Why are we supposed to avoid caffeine when we do basal testing? My CDE has said this, it says it online all over the place, and I see people talk about it on here. I know some diabetics have to bolus for caffeine and some do not. I never bolus for caffeine, it doesn’t seem to do anything to my sugars. The idea of not eating and not having a diet coke while doing basal testing sounds miserable to me! It’s hard enough for me to skip a meal to do the testing!
Suzanne:
OK, dumb question… what is basal testing? Really, I don’t know specificaly and just wonder.
I’ve never heard of caffeine affecting BG readings. Got the scoop on that?
Lois La Rose
Milwaukee, WI
There is a lot more caffeine in a cup of coffee than there is in a Diet Coke. Caffeine can definitely raise blood glucose.
basal testing is for setting the amount of insulin a pump gives you throughout each hour. It takes place of the long lasting and acting insulin. I am hoping someone will enlighten us here 
Wow! Who knew that?!!! I mean, I’m a Coke junkie. Do you mean to tell me that I am raising my BG with diet coke while I’m drinking it to stop from stuffing my face? DAMN!!
Lois La Rose
I was always told I could have as much Diet Coke as I wanted…now I am addicted to the stuff and I find out it can mess with sugars…ARGHHHH! HAHAHA
I don’t think it does but it makes me wonder if maybe my basal is set too high, I drink a ton of diet coke and then they balance one another out. Then it would make me think that diet coke doesn’t effect me…I never go very long without a diet coke in any given day so i guess I need to give up the diet coke for a few days totally to see…
Very true but it might be cool to know for sure if I have a sensitivity to caffeine or not. Plus I need to be aware of potential lows when I give up the diet coke habit which I plan to do this year. An occasional diet coke is OK but I drink WAY too many each day, not good on the kidneys at all…
So, for PWDs (type 1 on pumps, specifically) who find that caffeine increases blood glucose, how much are we talking? I mean, obviously, it doesn’t have the punch that you get from 4 grams of pure glucose from a glucose tablet. So how much? And is it a slow, over-several-hours increase? (I know, it all depends on the individual.) I’ve never been told to give up caffeine during basal or bolus testing.
Just looking for some examples. It’s gonna take a lot of convincing for me to give up my Diet Coke!
I take .8 to 1 unit for a large cup of coffee with a little less than a tablespoon of creamer with no sugar or artificial sweetener.
Since Diet Coke has such a small amount of caffeine in comparison to coffee, I don’t take any insulin to cover it and it does not seem to affect my blood glucose levels in any noticeable way.
This is helpful. Thanks! For the same time of day you’d drink the coffee, what’s your insulin-to-carb ratio?
If you can handle not getting the energy boost the caffeine portion of diet coke gives you, you might consider switching to diet, caffeine free pepsi (even if it just gets you through your basal testing period). I stumbled upon this Godsend one day in Costco and have never been happier. I am super sensitive to caffeine but LOOOOOVEEEEE diet soda, so this is perfect for me since it tastes identical to diet pepsi (duh-caffeine has no taste so of course it tastes the same!). I get to enjoy endless amounts of diet soda without suffering all the nasty effects of caffeine- I’m probably slowly killing myself with high amounts of artificial sweetener, but I’m probably destined to that fate anyway :).
I’m guessing coke probably makes an equivalent product if you like coke better than pepsi.
When I drink coffee I take 1 unit per cup of coffee with a little splash of milk. My normal ratio is 1 unit:10 carbs. Hope this helps!
I don’t drink diet soda anymore-but when I did, I wouldn’t take insulin for it as it didn’t do anything to my blood sugar.
Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi??? What’s the point? I can’t have the regular stuff, you gotta give me something to work with! ROFL!
Caffeine-free Diet Coke does NOT taste the same and it’s less bubbly. Can anyone from Coca-Cola explain why–or is this getting into secret formula territory?
I am also hard-core addicted to Diet Coke! I also feel shocked to hear that caffeine can effect BGs.
I’m going to have to re-check my basals without diet coke consumption - it might cause some changes, tee hee hee.
While I’m not offering a definitive answer, there are many studies on the effects of caffeine on the liver - it stands to reason that while diet coke doesn’t have any carbs, it can cause BGs to rise by stimulating the liver to produce glucose - not much, but a little maybe.
This has been a fun discussion, thanks to all who shared!