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Drinking alcohol? (Cider)

D

Diabetes8

Member
Messages
15
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi

Today I've had 3 ciders and I haven't gave myself any insulin apart from correction doses and carbing for my food. My blood sugar was quite high (18). I just don't know how to manage alcohol with t1 and I really need some help. Right now I'm scared to go to sleep in case I have a severe hypo in the night from the alcohol I drank. Please help? Any advice on how to manage alcohol/ experiences with alcohol and their diabetes (specifically cider)
 
Id probably bolus for cider. It's a fairly sugary drink.

If your blood sugar is 18 I'd say the chance of any hypo, let alone a severe hypo, is exceedingly slim to none. The reason alcohol creates a risk of hypos overnight is because your liver can't multitask. Usually overnight your liver gives out glucose, if you've been drinking your liver will be too busy dealing with alcohol to give out glucose and that might cause a low.

The length of time you liver is busy with alcohol depends on how much alcohol you've been drinking. 3 pints isn't really a lot to put the liver out of action all night.

Usually the rule is don't bolus for drinks, because of the risk of later lows. But with something like cider that is full of fast acting sugar not bolusing for it is going to send you sky high. And if you haven't really drunk a lot the risk of later lows goes down and you can deal with that risk by just having something small and carby before bed - have a bit of toast before you go to sleep.
 
My drinking friend in my teens loved guiness. She drank pints but ate before sleep with a smaller injection then straighted out the difference with porriage breakfast and her normal injection.
It seemed to work until she realised too much drinking was giving her weight gain like none diabetics.
 
At uni I used to work from a rule of thumb that the alcohol would start being processed by my liver in fifteen mins and then 'should' be done one hour after the first drink. Pacing out he drinks and always having a slice of brown toast (or other long acting carbs) before lightly blousing if my bg way quite high before bed! Have never had a hypo after a night out, if anything my bg is a little higher due to the sugar in most drinks!
 

Thank you so much
 

Cider is a sugary drink, i used to to drink a lot of it, when drinking it you need to count it as food, because sugars come in all forms. In my experience my blood sugar would spike if not counted as carb intake. But would drop massively in the morning, this is hard to manage without being up n down yr normal reg's for a nyt. I now drink a spirt with a da
Idiet drink ad there is no sugar in spirits n its easier to manage. Just take care find the balance
 

Hi Diabetes8, my teenage son is newly diagnosed T1D and fortunately, he discussed alcohol with me and his nursing team - didn't just go out there and drink without understanding the consequences. He'd started drinking cider - Koppaberg - just a few months before diagnosis (teenager/ party thing). We know there are 30g carbs in a 300ml bottle and 50g in a 500ml bottle. Here's the specific medical advice we got (specifically for him, so I'm not saying it's right for everyone): try to eat some food with the cider, ideally some carbs in it - even a packet of crisps is fine. Bolus entirely for the first bottle and food, and not the second one/ others. But do bolus for any additional food eaten. (He'd usually have 2-3 bottles of 300ml.) Make sure you have toast/ cereal bar/ usual bedtime snack before sleeping and take 10% less Lantus/ long acting insulin. The risk: because the liver is busy breaking down the alcohol, if you go dangerously low, glucagon won't work, as the liver won't release its stored glycogen, in the usual way. It's busy breaking down alcohol and ignores the hormone. So you shouldn't bolus for all the cider, as - although the sugar will bring you high - the alcohol will cause a crash later on. Possibly while sleeping. Set an alarm and check bs in the night, if possible.

In my son's case, he goes to the odd party which turns into a sleepover. We gave him a choice: drink and you MUST come home: we will pick you up at 1 or 2am. OR you can stay over and not drink. He chose not to drink (probably my preference too and thankfully his decision). He drank alcohol free Koppaberg and just bolused for 90g of extra sugar - not great, but imo, not as risky. {We're going to try drinking alcohol at home, while we parents are there, and help him to learn how it affects him and help/ teach him to stay safe.] Interestingly, he left that party with phone numbers of several girls. (Bonus!)
 
Regular beers like Guinness I count like a slice of bread per glass, I avoid it. Diet beers like Coors Light don't raise my BS. And neither does red wine (go figure). White wine same thing. Never tried cider.
 
 
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