Has anyone found a reliable strategy with beer?

RobertJ said:

This evening, I thought it would be nice to go to my lovely, civilised, cosy local pub and have two pints of Charles Wells Dry Hopped Lager while reading a book. Obviously, for someone without diabetes this would be a very straightforward affair. You just go to the pub, have your two beers, then walk home and everything's fine.

For me, however, it was a bit of a disaster. It had gone a bit high from my evening meal but it was 12.3 when I ordered my first drink and I gave two units of Novorapid, thinking one unit per pint would be fine and the insulin I gave from my evening meal would still be working anyway, so it was best not give too much.

Once I sat down I noticed my Freestyle Libre saying 10.7 with the arrow pointing 45 degrees down so I thought, phew, it will be in the target range soon enough.

I started reading my book and tried to enjoy myself and not think about diabetes. When I got up to order the second pint my high glucose alarm was going off and I thought, wait, what?

It had then gone back up to about 15.1 so I gave another two units, now throwing the original plan out of the window. I thought, all that matters now is getting it down.

As I type this, it's 12.2 with the arrow pointing directly down, so I guess it will end up fine but even so... All this just for trying to have to lagers in a pub with a book like a normal person. I've had Type 1 diabetes for 19 years and still haven't settled on a reliable method. Just to be clear, there have been times where I've had far more than two pints and it's been a diabetes masterclass, between 5 and 9 all evening without even going low at the end of the night. This year, I was at a beer festival of all things and it was 8.4 at the start and about 6.8 four hours later, and that included food as well. So it can be done. But when that happens it feels more like dumb luck than actually having a plan and the plan working.

And for anyone thinking of saying "Just don't drink alcohol, you've got diabetes" or "Just drink something else", that's not an answer to my question. I am asking, does anyone drink beer as their alcoholic drink of choice and have you found a reliable method of avoiding spikes or hypos?

Click to expand...

RobertJ said:

This evening, I thought it would be nice to go to my lovely, civilised, cosy local pub and have two pints of Charles Wells Dry Hopped Lager while reading a book. Obviously, for someone without diabetes this would be a very straightforward affair. You just go to the pub, have your two beers, then walk home and everything's fine.

For me, however, it was a bit of a disaster. It had gone a bit high from my evening meal but it was 12.3 when I ordered my first drink and I gave two units of Novorapid, thinking one unit per pint would be fine and the insulin I gave from my evening meal would still be working anyway, so it was best not give too much.

Once I sat down I noticed my Freestyle Libre saying 10.7 with the arrow pointing 45 degrees down so I thought, phew, it will be in the target range soon enough.

I started reading my book and tried to enjoy myself and not think about diabetes. When I got up to order the second pint my high glucose alarm was going off and I thought, wait, what?

It had then gone back up to about 15.1 so I gave another two units, now throwing the original plan out of the window. I thought, all that matters now is getting it down.

As I type this, it's 12.2 with the arrow pointing directly down, so I guess it will end up fine but even so... All this just for trying to have to lagers in a pub with a book like a normal person. I've had Type 1 diabetes for 19 years and still haven't settled on a reliable method. Just to be clear, there have been times where I've had far more than two pints and it's been a diabetes masterclass, between 5 and 9 all evening without even going low at the end of the night. This year, I was at a beer festival of all things and it was 8.4 at the start and about 6.8 four hours later, and that included food as well. So it can be done. But when that happens it feels more like dumb luck than actually having a plan and the plan working.

And for anyone thinking of saying "Just don't drink alcohol, you've got diabetes" or "Just drink something else", that's not an answer to my question. I am asking, does anyone drink beer as their alcoholic drink of choice and have you found a reliable method of avoiding spikes or hypos?

Click to expand...

RobertJ said:

This evening, I thought it would be nice to go to my lovely, civilised, cosy local pub and have two pints of Charles Wells Dry Hopped Lager while reading a book. Obviously, for someone without diabetes this would be a very straightforward affair. You just go to the pub, have your two beers, then walk home and everything's fine.

For me, however, it was a bit of a disaster. It had gone a bit high from my evening meal but it was 12.3 when I ordered my first drink and I gave two units of Novorapid, thinking one unit per pint would be fine and the insulin I gave from my evening meal would still be working anyway, so it was best not give too much.

Once I sat down I noticed my Freestyle Libre saying 10.7 with the arrow pointing 45 degrees down so I thought, phew, it will be in the target range soon enough.

I started reading my book and tried to enjoy myself and not think about diabetes. When I got up to order the second pint my high glucose alarm was going off and I thought, wait, what?

It had then gone back up to about 15.1 so I gave another two units, now throwing the original plan out of the window. I thought, all that matters now is getting it down.

As I type this, it's 12.2 with the arrow pointing directly down, so I guess it will end up fine but even so... All this just for trying to have to lagers in a pub with a book like a normal person. I've had Type 1 diabetes for 19 years and still haven't settled on a reliable method. Just to be clear, there have been times where I've had far more than two pints and it's been a diabetes masterclass, between 5 and 9 all evening without even going low at the end of the night. This year, I was at a beer festival of all things and it was 8.4 at the start and about 6.8 four hours later, and that included food as well. So it can be done. But when that happens it feels more like dumb luck than actually having a plan and the plan working.

And for anyone thinking of saying "Just don't drink alcohol, you've got diabetes" or "Just drink something else", that's not an answer to my question. I am asking, does anyone drink beer as their alcoholic drink of choice and have you found a reliable method of avoiding spikes or hypos?

Click to expand...

RobertJ said:

Accounting for the first two but not the next is a really interesting idea. I think I've kind of done that in the past without really realising it. I've given a dose at the beginning, noticed it's gone up then down. Then if I'm on the third pint and it's 4 or 5 I just go "Oh, I'll leave it now". So maybe this is the solution.

It should be possible, though, to have two quiet pints in the pub without the BG reaching 15 and 16. It's moments like this that I really feel like a disabled person with a terrible medical condition and that maybe I just shouldn't be attempting the things normal people do. It's very disheartening.

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Zinadane said:

I am surprised to see that a 750ml bottle of red can be as low as 15g carb!
For me, I tend to steer away from wine, especially at home as it becomes all to easy to consume the whole bottle!
Maybe I will retest myself though.
Couple of glasses of red and only 10g carb sounds good.

Click to expand...

RobertJ said:

This evening, I thought it would be nice to go to my lovely, civilised, cosy local pub and have two pints of Charles Wells Dry Hopped Lager while reading a book. Obviously, for someone without diabetes this would be a very straightforward affair. You just go to the pub, have your two beers, then walk home and everything's fine.

For me, however, it was a bit of a disaster. It had gone a bit high from my evening meal but it was 12.3 when I ordered my first drink and I gave two units of Novorapid, thinking one unit per pint would be fine and the insulin I gave from my evening meal would still be working anyway, so it was best not give too much.

Once I sat down I noticed my Freestyle Libre saying 10.7 with the arrow pointing 45 degrees down so I thought, phew, it will be in the target range soon enough.

I started reading my book and tried to enjoy myself and not think about diabetes. When I got up to order the second pint my high glucose alarm was going off and I thought, wait, what?

It had then gone back up to about 15.1 so I gave another two units, now throwing the original plan out of the window. I thought, all that matters now is getting it down.

As I type this, it's 12.2 with the arrow pointing directly down, so I guess it will end up fine but even so... All this just for trying to have to lagers in a pub with a book like a normal person. I've had Type 1 diabetes for 19 years and still haven't settled on a reliable method. Just to be clear, there have been times where I've had far more than two pints and it's been a diabetes masterclass, between 5 and 9 all evening without even going low at the end of the night. This year, I was at a beer festival of all things and it was 8.4 at the start and about 6.8 four hours later, and that included food as well. So it can be done. But when that happens it feels more like dumb luck than actually having a plan and the plan working.

And for anyone thinking of saying "Just don't drink alcohol, you've got diabetes" or "Just drink something else", that's not an answer to my question. I am asking, does anyone drink beer as their alcoholic drink of choice and have you found a reliable method of avoiding spikes or hypos?

Click to expand...

RobertJ said:

This evening, I thought it would be nice to go to my lovely, civilised, cosy local pub and have two pints of Charles Wells Dry Hopped Lager while reading a book. Obviously, for someone without diabetes this would be a very straightforward affair. You just go to the pub, have your two beers, then walk home and everything's fine.

For me, however, it was a bit of a disaster. It had gone a bit high from my evening meal but it was 12.3 when I ordered my first drink and I gave two units of Novorapid, thinking one unit per pint would be fine and the insulin I gave from my evening meal would still be working anyway, so it was best not give too much.

Once I sat down I noticed my Freestyle Libre saying 10.7 with the arrow pointing 45 degrees down so I thought, phew, it will be in the target range soon enough.

I started reading my book and tried to enjoy myself and not think about diabetes. When I got up to order the second pint my high glucose alarm was going off and I thought, wait, what?

It had then gone back up to about 15.1 so I gave another two units, now throwing the original plan out of the window. I thought, all that matters now is getting it down.

As I type this, it's 12.2 with the arrow pointing directly down, so I guess it will end up fine but even so... All this just for trying to have to lagers in a pub with a book like a normal person. I've had Type 1 diabetes for 19 years and still haven't settled on a reliable method. Just to be clear, there have been times where I've had far more than two pints and it's been a diabetes masterclass, between 5 and 9 all evening without even going low at the end of the night. This year, I was at a beer festival of all things and it was 8.4 at the start and about 6.8 four hours later, and that included food as well. So it can be done. But when that happens it feels more like dumb luck than actually having a plan and the plan working.

And for anyone thinking of saying "Just don't drink alcohol, you've got diabetes" or "Just drink something else", that's not an answer to my question. I am asking, does anyone drink beer as their alcoholic drink of choice and have you found a reliable method of avoiding spikes or hypos?

Click to expand...

RobertJ said:

This evening, I thought it would be nice to go to my lovely, civilised, cosy local pub and have two pints of Charles Wells Dry Hopped Lager while reading a book. Obviously, for someone without diabetes this would be a very straightforward affair. You just go to the pub, have your two beers, then walk home and everything's fine.

For me, however, it was a bit of a disaster. It had gone a bit high from my evening meal but it was 12.3 when I ordered my first drink and I gave two units of Novorapid, thinking one unit per pint would be fine and the insulin I gave from my evening meal would still be working anyway, so it was best not give too much.

Once I sat down I noticed my Freestyle Libre saying 10.7 with the arrow pointing 45 degrees down so I thought, phew, it will be in the target range soon enough.

I started reading my book and tried to enjoy myself and not think about diabetes. When I got up to order the second pint my high glucose alarm was going off and I thought, wait, what?

It had then gone back up to about 15.1 so I gave another two units, now throwing the original plan out of the window. I thought, all that matters now is getting it down.

As I type this, it's 12.2 with the arrow pointing directly down, so I guess it will end up fine but even so... All this just for trying to have to lagers in a pub with a book like a normal person. I've had Type 1 diabetes for 19 years and still haven't settled on a reliable method. Just to be clear, there have been times where I've had far more than two pints and it's been a diabetes masterclass, between 5 and 9 all evening without even going low at the end of the night. This year, I was at a beer festival of all things and it was 8.4 at the start and about 6.8 four hours later, and that included food as well. So it can be done. But when that happens it feels more like dumb luck than actually having a plan and the plan working.

And for anyone thinking of saying "Just don't drink alcohol, you've got diabetes" or "Just drink something else", that's not an answer to my question. I am asking, does anyone drink beer as their alcoholic drink of choice and have you found a reliable method of avoiding spikes or hypos?

Click to expand...

RobertJ said:

This evening, I thought it would be nice to go to my lovely, civilised, cosy local pub and have two pints of Charles Wells Dry Hopped Lager while reading a book. Obviously, for someone without diabetes this would be a very straightforward affair. You just go to the pub, have your two beers, then walk home and everything's fine.

For me, however, it was a bit of a disaster. It had gone a bit high from my evening meal but it was 12.3 when I ordered my first drink and I gave two units of Novorapid, thinking one unit per pint would be fine and the insulin I gave from my evening meal would still be working anyway, so it was best not give too much.

Once I sat down I noticed my Freestyle Libre saying 10.7 with the arrow pointing 45 degrees down so I thought, phew, it will be in the target range soon enough.

I started reading my book and tried to enjoy myself and not think about diabetes. When I got up to order the second pint my high glucose alarm was going off and I thought, wait, what?

It had then gone back up to about 15.1 so I gave another two units, now throwing the original plan out of the window. I thought, all that matters now is getting it down.

As I type this, it's 12.2 with the arrow pointing directly down, so I guess it will end up fine but even so... All this just for trying to have to lagers in a pub with a book like a normal person. I've had Type 1 diabetes for 19 years and still haven't settled on a reliable method. Just to be clear, there have been times where I've had far more than two pints and it's been a diabetes masterclass, between 5 and 9 all evening without even going low at the end of the night. This year, I was at a beer festival of all things and it was 8.4 at the start and about 6.8 four hours later, and that included food as well. So it can be done. But when that happens it feels more like dumb luck than actually having a plan and the plan working.

And for anyone thinking of saying "Just don't drink alcohol, you've got diabetes" or "Just drink something else", that's not an answer to my question. I am asking, does anyone drink beer as their alcoholic drink of choice and have you found a reliable method of avoiding spikes or hypos?

Click to expand...

RobertJ said:

This evening, I thought it would be nice to go to my lovely, civilised, cosy local pub and have two pints of Charles Wells Dry Hopped Lager while reading a book. Obviously, for someone without diabetes this would be a very straightforward affair. You just go to the pub, have your two beers, then walk home and everything's fine.

For me, however, it was a bit of a disaster. It had gone a bit high from my evening meal but it was 12.3 when I ordered my first drink and I gave two units of Novorapid, thinking one unit per pint would be fine and the insulin I gave from my evening meal would still be working anyway, so it was best not give too much.

Once I sat down I noticed my Freestyle Libre saying 10.7 with the arrow pointing 45 degrees down so I thought, phew, it will be in the target range soon enough.

I started reading my book and tried to enjoy myself and not think about diabetes. When I got up to order the second pint my high glucose alarm was going off and I thought, wait, what?

It had then gone back up to about 15.1 so I gave another two units, now throwing the original plan out of the window. I thought, all that matters now is getting it down.

As I type this, it's 12.2 with the arrow pointing directly down, so I guess it will end up fine but even so... All this just for trying to have to lagers in a pub with a book like a normal person. I've had Type 1 diabetes for 19 years and still haven't settled on a reliable method. Just to be clear, there have been times where I've had far more than two pints and it's been a diabetes masterclass, between 5 and 9 all evening without even going low at the end of the night. This year, I was at a beer festival of all things and it was 8.4 at the start and about 6.8 four hours later, and that included food as well. So it can be done. But when that happens it feels more like dumb luck than actually having a plan and the plan working.

And for anyone thinking of saying "Just don't drink alcohol, you've got diabetes" or "Just drink something else", that's not an answer to my question. I am asking, does anyone drink beer as their alcoholic drink of choice and have you found a reliable method of avoiding spikes or hypos?

Click to expand...

Stewart McConnell said:

interesting you tube vid ta.

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Ledzeptt said:

Those guys (Endocrinologists with T1) seem crazy, but they show it’s possible to eat all sorts of things… e.g. not one, but three doughnuts on one episode! (Sorry, but although fascinating, I instinctively felt ill )

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