I have the same "problem". I don't drink nearly as much as I used to, but I drink about a 2L a day depending on how much time I'm at home. That doesn't include the 1L or 20oz bottles I grab while I'm out. I've tried to drink more Fresca, 7-Up, Sprite, etc. to reduce the caffeine and sodium. I'm happy with my habit, and it seems fairly harmless to me. I've been drinking diet soda since I was diagnosed 30 years ago, so i figure if it has some horrible effect, it would've happened by now. It's nice to drink something I enjoy without having to stop and think about carbs and bolusing. No one had ever dare try to take away that simple respite I have.

Damn dude - we are totally related. Except I drink that much Diet Coke (not that "Pepsi" stuff), and 'round here it is called "pop".

When I was in my 20's I had a Pop addiction. Gave it up cold turkey. I drink water and crystal light now. In fact, I tried to have a Pop for lunch.and I couldnt finish it...at makes my mouth feel all dry. I have one cup of leaded coffee in the am and thats it.
I knew a T1'r once who drank nothing but coffee all day. Then wondered why his pee smelled like coffee.

If you want to get off caffeine, you must do it gradually. Even my doctor told me not to try "cold turkey" off of caffeine. I have never really like the taste of diet sodas and am now drinking the flavored seltzer that is not sweetened with anything. I still drink coffee in the morning, but have switched to half caff. I would change to decaf if I could find one that tasted good. Most decaf coffee tastes like the rejects from the high test stuff.

I too am addicted to diet soda! My choice is the diet caffeiene pepsi, or the diet caffeine cherry pepsi. I could easily drink two or three of the 24 ounce bottles, but manage most days to keep myself down to one bottle. I hear so much about diet soda and diabetes and trying to lose weight, both pro and con, and I have no idea which to believe! I have given up a lot, chocolate for one, and most sweets, so far I have not been able to give up the diet pepsi. I did give it up for about two months, but I craved it every day, and finally went back to drinking it. I mostly drink it in the daytime, like around 10 am. When I am at work, I have another one around 2. After that I force myself not have another one. I've tried water, I've tried crystal light, other drink mixes they recommend, but none of them work for me, I don't like coffee or tea. So I am with you on this.

I too, was addicted to Diet sodas for years. My Doctor had a cow over the number I consumed and threatened to dump me if I continued. A tough decision for me since at one time I had over 50 cases on hand.

But I did kick the habit and to my surprise, my craving for Carbs all but disappeared. In the six months Iv'e been of the Diet Sodas i hve purchased two bags of chips. One went bad and the other never opened. I've even noticed a weight loss and overall feel better.

My 14 yr old T1 daughter just started back to school this week after a summer of many, many diet sodas and splenda-sweetened ice teas. She's loves being in highschool but is having fatigue and headaches that are totally unrelated to her blood sugar. Must be from the caffeine withdrawal. I'm sending the new Cranergy drinks in her lunchbag (cranberry juice and green tea sweetened with Splenda), but would appreciate any suggestions for easing the transition. Can't be good for anyone to be consuming too much caffeine if that's how bad you feel without it!
BTW--this may not matter to T1's so much, but it turns out that diet drinks are prompting T2's to produce insulin! Apparently the sweet taste alone is enough to provoke the pancreas to churn out insulin in anticipation of carbs. Then there's more hunger, defeating the purpose of drinking the diet drink in the first place!

Hi, I am definately addicted to Coca Cola One. If that is not available, I drink Diet Coke or even Diet Pepsi. I drink about 10 to 12 cans per day, every day. I have tried to quit but I get such cravings. I do not know if the cravings are for caffine or the Coke itself. I always have a coke around and am never without some in the fridge. Sometimes I think, "Well it could be worse, I could be drinking drinks with sugar" or "They are sugar free - they are not bad for you, Why should I give them up?" One reason I should quit is they are expensive! And they are totally useless to my body. I have tried drinking sugar free cranberry juice mixed with water and nutrasweet. That is pretty good but not the same... I went back to Coke. I wonder if I really need to quit. Is there some reason beyond expense that should compell me to quit? What about the artificial sweetner? Is there any actual evidence that it is bad for you? As you can tell, I go round and round about this issue... Any comments, suggestions?

I'm envious of those of you that can drink diet soda without having it affect your bs! After trial & error, I've discovered that drinking just ONE with dinner shoots my morning reading up by 20-30 points! Just water for me.....I'm Type 2

It is hard for me get through a diet soda, I haven't found one that I like yet. However, you might want to be careful about sodas sweetened with aspartame that come in cans, if you live in hot part of the country ( I live in AZ). The aluminum in the cand reacts to the apspartame and creates formaldehyde when exposed to heat. Many times the soda delivery truck will park out side stores for hours exposing the cans to the heat. If you cosume a lot a diet soda this would cause some pretty weird problems I have read on the internet that over comsumption of diet sodas can produce symptoms that mimick lupus. I think consuming over a 12 pack per day of diet soda would eventually cause a lot a health issues. I agree with others to get off the soda gradually, the caffine is probably or lack thereof when cutting yourself off is causing the headaches. You might try this for every diet soda you consume, follow it with a chaser of water, selzer, or sparkling mineral water. When you get the headache, consume some water you may also be experiencing dehydration that the water in the diet soda was compensating for.

I too am addicted to diet pepsi.
I have been T1 for 25 years, and have always drank it, of course alot more as an adult.
However, I get crap all the time from coworkers about how bad it is.
And just yesterday, my 5 yr old daughter informed me that pop is not healthy so why do you drink that stuff mom?
so is it really bad for you?
I am overweight, so there is some desire to stop drinking it to see if it would make me lose weight. but when I get to work, i HAVE to have it. when I get home, i HAVE to have it, for dinner, after dinner................
a friend of mine quit drinking it and she swears she lost immediate 10-15 pounds of water weight, as it makes her very bloated.
when you look at the sodium content, it is very low compared to other things. I remember my mom asking the dietitian that 25 years ago...as she was concerned about my habit back then!
jen

I too am addicted to diet pepsi but I have given up sweets all I have is my diet pepsi. It doesn't effect as far as I know my blood sugar my numbers are good.I have lost over 30 lbs and have had to see my diabetes educater to see how to gain back a few lbs. I'm 5'7" and weigh just 100 lbs. So I feel I am doing OK drinking my diet pepsi.

I'm a T2 diagnosed last year. I was a VERY heavy drinker before that - mostly beer and wine. That certainly had an effect on my condition.

Now it's caffeine-free diet cola; the brand isn't too important, but I'm drinking about a dozen per day. I feel like I've substituted one addiction for another.

The lack of sugar doesn't bother me as I've never had much of a craving for any kind of sweets, and haven't had a "regular" soda in years. The taste of the unleaded isn't any different than normal diet drinks. If I have any caffeine drink after dinner, it makes it almost impossible to get to sleep.

Maybe if you tried alternating regular diet drinks with caffeine-free diet drinks, you could get yourself off the caffeine gradually.

I'll still have an occasional beer or glass of wine, but I'm as hooked on diet drinks as you.

I know that the diet drinks are much healthier than the mass quatities of alcohol that I used to drink and once I get fully through the lifestyle adjustments to being diabetic I'll deal with this issue.

At 16 cans a day, you're consuming about 720 mg of caffeine, or about 6.75 cups of coffee. It definitely sounds like a dependence. That's a lot of wear and tear on your heart, George. I also wonder how your teeth and stomach are faring with all of that carbonation. I had a love for Gatorade like you do with diet soda. I had the will to ease off it, but it wasn't easy by any stretch. Now there's Powerade Zero, a no-calorie, no sugar drink. You might want to try that - the taste is pretty good. And pretty much all of the Crystal Light flavors are good. Good luck in all of your efforts.

Im a type 2, diagnosed about 4 years ago. I drink coffee all day and have just recently been trying to drink more diet pop, lol... I use the diet pop to replace other sweets when I crave them and Im starting to lose a little weight now. Have only been drinking about 1 can a day for about a month or two but figure its better than the stuff I was having before so I don't see a problem with it. Anything can become a problem if you overdo it so just remember 'moderation' is the key...

You must know me! I drink diet Pepsi all the time. It used to be a 6 pack of 24oz bottles a day. Now I'm down to 2-3 bottles. I've been substituting water in between. It seems like work at first but I'm finally starting to enjoy water for the first time in 30 years. I gave up coffee a year ago when my husband was sick and couldn't stand the smell. Hang in there and keep on trying. My goal is to get to 1 bottle a week. Then I know I'll be able to do with out it if I want to. Extra incentive: I lost my best friend to stomach cancer a few years ago. The doctors blamed all the soda she drank. It was the worst thing I ever saw.

Caffeine raises blood sugar,and the cies that are in soda are also bad for you. Drink water it has the same effect as drinking all that soda. You don't have a caffeine addiction you have a drinking addiction. Try it and see if you don't feel better.
Fran

George, Thanks for the open comment. I'm a T2 . Pre- diabete's I drank a lot of cokes then I got on diet sprite and diet root beer.
11/2 cups of coffee daily and 4 to 5 cans of diet soda and not much water. Now its water and 1 diet soda a day . Addiction is tuff . Smoking, drinking , I guess everyone has a hang-up. But sharing is a good way in helping youand others find out your not the only one with problems like this. Thanks for being open with your addiction. Jean

Try Diet Rite Soda. Tastes great, is caffine free, sodium free and calorie free. I love it. I drink water all day long, and then in the evening I will have a couple of glasses of soda.

I am not sure the caffeine is the worry here. I am concerned that you are drinking a GALLON of this stuff everyday--a GALLON. This can be very hard on the kidneys. Are you sure your blood sugars are in good control? How's your A1C? You might want to consult a nutrionist who is familiar with DM.

I too drank Diet Pepsi like water until about six months ago. I have switched to drinking iced tea with sweetener, which cuts the sodium out, but the caffine is still there and the sweeteners can't be that great for me.... but I'm mostly drinking fast-food iced teas as I'm on the road all day for work.
Packing my own tea in the morning just leaves me with a half jug of warm tea to pour out in the evening.
Any Road Warriors out there have to tackle this addiction?

I am also addicted to Diet Pepsi Cherry and have been for years.....but now that I am in end stage kidney failure my doc wants me to cut out a lot of things with phosperous in them and the diet cola is one of them. Unfortunately, I have not been able to stop. I drank some unsweetened ice tea made by one of those tea makers and it was good, but not as good as my pepsi. I also can't quit smoking....sometimes I think I must have a deep seated death wish LOL. My bs are good but I know as soon as I get on dialysis the boom is going to fall. I guess the time comes when I will have to dig down deep and follow orders. I can truly understand the addiction aspect. Good luck!

WOW! 16 cans of pop a day! Besides all the concerns expressed earlier relating to stomach, kidneys and pancreas.........add bones. The carbonation in pop leaches calcim from bones and causes osteoporosis. I read a study that suggested you would need to drink 2 ADDITIONAL 8 oz. glasses of milk per 12 oz. can of pop consumed in addition to the 2 8oz. glasses of milk you are supposed to drink. For you, that would total 34 glasses of milk a day to counteract the effects of all that pop on your bones.
But, hey! You licked smoking, which is a superb achievement. Try substituting water or Crystal light for one pop a day for awhile, and then slowly increase your water/other caffiene free, sugar free beverage in place of the pop.
Even cutting back to 8/day and maintaining for awhile, and then restart working down to 1-2 pops per day is a doable goal!
Just my 2 cents, but I have cut way back on my pop consumption since I have to stay away from caffience due to a heart condition.
It's tough, but the headaches and the drowsiness and lethargy will disappear after ahile.
GOOD LUCK...........YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!