Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard has worked in the diabetes research field ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Marketing Manager at T1D Exchange.
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Do you bolus for caffeine? Cancel reply
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I don’t drink coffee so no caffeine that way. I do eat some chocolate but I bolus only for the candy and not the caffeine in chocolate.
I’ve used observation of bg. I need to account for caffeine with bolus. I usually trade 1u for 12-16 oz of French press or brewed coffee.
If it has apny kind of milk. More for 2%, less for nonfat. .6 to 1 unit depending on bg. I never drink those fancy latte type coffees. Too mapny unknowns and too expensive!
I try to avoid caffeine. On the rare occasions I’ve have it, I wish I’d remembered to bolus.
I’ve never bolused for caffeine, or thought it was necessary. What are the effects of caffeine on blood glucose? I very seldom knowingly eat or drink caffeine.
Really strong coffee will cause a spike if I don’t have meal insulin still on board. But a cup of breakfast tea or occasional diet Pepsi does not.
Don’t do caffeine if I can help it. Gives me a headache.
.8 – 1.0 units for first Keurig K-cup. .6 for second. That’s my limit for the day.
I drink too much coffee; it’s probably just factored into my basal rate.
I take extra for the first cup.
I take 1 or 2 sugar cubes with my coffee so I bolus accordingly with 0.4 or 0.6 of a unit accordingly for the sugar.
I’ve found I pretty much have to. Morning coffee with Splenda and light cream == 32grams/carb for me, like two pieces of toast. Kind of a lot! I’m sure some of it has to do with Dawn Phenomenon, or Feet-on-the-Floor (which I gather is sort of different from DP). Whatever. But it just does seem to be a thing for me. Back in the R/NPH days I couldn’t “bolus” for it in the sense we mean that now, but I’ve always had to take it into account since I was dx’d back in the 80s.
Your situation is exactly like mine.
I put other because I do not have any caffeine.
I drink a 3 cupper Moka espresso every morning and never do I bolus for this. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the fact that I don’t use or eat either sugars of any kind or wheat.
I drink my coffee blacks and caffeinated. I bolus for 8 grams – always.
Answered no but I do often have to give a small bolus in the morning even when I’m not eating. Unclear to me if this is due to dawn phenomenon, caffeine, or my early morning exercise (I think it’s a combination of the three).
I don’t drink coffee, only Diet Dr Pepper. No bolus for that.
I do not. I ask the quesion in return… should I bolus for caffeine? What say the endocrinologist medical professionals?
Some people’s sugar rises with caffeine and others do not. If you bolus or not for it depends on your bodies reaction to it. I am not an endo, but I think medical people would say it just depends on your individual situation.
This is news to me! I had no idea that coffee/caffeine would affect glucose. Now I know why I end up having to bolus after having coffee. Thanks!
Coffee = yes, Diet Soda = no
I misread the question. I bolus if I drink a coffee latte, which has a lot of milk. I do not bolus when I drink tea with milk since it is only a splash of milk. But I do not bolus for caffeine.
I do for coffee otherwise my blood sugar rises dramatically. I count it as 10-15 carbs. Sometimes if my BS is on the low side I don’t. We are all different and nothing is consistent that’s for sure.
I replied no, but I guess I inadvertently do. I have found that I have to add extra to my carb count for my piece of raisin toast and the milk in my two cups of tea and one cup of coffee each morning in order to stop the mid-morning bg spike. I was feeling guilty about the toast, but now I realize it is the caffeine.
I don’t bolus for coffee. I use stevia to sweeten. (I use a product that is only stevia.) If I use a milk, it’s unsweetened no fat creamer. I do make my own espresso lattes that have no carbs.
When I have a 80mg of caffeine coffee, my glucose always spikes over 125+mgdl points!
No, never have. I drink my drip coffee with 1/2 & 1/2, now limited to only 2 cups in the morning. I bolus for the breakfast I eat while drinking the coffee, but have never added carbs for the coffee or 1/2 & 1/2.
Other, when I drank coffee (decaf), I had to bolus for 15g cho. Didn’t have to bolus for any other caffeinated beverage.
I would only bolus for a food or drink that contains calories from added flavorings and creamer. As far as I know caffeine does not have any calories.
Yes, I have to bolus a half unit for a cup of coffee. If I add a sweetener (yacon syrup) and cream, which is my usual, I have to bolus 1 unit.
Since caffeine seems to drive my insulin resistance through the roof I just quit it – and man, do I miss morning coffee!
I only have a cup of coffee most mornings and save eating until later or even lunch. I always need to figure coffee as about 15 carbs. (Endo and I suspected it might be my body/brain gearing up for the day the same way a stressful meeting at work will raise my bg levels, but I went a week once drinking tea and did NOT need to bolus at all, even though it was also caffeinated) She said to keep doing it because otherwise I spike up, and also always reminds me that she knows book facts, but she also has a long history of seeing patients whose T1 often strays from those facts. She says we’re the one who knows our bodies best and that doctors who don’t listen (and insist we’re doing something wrong) are fools for not listening as they might learn something. Love her and dread the day she retires.
It depends on the coffee. Most coffee I am ok without bolusing but there are a few brands that spike me. I try to avoid those brands but if that is all that is brewed then I know to bolus for them.
Coffee or sodas but not tea hits me funny sometimes, no rhyme or reason I can see.
I said “NO”, but then again, the only times I ever drank coffee was while in the Hospital when my T1D was diagnosed in 1991. While I was in the Hospital that time, as my longest stay in a hospital, and only time I was in one for over 24 hours… For every meal during the week I was in the Hospital, they gave me a beverage choice of milk, Tea, or Coffee. For every meal I ordered Iced Tea as my beverage choice and for every meal, the Hospital would give me a steaming cup of hot coffee and a bowl of ice cubes and called that “iced tea”!!!
Other than week in the Hospital I might have drank a cappuccino or similar coffee based drink once or twice but have never really understood how anybody could drink coffee and claim that it tastes good, so unless it’s the only drink option, I never choose to drink coffee.
Yes. A cup of coffee or tea raises me a lot! I have to count it as 25 carbs.
I do notice that coffee does make my Blood sugar go up slightly as I have a coffee first thing in the morning when I get up before having breakfast and insulin.
Off and on over the years, I’ve needed to bolus for coffee but since I started some unsweetened protein creamer to my morning coffee amongst MCT oil & flavored stevia, I no longer need to
I’ve never noticed a reaction in my BG to caffeine in any form.
I started drinking coffee before ten trying to be a “grown up”. Caffeine does not stimulate me / keep me awake.
I give a minimal amount (.05)but only with my early coffee. I think I might need to take a bit more.
I mis-answered. My eyes read ‘caffeine’ but my tiny little brain thought ‘coffee.’ I do not bolus for caffeine. I do, however, usually need a correction bolus after both regular and decaf coffe. Caffinated soft drinks have no effect on my bg.
Added note: I drink my coffee black with splenda. No added carbs.
What? I never log in or out
Yes, I drink coffee with just a tiny bit of milk and 1/2 and 1/2. I drink it early in the morning so part of the blame goes to the dawn phenomenon, if I don’t give myself a small bolus my blood sugar skyrockets up!
No carbs in caffeine.. none in coffee that most answers were about.. For me the calming effect of a good cup of plain coffee is a relaxer and that keeps my BG from going up!! At night, it helps me sleep better..
Sometimes I bolus 0.5 units from pump with morning coffee. Depends on BG.
I do. I drink black coffee and see this on CGM virtually every morning. BG goes up 20-30 points over 1 hr. So I consider it a carb equivalent and bolus for it. The literature around caffeine is a little confusing, because a number of issues get blended together. There is a nice discussion of this here: https://www.levelshealth.com/blog/does-coffee-raise-blood-sugar ……………………… and another here: https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/diabetes-and-caffeine ………..punchline: caffeine can raise BG due to increased resistance to the effect of insulin and thus increased liver production of sugar. But unless you have T1D and are on CGM or check post meal BG levels after taking in caffeine with no milk or sweeteners, you might not realize that this is happening. There are lots of relevant variables: amount of caffeine, if consumed with something else like creamer sweetener etc, and individual sensitivity to caffeine. In life, you see what you look for; this is a good example.