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Drinking alcohol and the pump

Sarahkylie88

Sarahkylie88

Well-Known Member
Hello, quick question...

How do u manage your sugars when u have a drink? I sometimes drink either wine or a light lager,I'm having a couple of lagers tomorrow with the rugby. (I'll pretend I'm a massive rugby fan for this...) lol I have managed with wine when I had a drink, I drank a dry wine rather than a sweet one and didn't bolus anything. Bloods were spot on. Those who drink lager what do u do? It's not very often... But I knew exactly what to do when on pens... Just looking for some advice please... To bolus or not to bolus!
 
i expect you will get a variance of opinion on this -- i always bolus for the first pint.
i will throw in a correction somewhere around 2 hours later depending on BG ( and pints consumed :) )

i always try to eat something ( and bolus for that ) and a definite test and possible extra snack before bed depending on numbers.
don't always get it right ( low or high ) but have to live and get on with life as well :)
 
I rarely drink lager but I don't bolus for it when I do. However, I don't have large quantities.

If you're uncertain, you could not bolus but watch your BS closely. You'd then have a better idea for the future :)
 
Thank you @himtoo! I don't go out often, but enjoy a lager or two sometimes, not very ladylike a know! I'll give it a go! Just the first time I've had a few drinks whilst being on the pod! I'll make sure I keep testing and go from there! I had heard about blousing for the first pint. I'll see how my sugars go tomorrow! Thank you x x x
 
I'm going to watch Wales tomorrow and will probably have 4 bottles of Coors light ( 2 pints ) over the course of the 3 games, have something to eat during games so bolus for the food plus a few extra for the larger and I will have around 5 or 10 carbs at bedtime depending on blood glucose reading.
 
Sarahkylie88 said:
Thank you @himtoo! I don't go out often, but enjoy a lager or two sometimes, not very ladylike a know! I'll give it a go! Just the first time I've had a few drinks whilst being on the pod! I'll make sure I keep testing and go from there! I had heard about blousing for the first pint. I'll see how my sugars go tomorrow! Thank you x x x
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bless:) -- i am unfortunately able to say about bolusing from a vast amount of experience :eek:
i don't drink loads either on a given occasion but from experience that first drink ( lager can cause a 4-6 mmol spike for me with no bolus. )
i don't need to bolus for red wine ( Yay ! :) )

i am just relearnng what happens to my bloods being on a pump and sometimes it is really frustrating because my BG's dont always behave the way they did on MDI. You will get there though :)
 
It didn't go too badly, bloods a little on the high, but I think I knocked my pod when cleaning... So had a 16.7 before I even had a drink!! But I levelled out with a pod change in the car!! Pod change level: expert! Lol thanks guys X X
 
Any standard red, white or rosey wine has no carbs or sugars in it whether it is dry or sweet. It will not immediately effect your blood sugars, but depending on how much you drink the alcohol will always bring your levels crashing down. So always eat without a bolus after your drinking finishes.
When drinking beers a bottled beer usually has around 12g of carbs per bottle, I have my first one without correction the take 1.2 units ( I'm a pumper ) every other beer after. That's the advice of been given from my care team and the amount that I can put away, it seems to work really well.
Kopparberg ciders ate a favourite of mine, 43g of carbs in the big bottles though I always bolus for every drink although usually after every 3-4
 
^^^That's very general advice and not something I'd take into consideration unless you're newly diagnosed.

There are carbs in some wine although not much. 4g/glass can add up over an entire night if you're not careful.

Beer has a much much wider variation. There are some beers that have very few carbs (Michelob Ultra claims only 2.6g of carbs) while others may have more than 20g (many Stouts are high in carbs).

Ciders and wine liqueurs are about the worst thing to drink as they're almost always super high in calories and particularly sugar.
 
I don't bolus for wine. I think beer has more carbs though. If I've had a couple of glasses of wine in the evening my sugars drop low in the early hours next morning so I set a TBR of 80% at bedtime for at least 10-11 hours and this usually prevents a hypo. The more you've drunk, the lower the TBR should go.
 
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