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Effects of alcohol consumption on my blood glucose levels

U

Ursus 262

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
One thing that I have noticed is that if I drink a few glasses of wine, my blood glucose level, while not exactly spiking, stays higher for many days afterwards. It remains stubbornly high too. I use a CGM so monitor my BGL regularly.

An occasional dose of glimipiride brings it right back down again, and it stays down even after the effects of the glimipiride wears off, and everything returns to a stable state again.

Can anyone explain why this is happening and has anyone else had a similar experience.

I've decided to avoid alcohol now.
 
LonelyFatGuy said:
I would presume that aggrevating your liver has somehow prompted it to make more glucose...?

Seems like the obvious answer.
Click to expand...
It does seem that way to me. When I did some research on this issue, it was inconclusive as to how the liver handles glycogen after the consumption of alcohol. Some articles seemed to suggest that it depresses blood glucose levels which is the opposite to my experiences.
 
Yes, Type 1s are generally warned about the potential lowering effect of alcohol and danger of hypos, because the liver being busy processing the alcohol hinders it's usual business of releasing glucose.
It does seem conceivable that this could cause some sort of rebound effect though, or perhaps it's a response to inflammation.
 
I find the opposite: alcohol will depress my BG fairly quickly and it will keep low for a while. So much so that if I'm going to have more than two drinks, I'll have some carb to offset the drop - a packet of crisps usually works. My "usual" BG is high fours/low fives so I don't have a lot of wriggle room.
 
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