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Alcohol and evening meal

Willow85

Willow85

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hello to all my fellow diabetics. So last night I went out for a meal with my boyfriend and went for a few drinks before. It was only when I was waiting for my food at the restaurant that I realised that I left my insulin at home. I didn't panic and just said that I would correct myself when I got home. In total for the evening I drank four Malibu and diet cokes and 3/4 of a bottle of red wine. For the meal I had kleftico which came with a generous portion of chips and vegetables and for dessert I had a huge piece of chocolate fudge cake with ice cream. When I got home I checked my levels and they were at 12.6. I was surprised that they weren't higher but assumed that this must be the alcohol kicking in but also that the food hadn't completely kicked in. I decided not to do a correction as wasn't sure whether the alcohol was going to affect my levels. Any way when getting up this morning I thought my levels might be high and found that they were only 7.2. Just wanted to know what people's thoughts are on this. I'm surprised that I didn't need to give myself a correction and if I had made the decision to do this I probably would have had a hypo. Any feedback and advice on this would be appreciated. x
 
I'm guessing it must have been the alcohol lowering my levels but what would have happened if I hadn't forgotten my insulin. I probably would have ended the night with a hypo. Unfortunately I hadn't checked my levels since lunch time and I forgot to take that with me too, so was unable to check.
 
Alcohol can lower bg so this could be the case, however if your recently diagnosed it could be that your still in The Honeymoon Period whereby your still producing small amounts of insulin.
 
If you forget to take insulin the rise will be lower than expected because your kidneys will go to work excreting glucose into the urine once your BG is above ten and will keep at it all day and night.

The alcohol reduces BG by stopping the liver dumping glucose like normal. This in turn means your basal insulin will actually work to reduce your BG, rather than just stabilises it like it normally does.

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Malibu and diet coke lowers my sugar levels so if I have them with a meal, I don't have to inject as much :) I'm not saying that that is the new way forward-drink Malibu and diet coke all day haha but it is nice to know for when eating out :)


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Kelsie said:
Malibu and diet coke lowers my sugar levels so if I have them with a meal, I don't have to inject as much :) I'm not saying that that is the new way forward-drink Malibu and diet coke all day haha but it is nice to know for when eating out :)


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Definitely! Thanks for the tip.;) I'm still quite new to all this as I was only diagnosed back in August. There's a lot to learn.
 
My BG definitely lowers significantly through alcohol, I've had a few BBQ's in the last year with friends around and I've only taken my Levemir as the alcohol has levelled out the carbs. I'm now coming/have come off my honeymoon period so will have to watch this.
 
Willow85 said:
Definitely! Thanks for the tip.;) I'm still quite new to all this as I was only diagnosed back in August. There's a lot to learn.
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Don't worry, it's all new to me too, I was diagnosed a month before you :) but advice from people on here and I have generally stuck with Malibu & diet coke since :)



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