-Some times it reads like i have dunked a tenisball size icecream in!
At first i thought that there's have to be a difference between coffee firms, meaning that especially for instand coffee, some may add other additives in. Like those suspicious foamy iced coffes we use to love here in Greece...
But no. These's no easy answer to this. For some time i kept sipping the same firm. Well, the results were differential there too!
Any ideas? (and no, no relation to any kind of meal. I am talking abou tplain coffee between eating times...)
John-Nelson
My CDE doesn't want me to drink coffee as it spikes blood sugar. Actually, with me, it doesn't so I am still drinking it as I find it relaxes me. But just be aware it can spike your blood sugar. I would check out the creamer too as they seem to me to be unnatural things that can be full of nasties, if not actually sugar.
I drink my coffee black and aways wondered why my BG goes up so your responce makes the most sence to me. Same with Elaine saying about dehydration.
I have not seen black coffee spike my glucose when I take it first and early in am and no food/snacks yet.
As for later in day eating food, no comment but coffee is a drug/stimulent that could effect whats happening in gut during digestion.
The worst response to this spiking to coffee with the creamers was in early am.
Later in day with body back up and things/insulin/pills rolling - not such big deal.
It is fun to look back over these older posts and see old names. My AM habit is now a LARGE cup of STRONG coffee with one tsp of sugar and about 3T of full fat half and half. My bolus requirements are only a bit more than when I used Splenda and fat free half and half, about the same as for 25 to 30 grams of carbs. I absolutely think the caffeine plays a big part.