High reading?

Drink water or sugar free drinks. Do some exercise which should help drop the levels.

I find exercise helps more than anything; the Wii has taken a bashing every day mon-fri for an hour.

I am intrigued by the idea of drinking water, how does that work Cuglia?

Do you know......I have never given it a thought !

My theory is that drinking water has the effect of diluting any glucose in your bloodstream as it is leached from the intestine.......a recognised remedy that is advised by many medical websites.

From my own experience it does work.......... As for the exact process.......I have no idea !

I always assumed it helps to lower blood sugar because it makes you urinate more and the sugar comes out in your urine! That's just a guess though!

If it works I guess the process is irrelevant - so I'll try the advice.

Never been good at having the 2 litres of H2O a day though - due to the consequences of spending too much time on the loo!

Try red wine next time, I find it actually DROPS my BG!
H

hallii said:

Try red wine next time, I find it actually DROPS my BG!
H

Click to expand...

What will alcohol do to you as a diabetic? It depends. Here's the simplest explanation I could come up with ... if you drink beer, fortified wines (like port) or non-diet mixers with spirits, and certain other drinks like alcoholic cider, your BG will initially soar.

However, as your liver cuts in to deal with the alcohol you've consumed, your supplies of glycogen (stored io the liver) cannot be utilised at all - your liver is too busy coping with alcohol. When the alcohol kicks in to give the BG-lowering effect depends on the person, what they've eaten, their alcohol and insulin tolerance levels, body size, activity etc.

The liver is busy doing the work of processing alcohol, and guess what it needs to operate? You guessed it - glucose. So it takes back as much blood glucose as it can to rid the body of the "toxin" (alcohol), and causes a subsequent drop in BG levels.

Moderation is the keyword here.

DeafDiabetic said:

As a T2 I pricked myself two hours after breakfast this morning. It read 10.00. That's the highest I've ever had since I was originally diagnosed approx 2 months ago.

In all probability the "problem" was caused by the nice restaurant meal with friends last night which included white wine.

I forgot to check myself when I got home afterwards as that would have been interesting.

My question is: if I'm worried about it being too high is there a quick way to lower it to levels I'm more used to?

Thanks for any tips.

Click to expand...

I have found dry white wine makes no difference to BG levels unless drunk to excess, when levels will drop into low BG territiory the following morning.
As cugila says moderation seems to be the key.

Cugila, I think some of what you are suggesting is a bit incorrect.

At the risk of being too technical, I'll try and say how it works. Those who don't want the explanation, jump to the last paragraph

The rise in BG from alcoholic drinks will come only from the sugar in them, either added or left there unfermented. It is the anaerobic metabolism of glucose by yeast that produces the alcohol and although ethanol is a carbohydrate, it doesn't metabolise to glucose and won't raise BG. The sugar in the drinks will of course.

Instead, alcohol is metabolised, mostly in the liver, to acetaldehyde which is converted to acetic acid (the same as found in vinegar) and then to something called acetyl-CoA. This last chemical appears in a natural part of the process, called the glycolytic pathway, that breaks down glucose so it simply feeds into that normal metabolic process. The last part of this chain is called the citric acid cycle and accepts acetyl-CoA as its input. Alcohol takes a short cut into the same process that glucose goes through.

The liver doesn't need glucose to process alcohol. And there isn't the competition between these processes that you suggest. Instead, alcohol affects the hormones that regulate the production of the enzymes that control the balance between breaking down glycogen to produced glucose (to raise blood sugar) and the glycolytic pathway which metabolises glucose (reduce blood sugar).

You should think of the liver as a permanently working chemical factory producing thousands of products simultaneously, and the delicate balance is controlled by the concentration of enzymes which in turn are adjusted by hormone levels.

The BG reducing effect of alcohol is because the balance is adjusted between glycolysis and gluconeogenesis by a wide range of mechanisms. Both processes are going on at the same time and are controlled largely by the same groups of enzymes and the overall effect is that alcohol inhibits the breakdown of glycogen into glucose. At the same time, the increase in the concentration of acetyl-CoA (from all the alcohol) changes the balance of the processes too. It can be quite an individual response - some people will see a rise, and some a reduction in BG depending on the state and activity of their liver.

When too much alcohol is taken, the oxidative capabilities of liver tissue are temporarily exhausted and ketones are produces which are toxic. These produce the symptoms of alcohol poisoning.

The upshot of all this? Some alcohol will tend to depress gluconeogenesis, so will tend to reduce BG. Too much will disturb the balance with less predictable results. Regular huge excess will kill liver tissue and produce harmful metabolic products. I hope that helps clarify the biochemistry in case anyone is interested

Glad to hear you voicing an opinion Bob.....we try to keep things simple here, saves confusing the natives even more than they already are

Anyway, what I posted is my opinion which goes along with what is generally accepted and it is put simply without going into too much technical detail. We are not all Biologists and Chemists, just plain old Diabetics. I am sure those that wish to will read and digest your post, along with my own.

So, with the greatest of respect.......your opinion is fine by me. What I posted is what basically happens. All I need to know.

cugila said:

Glad to hear you voicing an opinion Bob.....we try to keep things simple here, saves confusing the natives even more than they already are

Anyway, what I posted is my opinion which goes along with what is generally accepted and it is put simply without going into too much technical detail. We are not all Biologists and Chemists, just plain old Diabetics. I am sure those that wish to will read and digest your post, along with my own.

So, with the greatest of respect.......your opinion is fine by me. What I posted is what basically happens. All I need to know.

Click to expand...

I didn't give any opinion except to correct a couple of factually incorrect points. What happens is quite independent of what I might think about it. I only offered the explanation because there's a lot of confusion about the role of alcohol in BG levels. Agreed that the details are complex, but then so is the process. I didn't want to ruffle any feathers

No feathers ruffled here......?? Water off a ducks back actually ! :lol:

As I said, I respect what you say. Whether I agree totally with it is another matter.

The post I made was with the help of people who offered the information to assist in an understanding of what goes on. As at least one was an Endocrinologist I am sure he will take on board your comments as I have.

If we are all factually incorrect then we shall have to do a bit more reading. I suppose it all depends on which books you read as well as sometimes I have found so called 'expert' information which is wide of the mark. The old: '10 'experts' in a room will come up with 10 different explanations for any given subject.' I found that very true !

I suppose if we try to simplify things then there may be some differences of 'opinion' or interpretation.

No problem. The process is detailed in most standard biochem textbooks (Lehninger for example) and some pharmacology texts as well and I don't think anything I've said is controversial. It's a very well-understood process (amongst biochemists ) but the details rather inhibit its dissemination.

No doubt your endocrinologist friend can confirm the details.

The general interpretation isn't far off the mark. A small amount of alcohol will tend to depress gluconeogenesis but larger quantities don't produce simply a larger effect because other factors then come into play. It's that inconsistency in the effect which can sometimes confuse people.

I just wanted to clarify how it works. I don't think there's anything controversial in what I wrote and it's checkable for anyone who is interested in the arcane details.

All the best.