Type 1 Cuppas and Gabbapentin

[rachy0121]

Random title I know but ....
Firstly does anyone find that their sugars go up with cups of tea? I use sweeteners and my diabetic nurse said one cuppa in the morning wouldn't be enough to raise my sugars? But yesterday I was 4.3 when I woke, had a cuppa, sweeteners, and it rose to 9.9. I'm so confused.

Also, is anyone in Gabbapentin? I've been on it since around October / November and my sugars have been a bit weird since then. The GP and diabetic nurse don't seem to think it could be that but I'm just curious as if to anyone else has previously been on it before or still on it and find it messes their sugars up?

Many thanks in advance guys if you can answer or help!

 

[plutoniumcard]

One cuppa shouldn't have a massive effect.....but have you tried doing without the artificial sweeteners? I have seen info that for some people, despite the sweeteners not containing sugars, they can cause spikes, due to them fooling the body's biochemistry.
Also...it may not be the first cuppa per se, rather your body is "waking" up, with a brief spike!

 

[Mep]

I'm not sure about the cuppa being the reason.... although gabapentin is on the list of drugs that can raise blood sugar. I'm on baclofen and lipitor which does that too.

http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/drugs-that-can-affect-blood-glucose-levels/

 

[satindoll]

On the converse side I find that a cup of tea will raise my numbers........so now I have a cup of fresh brewed coffee with double cream 1st thing with my yoghurt...... after which I can drink tea to my hearts content....... but then that's just me......your mileage may differ

 

[Snapsy]

Hi @rachy0121,

It might not be the tea, it might be dawn phenomenon caused by your liver dumping glucose to get you up and at 'em in the morning.

I recently went to a posh afternoon tea at a local hotel for a friend's birthday, and had just tea rather than the full spread the others were having - I had three pots of tea with milk - I only have a dribble of milk in tea so was massively surprised to have been 12.6 when I got in the car! Some of it might have been down to adrenaline (I find socialising pretty stressful) but I reckon the milk had something to do with it as well. I guess it adds up when you're drinking as much tea as three pots!

And re the Gabapentin - until recently I'd been taking this for some years. I can't say that it affected my blood sugars, but any changes in medication and different medications in combination will very possibly be able to affect blood sugar. I don't recall the Gabapentin specifically affecting me though.

 

[rachy0121]

One cuppa shouldn't have a massive effect.....but have you tried doing without the artificial sweeteners? I have seen info that for some people, despite the sweeteners not containing sugars, they can cause spikes, due to them fooling the body's biochemistry.
Also...it may not be the first cuppa per se, rather your body is "waking" up, with a brief spike!

I didnt know that sweetners could do that so that might be the reason I just dont think I could have a cuppa without any sweetners
Thank you

 

[rachy0121]

On the converse side I find that a cup of tea will raise my numbers........so now I have a cup of fresh brewed coffee with double cream 1st thing with my yoghurt...... after which I can drink tea to my hearts content....... but then that's just me......your mileage may differ

Right okay so Im not the only one who finds that then!
So fresh brewed coffee with double cream is that okay to have and how the bloody hell do you actually do fresh brewed coffee? Or am I just being slow?
Thank you

 

[rachy0121]

Hi @rachy0121,

It might not be the tea, it might be dawn phenomenon caused by your liver dumping glucose to get you up and at 'em in the morning.

I recently went to a posh afternoon tea at a local hotel for a friend's birthday, and had just tea rather than the full spread the others were having - I had three pots of tea with milk - I only have a dribble of milk in tea so was massively surprised to have been 12.6 when I got in the car! Some of it might have been down to adrenaline (I find socialising pretty stressful) but I reckon the milk had something to do with it as well. I guess it adds up when you're drinking as much tea as three pots!

And re the Gabapentin - until recently I'd been taking this for some years. I can't say that it affected my blood sugars, but any changes in medication and different medications in combination will very possibly be able to affect blood sugar. I don't recall the Gabapentin specifically affecting me though.

See this is what Im saying I dont have much milk and I have read the bottle for how much in how many ml and you'd have to have about a jug full to make it spike when you work it out mathematically. Im just so confused. I think I may have to look into Gabs and see if my GP can change me over to something else although I am sure the drugs will be quite strong and I dont know if Im up for that!
Thank You

 

[satindoll]

Right okay so Im not the only one who finds that then!
So fresh brewed coffee with double cream is that okay to have and how the bloody hell do you actually do fresh brewed coffee? Or am I just being slow?
Thank you

I have a coffee machine I setup before going to bed to make 4 cups, so when I get up its switch on machine, go to the loo, wash hands, test then do my jab by which time the machine had done the business and I can pour out the coffee, I switch off the machine to save the rest for later in the day.......easily warmed up in the microwave when needed...... grab my yoghurt, put cream in coffee and enjoy........and no your not being slow, it took me a while to realise I could actually do it that way myself.....

 

[LiamC93]

Random title I know but ....
Firstly does anyone find that their sugars go up with cups of tea? I use sweeteners and my diabetic nurse said one cuppa in the morning wouldn't be enough to raise my sugars? But yesterday I was 4.3 when I woke, had a cuppa, sweeteners, and it rose to 9.9. I'm so confused.

Also, is anyone in Gabbapentin? I've been on it since around October / November and my sugars have been a bit weird since then. The GP and diabetic nurse don't seem to think it could be that but I'm just curious as if to anyone else has previously been on it before or still on it and find it messes their sugars up?

Many thanks in advance guys if you can answer or help!

I'm looking for the same advice but with flavoured tea!! Don't want to cut them down ahah

 

[daisyduck]

It could be the dawn phenomena ( liver dump)
Test it at another time of day and see if it does the same thing ?

 

[Snapsy]

Funnily enough if I have coffee, at whatever time of day, without insulin, it's often enough to push me up by several mmol/l! I suspect caffeine is the culprit with that one in my case.

I love all these random factors affecting blood glucose..... NOT!

Sigh.

 

[rachy0121]

It could be the dawn phenomena ( liver dump)
Test it at another time of day and see if it does the same thing ?

Yes it does it no matter what time of day ((((

 

[rachy0121]

Funnily enough if I have coffee, at whatever time of day, without insulin, it's often enough to push me up by several mmol/l! I suspect caffeine is the culprit with that one in my case.

I love all these random factors affecting blood glucose..... NOT!

Sigh.

God it's so frustrating isn't it. It must take years and years to figure out every single aspect of your diet and how it can affect your sugars !

 

[rachy0121]

I'm looking for the same advice but with flavoured tea!! Don't want to cut them down ahah

It's just too good isn't it! I can't have coffee so I have tea and now even this is proving difficult

 

[LiamC93]

It's just too good isn't it! I can't have coffee so I have tea and now even this is proving difficult

I have the odd coffee, but I'm slightly obsessed with waking up and going to bed with a hot cup of lemon and ginger

 

[noblehead]

Firstly does anyone find that their sugars go up with cups of tea? I use sweeteners and my diabetic nurse said one cuppa in the morning wouldn't be enough to raise my sugars? But yesterday I was 4.3 when I woke, had a cuppa, sweeteners, and it rose to 9.9. I'm so confused.

Agree with @Snapsy, if your just having a cup of tea on a morning your likely experience a liver dump.

Many of us type 1's find our bg rises soon after waking if we don't eat breakfast, even for those type 1's who don't eat first thing they sometimes have to bolus to compensate for the rise, without eating and a bolus I can be in double figures 2 hours from waking up, by having some breakfast and bolusing accordingly I can keep my bg controlled throughout the morning.

Maybe have just have a small snack with your cuppa if you can't face something cooked.

 

[rachy0121]

Agree with @Snapsy, if your just having a cup of tea on a morning your likely experience a liver dump.

Many of us type 1's find our bg rises soon after waking if we don't eat breakfast, even for those type 1's who don't eat first thing they sometimes have to bolus to compensate for the rise, without eating and a bolus I can be in double figures 2 hours from waking up, by having some breakfast and bolusing accordingly I can keep my bg controlled throughout the morning.

Maybe have just have a small snack with your cuppa if you can't face something cooked.

Okay cool so like toast or a biscuit? And then would I have to inject for that then?
Thanks in advance

 

[noblehead]

Okay cool so like toast or a biscuit? And then would I have to inject for that then?
Thanks in advance

Yes, if you don't bolus you'll just go high, testing will determine how much QA insulin you need.

 

[rachy0121]

Yes, if you don't bolus you'll just go high, testing will determine how much QA insulin you need.

Right so forgive me for sounding so stupid
Is bolus the short acting insulin