i have the exact same problem. i even have to bolus for de-caff. and, much to my surprize, i have to bolus 4 everything that i put in my mouth, even protein w/out carbs!!! i have been D 4 about 25yrs, and i am still figurring out all my little querks. its one crazy disease!!!!
hope this helps sooth Ur confusion.
best wishes, Daisy Mae
I think I finally figured out my coffee deal. I found that when I drink coffee in the afternoon or evening it has no effect on my bs. After many years, I finally figured out that my dawn phenom. starts rising as soon as I wake up and get moving. So in the morning I take 1 unit to cover the dp spike and that covers me whether I have coffee or not.
i also must tk an Xtra UNit in the am B4 bkfst. why, I have no idea, but been doing it 4 yrs and it seems 2 help. still I always need insulin 4 everything i put in my mouth
Dawn phenomenon.
try the same coffee later on in the afternoon (without food), and compare. I don't think the morning sugar spikes are related, it annoyed me incredibly too thinking that even drinking black coffee would ruin my perfect wake up sugar levels. Nah, it's just dawn phenomenon in all probability. Easiest way to test that hypothesis is to repeat the experiment later on in the day. This is why you shouldn't skip breakfast, you need insulin anyway, so might as well eat so you don't go into starvation mode or get into hypos. Happened to me tons of time. Eat 2 eggs for breakfast with your coffee, take a couple units, your sugars should get better, not only in the post-coffee time around 10am, but for noon as well. I assume you're blaming the coffee because that's the only thing you've been ingesting in the morning. I know, I did the same exact thing for years until I realized what was really going on and how to fix it (don't skip breakfast...eggs)
at first, when i went on the pump, i had little clue as to what my insulin needs were. i assumed that anything w/ carbos needed insulin and anything w/out didnt. well, that was NOT the case. if i so much as look at food, i need insulin! coffee, even decaf, requires insulin for me. i also need insulin for chicken, beef, eggs, nuts, and more. it was basically a trial and error experiement. over the yrs, i have gotten used to it. but i still am somewhat plagued over exactcly how much insulin i need to bolus for when i am not eating a carb. i have the coffee thing down pat now: i need exactly 1.3 units for 1 regular C of coffee, and 1/2 that amount for 1C of decaff. my endo is baffled, but my CDE says its perfectly "normal." no worries.you'll figure it out.
(and just a note: when i eat my breakfast, i need to add 1 Xtra unit of insulin to whatever i am eating.) its all so mysterious.
I agree with what you’re saying. I actually have to take more insulin when I don’t eat breakfast than when I do. If I don’t eat, I have to chase highs all morning and my several correction boluses add up to more than the 2 units of insulin I take with my normal breakfast.
i have to tk insulin for my coffee no matter what time of day it is, and goes for decaff as well.
Caffeine mimics stress hormones in the body, which make you resistant to insulin. I find I spike too after caffeine, unless I compensate with more insulin.
Decaf still has caffeine, just less (usually less than 1/3).
Greetings All,
Well, this thread is alive 4 years later - so any thought is still valid. That being said, i didn't have the time to read everything posted!
My simple contribution is this: i took a Pharmacology 101 course a number of years back, and one of a few points REALLY stuck with me. I very distinctly remember the prof's statement about how caffeine works, and that it achieves its effects, in some way (he didn't say), by affecting the removal of sugars from the bloodstream! I also remember from that course that the caffeine in a cup of coffee is about 3X that of a can of cola. (at least, back in 1992 that was the case)
Despite learning this YEARS ago, i only recently started paying attention to it... once i decided to become a pumper. I started bolusing for all the Diet Coke i drink (based only on anecdotes of others) and it made a difference! I just started drinking coffee a coulpe weeks ago, and see MAJOR spikes in my BG. Hence, here i am in this thread, thainking you all for the experiences - but also sharing this one 'point of academia' with you.
HI I took thought that my coffee was making my sugars spike, what I found out was that it was my body waking up, I don’t sleep very well and would usually be up by 5am, I would wait till 8am to check my sugar and have breakfast. sugars were usually high at least higher then the rest of the day. when I started checking it as soon as I woke up was always in a good range. so now my sugars do rise when I have coffee but not as much as I felt it did in the mornings.
I am assuming this is your first cup of the morning coffee. It happens to me too, and I take it black. If it is your korning cup, all sorts of things are going on in your body besides the coffee. Your endo system is waking up, all sorts of chemical;/hormone action going on that causes your bodys bg to go up. Since our pancreas can't manage it, we see it on our meters.
Hope this helps
My BG was great all day today until I drank iced tea with splenda and I don’t understand because now they are 281!! It happens in the morning with my coffee…any help???
It depends if you are eating anything or not. If you aren't eating anything your body will need to get energy from some where and your body will increase glucagon and put out some glucose from the liver. If you are eating then it could be related to something like the dawn phenomenon and you may need to bolus in the mornings or adjust your basal insulin to cover for the increase in blood sugars.
I'm replying to my own message as a follow. It is most likely the Dawn Phenomena. You can find info in Think Like a Pancreas, and John Walsh's books Using Insulin and Pumping Insulin.
Caffeine makes my bg rise. There have been other discussions here which yielded the result that caffeine affects some people's bg, and doesn't affect others.
It is caused by the Splenda. This is a case of deceptive labeling that we should all find infuriating. Splenda is technically "sugar free" because it does not contain table sugar, or sucrose. Read the label carefully, however, and this is true for all powdered sweeteners (equal, sweet&low, stevia) - they use dextrose as a bulking agent. Dextrose will raise BG about as fast as pure glucose.
The only sweetener I've found that has zero effect on BG is Stevia in pure tablet or liquid form - not powdered.
Christopher, if you have a few moments, read back through all the posts. I don't use Splenda anymore, but absolutely must bolus for coffee with cream. The insulin required is more than what the cream (fat and dairy,) would demand, so in my case, caffeine is a likely problem.
I don't doubt that. However caffeine can affect different people different ways. In my case coffee with Stevia tabs or Stevia liquid has no impact whatsoever. The one variable that will affect BG in all cases, however, is a sweetener that contains dextrose as a bulking agent, like powdered Splenda.
I find it maddening that there is so much obfuscation in food labeling. There are so many things that are called "sugar free" that only meet that definition by not including table sugar or sucrose. But they are loaded with other types of sugars which can just as easily throw our BG into the stratosphere. I avoid anything that has an ingredient that end in "ose" or "ol." More often than not, this is some type of sugar or sugar alcohol.
I was able to find Splenda tablets when I still used it, trying to avoid the "ose" or "ol" issue.
I always drink my coffee black and I never have issues with blood sugars even if I drink an Americano. Tea doesn't do anything to me either. It is likely due to the dextrose in the sweetener or some sugars either form milk or cream.