am i right

alcohol lowers your BG and this can have a delayed effect, especially if you have had a few drinks eg: several glasses of wine one evening can result in a drop in BG the following morning. Obviously, the dangers are if you have alcohol with a high sugar content (alcopops for example) which will raise your BG but the alcohol will lower them later on. this happens with everyone, diabetic or not but obviously if you take insulin or similar meds then you run the risk of hypo's when you drink alcohol. But, like eveything in this life, a few drinks can be enjoyed once in a while if you are careful

Depending on what you drink, they may go up intially - ie alcopops, fizzy rose wine etc and beer is quite carby too. I drink spirits and diet mixer, and red wine is ok diabetically wise in terms of bg.

However, it does, as quite rightly pointed out, lower it some hours later. So my advice would be (depending on how much you drink) test test test. I try to start testing regularly about 4 hours after I start drinking and do it regularly from then on in. Also, before bed ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS.
I tend to snack whilst drinking but this can have you a bit higher than youd like but for example, I went to bed on a 9.3, didnt snack, thought Id be ok and woke up at 2.3

Of course, hypos and hangovers are very similar so never a good mix!

depends very much on what the drink contains! A glass of very dry white wine will not raise your blood sugar, spirits generally don't but an alcopop probably will as they are typically laden with sugar. Beers probably will too.

Alcohol has various effects on a diabetic, and to different degrees. It can prevent your liver from releasing stored glycogen if you have a bad hypo, and a bad hypo can be mistaken for just plain drunkenness which can be incredibly dangerous. Some of my worst hypos have occurred after an extended evening out on the lash - collapse into bed at whatever time and pay for it several hours later. Moderation is boring but key I'm afraid!

lindybobs333 said:

i just assumed that when i have a drink my blood sugars would go up? but they dont they drop fairly quickly is this right ?

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You are correct Lindy, as I understand it alcohol is a poison or toxin and when we drink the alcohol enters our bloodstream, when it reaches our livers the liver immediately starts to break down this toxin to remove it from our systems.

While this process is ongoing the liver temporarily stops its normal function of regulating the glucose in our blood. The liver has a store of glycogen which it uses while the liver is otherwise occupied but once this is depleted no more glucose can be released into the bloodstream, so our bg levels may go up initially when we drink depending on the sugar/carb content of the drink but will then drop, sometimes quite severely.

Quote form Type 2 Diabetes - In adults of all ages by Dr's Hanas & Fox
The liver will break down 0.1g (1.5grains) of pure alcohol/kg of body weight per hour. For example, if you weigh 70kg (155lb) it will take 1 hour to break down the alcohol in a bottle of light beer, 2 hours for a 40ml shot of liqueur and 10 hours to break down the alcohol in a good bottle of wine. Therefore if you drink during the evening you will be at risk of hypoglycaemia all night as well as part of the next day.

Therefore if you are using insulin or or an insulin producing drug you should eat some carbs whilst or after drinking to prevent a night time hypo. My hospital diabetes nurse told me that a slice of pizza or half a bag of chips on the way home from the pub is a good idea after a few drinks, maybe fun experimenting

I had my very first hypo on New Year's Eve,I tested my BS and it was 2.9 so I grabbed something sweet to eat as I didn't have any Lucozade ,I was told afterwards that a swig of sherry would have done the trick instead of eating carbs as it would have worked quicker.

shirleymarye said:

I had my very first hypo on New Year's Eve,I tested my BS and it was 2.9 so I grabbed something sweet to eat as I didn't have any Lucozade ,I was told afterwards that a swig of sherry would have done the trick instead of eating carbs as it would have worked quicker.

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Depends on the type of Sherry. Dry contains only 1.4g carbs, Medium contains 5.9g and Sweet 6.9g.
If no Lucozade try a third of a Can of Coke which contains 10.4g carbs, nearer to the recommended Glucose method and very quick acting.

Sherry would not be an ideal solution. the recommended method is Glucose Tabs or Dextrose Tabs which are about 4g carbs each and which acts in minutes, you should take 2-3 (12g carbs) and then test again after 15 mins, you repeat the procedure until your levels are more normal, above the dreaded 'floor'. Then you eat a small carby snack to stabilise the levels.

As a T2 you would have been in no danger, you would just feel bad, you would have 'liver dumped' and your Bg levels would have risen anyway. Do you know why you went so low ?

I didn't have any Lucozade,no Coke or tablets,my DN put it down to me not eating enough carbs and had recently increased my Metformin from 500 to 850 to try and get my BS down, My recent review was 8.9 average over 3 months and she wanted to get it lower. I also take Gliclazide and Acarbose. After she prescribed the new dosage I started cutting out bread and flour based things and she thinks that is why it happened.

I am now waiting for results of my recent blood test as I told her that my BS is now usually between 5 and 7 so she is checking me out,in the meantime I am missing out my tablets mid day. The sherry I had was a sweet one and was advised that would have been better than eating something as it would have worked a lot quicker,I did check after half an hour and it was up to 5.4. If I hadn't checked it and just gone to bed what would have likely to have happened? anything at all?

shirleymarye said:

If I hadn't checked it and just gone to bed what would have likely to have happened? anything at all?

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As per my previous post.......
As a T2 you would have been in no danger, you would just feel bad, you would have 'liver dumped' and your Bg levels would have risen anyway.

A 'liver dump' is just that. It dumps Glucose into the blood and elevates your levels to a higher level so making you feel better.

I was told afterwards that a swig of sherry would have done the trick instead of eating carbs as it would have worked quicker.

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Although a sweet sherry has some carbs drinking anything alcoholic would not be good for a hypo as the liver is busy dealing with the alcohol and would therefore not ' liver dump' thus delaying your blood sugar levels rising.

As Cugila stated in his post the best way, the medically recommended method, is to use fast acting glucose then a carby snack. Keep a packet of glucotabs handy, they cost less than a pound and slip in pocket/handbag quite easily.