Alcohol

[Chance-US]

Hi. Struggling type 2 (or maybe 3) here. A1C is 9.8. 6 ft, 175 lbs, walk 4 miles about 4 time per week. Diet could be better. Could anyone speak to excessive alcohol consumption and how it may affect the pancreas and or blood sugar elevation? Thank you.

 

[Ronancastled]

Many find that excessive alcohol consumption lowers blood sugar. Although some beers contain 10-20 carbs your liver gives priority to dealing with the alcohol instead of producing glucose. A dry wine or some shorts with diet mixer can be zero carb.

 

[KennyA]

Hi. Struggling type 2 (or maybe 3) here. A1C is 9.8. 6 ft, 175 lbs, walk 4 miles about 4 time per week. Diet could be better. Could anyone speak to excessive alcohol consumption and how it may affect the pancreas and or blood sugar elevation? Thank you.

Depends on what you mean by excessive. What I'm about to say is about alcohol and blood glucose: the other well-known positive and negative effects of alcohol aren't at issue here.

Recommended drinking levels vary considerably between countries: Italy suggests 40g pure alcohol/day compared to Sweden's 20g/day. I'm in the Italian camp. Personally I've found that alcohol lowers my BG quite markedly and taken with a carby meal I get no elevated levels whatsoever. This involves drinking wine and spirits, rather than beer, There are a few low-carb beers around, but I've only found one that's worth bothering with. So it's a hard question to answer - it depends so much on the rest of your diet, and how you feel about what you're eating and drinking.

 

[Chance-US]

I was 5-6 drinks a night 7 days a week. Not anymore. What I struggle with understanding is - will or can excessive alcohol consumption over time create pancreatitis which in turn manifests itself into type 2? What is a low Cpeptide report? I find low is below .8 other sites say below .5. Mine is .53. I'm just trying to understand it. Thanks.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

I'm tinkering with this at the moment.
I used to have a bottled beer a day (minimum) but I recently found that I could no longer deal with this.
So I have been drinking mainly white wine and a snifter of whisky or brandy before bed.

As noted elsewhere my BG has been elevated over the last week.
I cut right back on the booze just to see.
Had a few chips a couple of days back (again just to see) and instead of the quick spike then drop my BG just kept on slowly going up and up.
Ate at 15:00 and by 20:36 BG was at 9.5.
At that point I had a large whisky and my BG dropped like a stone.
5.6 by 23:20 and still going down.

I cut out all carbs (instead of having 20 grams or so) and all booze and my BG is now at more sane levels.
Today I have had, for lunch, a tomato and some cheese and a glass of white wine.
Again immediately after the wine my BG dropped sharply.

I must note that when I have been high because of carbohydrates then alcohol takes my BG down, but it can then come up again over night and through the morning.
So alcohol may just interrupt the processing of carbs for some people, not act like a shot of insulin.

 

[BRSBRI]

Being completely frank - immediately before diagnosis in v early January I was sinking many pints of beer a night. Work stress was dreadful and this was a crutch. My mmol - (I was testing before formal diagnosis) was in the 13-15 range.

This combined with a likely diabetes diagnosis, shook me up. And as it has turned out, my body's general ability to effectively handle carbs from all sources is very low...

I now have an occasional gin and diet tonic and a small glass of dry red wine with dinner more usually at the weekend.

My mmol is now averaging around the 6s and dipping into the 5s.

My DSN for whom I have the greatest respect has recounted many harrowing stories of the psychological effects of diabetes and how they manifest themselves as an outlet both to alcohol abuse or worse.

Suggestion - speak to your health care team and be brutally frank about your concerns and also the intake. I was and I found it remarkably uncomfortable, but their advice and support was unwaivering and amazing.

We're all different in this diabetic journey and our physiology is unique and your HCPs with the right inputs can provide good guidance and potential onward signposting.

Best of luck!

 

[Chance-US]

Thank you greatly for comments. Incidentally, now that I am back checking BS 3X a day - I can't get a reading over 140 ever. Most mornings are 110-120. Some are even 90. So more fuel for my confusion. A 120-140 BG doesn't equate to an A1C of 9.8. Seems like I am grossly missing something.