alcohol

[korfila]

Morning all,
i have a question. i am taking glicazide and metformin daily, is it safe to very occasionally have a few beers??

thanks,
ken.
8)

 

[lovinglife]

Hi Ken,

I am on met and glic and do on occasion have a couple of glasses of wine, just make sure you test as you can go low with alcohol on glic. One thing I do find is if I have more than 3 drinks I have a stinking hangover the next day, I put this down to the met, also although at the time of drinking my bs is lowered by the alcohol the next day my numbers are always a couple of points higher for most of the day.

Enjoy a couple of beers and see how you feel as long as you don't get stotting drunk you will probably find its ok

 

[BobCornelius]

Hi Ken,

Nothing wrong with the odd bevvie, but you may find some beers raise your sugars!

When I was in Glic and Met I enjoyed the odd glass of red wine, which lowered my sugar level for a while, best to test and see what does what! Drink too much, and you might see a drop as your liver gets distracted, but then a rise!

Hope that helps!



Bob

 

[izzzi]

Hi Ken,

It is not recommended to drink alcohol when taking glicazide, although depending on the dose I would think a good quality beer in moderation may be a ok.
Some experts are now saying that some warnings regarding alcohol are in many cases a little exaggerated.

Roy

 

[Daibell]

Hi. I've not stopped having sensible amounts of alcohol over the years whilst having Metformin, Gliclazide and Sitagliptin. Just be sensible and there shouldn't be any problems.

 

[Dupont]

I don't take any meds, but do find that if I have a few lagers or glasses of red wine that my blood sugars fall every time.

Last time I tested after a few drinks I was 2.9 so decided a portion of fish n chips was in order. :lol:

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Hi Ken as you are taking Glic, a medication that stimulates the pancreas to produce more insulin you need to be aware that when you drink alcohol your bg levels will drop, heres why.

When we drink alcohol it is absorbed into our blood stream and when it reaches our livers the liver sees it as a toxin that needs to be removed from our blood, all the time the liver is working to remove the alcohol/toxin from the blood it is not doing its other job of regulating and releasing sugar into our blood stream when needed.

So you will get a double wammy of more insulin produced due to your glic and less sugar in your blood due to your liver not working while it is dealing with the alcohol, the result of this is low blood glucose levels.

Our livers deal with approximately one unit of alcohol per hour so if you drink 8 units of alcohol your liver is effectively out of action over night and this is why it can be dangerous for those on medication that stimulates insulin production or indeed insulin itself.

To counteract this effect you need to eat some long acting carbs either while drinking or on your way home this will stop your blood sugars dropping too low and causing a hypo overnight, a slice of pizza or a few chips on your way home would be ideal as they fatty so are digested slowly over a long period.

Drink sensibly and eat some long acting carbs and you should be fine :thumbup: at the very least test your bg levels before bed to be sure you are not too low, just to be on the safe side.

 

[))Denise((]

There is also a risk of Lactic Acidosis when taking Metformin and drinking alcohol http://diabetes.emedtv.com/metformin/me ... dosis.html

I'm on a high dose of metformin and a small dose of gliclazide and drink alcohol occasionally (but when I do it is usually over a bottle of wine). I haven't had any problems.