Alcohol and Blood Sugar Levels

Spablauw_ said:

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, I'm 18 years old and I'm having type 1 Diabetes since I was 10 years old.

I can't say that I've got my blood sugar levels totally 100% under control but I'm doing OK for now, last HbA1c check at 7,0 and I'm fine with that for this moment and the period of my life

However I just don't seem to get my Levels right when drinking alcohol (especially a Beer).
I read online that Alcoholic drinks (beer, wine) makes your blood sugar rise when drinking it but after that quick short rise it should drop back down because of the alcohol in it.
For me it's completely different, I'll explain what happens, I start drinking a beer at around 100 mg/dl but I then keep rising, I had another check 2 hours later, I've had around 3 beers, and I was at 220 mg/dl. So yeah I knew that my blood sugar wouldn't drop but I still didn't took any medication because I just wanted to see what really happens so I went to bed with 220 mg/dl. Just for the record: I haven't had any high fat meals that day, I had some boiled potatoes with some meat for dinner and took my medication (bit too much which caused a hypo after dinner) but after that I've been around 100 mg/dl untill I had a beer.

I was with someone being Diabetic Type 1 aswell and he found it weird that I was getting hypers after alcohol, while I was on 220 mg/dl he was forced to eat some dextro because of a hypo...?

I have no idea what I could do, for now I just avoid having a beer with friends but I would like to drink a beer now and then.

I hope someone could help me with this!

Btw, I'm on multiple injections per day (NovoRapid and Lantus)

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Pilsner isn't a bad beer for diabetics, it's one of the better ones tbh. I had about eight cans yesterday afternoon and didn't see much in the way of spikes. I took 2u bolus insulin towards the end, which isn't bad for beer I must say.

When you drink a moderate amount of beer, your BG tends to rise and then stay there. If you have a good scoop though, your liver is preoccupied with the alcohol and doesn't release its stored glycogen like it usually would. The result is often overnight hypos.

Red wine isn't bad for BG either and neither are neat spirits. Just watch for hypos that evening and the following day though, depending on how much booze you put away.

Spablauw_ said:

Okay, so you reckon I should bolus for beer? How about wine than? Since it's very low on carbs and I still seem to rise from it (not as much as beer)

Btw, how many carbs do 2u cover for you?

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I wouldn't advise it unless you have a good idea of how your BG typically reacts to specific types of alcohol.

2u would cover me for 24g carbs, but in that instance it was a correction dose.

I would bolus as little as 1u for a bottle of red wine. Nothing for spirits.

I bolus for white wine if I'm having more than two glasses. Usually right as I start drinking but I also have a piece of cheese. Sometimes I still go up and will bolus later.

Red wine usually no bolus butnit does raise me if more than two glassses.
Spirits with water never.
I'm not a beer drinkier but love my hubbies nitro dark beers. I only drink a little foam and they will raise me. Guinness, may fav I won't drink more than a few sips because I would be sky high

As @GrantGam suggested you need to test to see what does what and when. It only takes a few times until you get a feel for each. Carbs in alcohol can act different than carbs eaten.

Alcohol can be a tricky one but it's do-able. Can't speak about spirits or wine as I rarely drink them. Beer spikes me like crazy up to 15 (270) or more if I don't bolus for it, lagers definitely, real ale less so. So I do bolus for it but I always keep an eye on how much active insulin on board is swimming around and try to time or minimize the last bolus so I've got no or little fast insulin in me going to bed and will always have some carbs to counter the possibility of lows once, as Grant says, the liver starts coming back into play and doing it's unpredictable stuff.

It's maybe one of those instances where pizza effect is quite useful! Couple of slices of cheese on toast (or, what the hey, a Saturday night so why not an actual slice of pizza!) the cheese slows down absorption of the carbs so you're getting a slow feed in of carbs a few hours later once the liver comes back on line.

That's how it works for me. You might be totally different. Only way to find out is to get out there and practice.

Still, you've got to look on the bright side. I once heard a theory, don't know if it's true or not, but it was that because the alcohol molecule is very similar to the sugar molecule, non-T1 pancreases get gulled into thinking there's more sugar kicking around than there actually is so squirts out more insulin, so those hangover shakes in the morning in a non-T1 are because of the adrenalin rush caused by low sugars. But our pancreases have gone on strike, so don't do that, so we don't get hangovers. No idea if the theory is correct or not, but hey, it's fun telling people, diabetes, nah, no problem, I don't get hangovers!

Be careful out there!

Hi @GrantGam . 8 cans of pilsner and you didn't see a spike!!!!!!! 8 cans of pilsner and I wouldn't have seen anything.
Been 98% tee total for too long now ( alcohol, xmas and summer holiday only )

therower said:

Hi @GrantGam . 8 cans of pilsner and you didn't see a spike!!!!!!! 8 cans of pilsner and I wouldn't have seen anything.

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Hahaha, it's not often I physically "laugh out loud" at things I read on line. Your comment did though, that tickled my fancy