Massive Blood Sugar Rise After Quitting Alcohol From Being A Very Heavy Drinker

Hey - so I gave up drinking progressively over about a year - during which I was diagnosed T2. Not directly comparable, but the initial diagnosis in my case should really have been around fatty liver - and my guess is that this is also what you are going through, but with alcohol rather than fructose (in my case) - with withdrawal as part of the deal.

It sounds pretty awful, and I feel for you; there is a lot going on, but I suspect that most of your symptoms would be the same for anyone giving up that hard...

How did you get on with your GP?

Having gone around this topic with my GP - I totally agree, in fact this was the starting point of my own journey, just feeling totally unsatisfied with the explanation of what Metformin was supposed to do and what insulin resistance was.

We kind of agreed on this - Metformin does a few things, but the main effect is to inhibit signals to the Liver which have the result of blocking about 60% of the liver's ability to generate new glucose (which is otherwise under fine hormone control, switching between storing glucose or creating it from stored Glycogen or fat).

If my plan was to fast in order to flush out the liver - what was the point of taking a drug that would stop this .. and.. the idea of metformin reducing insulin resistance is mainly that if you can see a reduction in blood glucose (because you have throttled the liver from producing it) then you get the idea that insulin resistance is improving... but really you haven't addressed the underlying issue (too much glucose and insulin in the whole body).

It's probably the best of all the drugs to reduce blood glucose while causing least harm.. but it's still really a temporary sticking plaster (in my opinion anyway)

@Odishon - sounds like you're on the right path, and I think - any decision you take around getting a grip is going to lead to better understanding, and then that gives you more idea about your own specific condition / needs - turns out we're all unique snowflakes after all...

One thing to think about though - just have a think about what alcohol is...

... it's generally fermented sugar, so there are huge overlaps with how alcohol affects the liver, and the brain, and all sorts of things; the take away from this, is that you're already well up on how to deal with one, thing, but if you consider alcohol to really just be a special case of sugar.. it's only one thing you have to deal with..

I spent a good deal of time on MyFitnessPal - anything that works is a good thing, but after a couple of months on the high fat, low carb way of life, the idea of logging food seems like a bygone time now..

It's tough adjusting - any change is tough, your body is screaming out for the things it took for granted, but it will ease up, and (only speaking for myself) will start to feel better - not just that it's a hard thing to keep doing - you will feel much better than when you started..

One thing that is unique about alcohol.. when you get into metabolism and the difference between the body processing sugars (which we are all doing, more or less, even those of us on very near zero carbs) and processing fats - the body kind of has to stop what it's doing in order to process alcohol - it's like it goes to the front of the queue and the body can only metabolise normally after it has finished dealing with the things it needs to do with alcohol. So - my guess (and it's only a guess, I'm no doctor) is that when you have cut down dramatically on alcohol after a sustained period of regular consumption.. your body kind of goes "ah, finally, I can get on with processing all that sugar I've been meaning to get around to" - and you get a surge of sugar in the blood..


But - if I'm right, it only means that this is temporary... anyway - best of luck...

Odishon said:

Hi,

I am a 54 year old male, diagnosed with type 2 around 15 years ago. At one point early on I managed with carb reduction and intermittent fasting to reverse the diabetes to a prediabetic level, despite being a pretty heavy drinker. I reduced my metformin to once per day. Over the past 18 months my GP has not been happy with all the 3 month blood results as they are going in the wrong direction. I told him I was trying to reduce my alcohol consumption as during the pandemic it became very high (approximately two to three bottles of wine per night). Eventually after reaching out for help it became very apparent I needed to go alcohol free after drinking for 37 years. I quit on 1st April (two months ago).
Far from feeling the benefits everyone talked about with regards to quitting alcohol I have felt more and more ill. Extreme fatigue, brain fog, muscle aches, pain receptors feeling as though they were at a 10 not a 3. I was due to see my GP three months after quitting for more bloods but now two months in I decided to check my bloods at home. They are on average first thing in the morning and throughout the day, above 18, sometimes after eating (low carb) around 27. Obviously, I have made an appointment to see my GP in three days time as this is urgent. I know alcohol does lower bloods and people with managed diabetes can have a hypo if they binge alcohol. But I can't find anyone who has given up heavy drinking and this has happened. I take Metformin twice per day at full dose now. I bought a Libre 2 monitor and my bloods don't reduce after Metformin and a medical friend suggested I have become resistant to Metformin but the alcohol was keeping my bloods down and now I'm basically a type 2 with no medication as such. I have decided I will go Keto immediately and obviously will take advice on medication from my GP. My aim though would be to be able to come off the meds if they and keto can get my bloods right down. Anyone read or had a similar situation?
Thanks.

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Hello,

New to the site and a newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic.

I had a similar experience of extreme BG spiking after quitting alcohol at 54. I had wanted to quite for a while and ended up tapering a few times but finally got fed up with feeling bad when I drank, and bad when I didn't, so I quit entirely in early May 2024. I was averaging 6 beers a day in the evenings and even more on the weekends for roughly a couple of decades.

I was undiagnosed with diabetes at the time but had always had signs of fatty liver and pre-diabetes in past bloodwork. It had been a couple of years since I had gotten bloodwork done (not a good patient, my fault). I needed to lose weight, exercise more, and get healthier (common theme in middle age).

Within a few weeks of alcohol cessation I began to have blurry vision (nearsightedness). I had been using 1.0 readers for a few years and just chalked this up to old age but it seemed like it happened overnight. Driving became dangerous due to the blurred vision so I got a prescription for glasses and moved on. Eye doc didn't seem concerned. What was weird also is I started to no longer need the 1.0 readers, it's like my near vision got better as my far vision got worse.

Another few weeks went by and I started to develop extreme thirst and urinating 15 times a day or more. Urine was clear and foamy. And I was sleeping a lot and very tired throughout the day. Much like OP, I was disappointed in the effects of my newfound sobriety!

I knew something was wrong and I scheduled an appt with my GP and got bloodwork on a Monday morning (I knew to fast). GP called me a few hours after the appt and said I was in diabetic ketoacidosis and my urine was acidic (high ketones). BG was 500 mg/dL. Doctor said emphatically that I needed to go to the ER right away, like right after we got off the phone.

At the ER my BG was measured as 777 mg/dL and they began insulin and potassium drips. I spent two days in the hospital until my BG was stable around 200 or so with insulin. I am under the care of an endocrinologist now and my BG stays around 90-140 depending on what I eat and when I test. I have made the diet changes and stayed off the alcohol, walking more, and taking metformin 500mg/ 1x a day, and a basal insulin of 60 units AM and now 5 units of fast insulin for meals (down from the 10-15 I started on). If I do the right things and cut some weight it is likely I can get off the insulin and maybe even the metformin long term.

This is a long story but I am convinced the total, immediate, elimination of alcohol triggered the hyperglycemic event that landed me in the hospital. Once my liver was no longer pre-occupied with handling the alcohol, the signal to process sugar was given. Sure I was diabetic before when I was drinking (unbeknownst to me), but never had the extreme symptoms that I presented to the hospital with.

Turns out the changes in vision were due to the blood sugar levels affecting the makeup of the fluid in the eye and changing the shape of the lens. As of today, I am basically back to where I was before the hyperglycemic event (1.0 readers for close work and good far vision without glasses).

Quitting heavy drinking is a good thing, but it can throw your body for a loop also when your alcohol use is chronic and you have other health issues lurking in the background.

Hope this helps OP.

Hi! I’m so glad this popped up. My husband is 52 and will be sober a year Nov. 12th. He was a heavy vodka drinker that binged drank and when he stopped it caused complete havoc and confusion on his body. The vodka was keeping his numbers stable and lowering his blood sugar. He then CRAVED sugar once there was no more alcohol. He probably should have tapered but an alcoholic cannot do that. Since completely being vodka free his blood sugars have been awful to manage. The pills were not working(one of his pills was Metformin). The Dr’s solution was to just keep adding more pills and GLP-1’s. I’m not sure these work for a severe alcoholic? They didn’t in his case. He just started slow and long acting insulin and after 7 days, he is FINALLY seeing improvement in his numbers! It’s taking MASSIVE amounts of both but it’s starting to work and he’s so excited! Just speaking from experience of watching what he’s gone through, without doubt alcoholism causes your BS to be lower and over works your liver. Once that’s abruptly stopped after years of drinking, everything goes haywire. It absolutely did for him. He’s been way worse since stopping drinking and pills were not working. He’s only been on insulin 7 days and it’s been trial and error because he’s having to take such high doses of both to keep his blood sugar even in the 150-200’s but it’s so much better than 400+! He went from 20 units of long acting insulin to 80 units and he’s probably going to need more but he’s finally seeing improvement. Hopefully you can find a Dr. that will listen and allow you to try different doses. Dr’s are so against insulin for T2 some reason but I think a alcoholic needs to be looked at differently due to the toxicity of the liver due to years of abuse. I think it’s what his liver needed. He slept through the night for the first time in years last night and wasn’t up peeing all hours. Things are shifting. I wish you the best. He was in your exact spot. Maybe go to insulin because it’s making a huge difference for my husband. Scary thing is I’m not sure Dr’s understand this the correlation between alcoholism and insulin resistance due to all of the abuse on your body. Hoping you find a Dr. that can help you.