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The Big Question: Alcohol

marktype1

Well-Known Member
Messages
75
Location
Liverpool
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Bad blood sugars, not being able to eat chocolate fudge cake.
Ok, the hospital tend to tell us to avoid it completely but quite frankly, I am a teacher plus have a young toddler so avoiding it altogether at the weekends? You're having a laugh :')

So lets ask the question, what do we treat alcohol as? We know most alcohol contains sugar, and I think there is roughly 10 grams in a pint of lager and about the same in a medium glass of white wine. Luckily I drink mostly red wine which is quite low in sugar (about 1 gram per medium glass) but lately I tend to have around 4 points of lager in an evening.

NOW, obviously alcohol itself can lower blood sugar levels (something to do with alcohol reducing the glycogen output from your liver, which I think insulin uses to move around the body) so what do people tend to do when drinking alcohol? Lets say I usually take 4 units of insulin for 40 grams of carbs. Would it be advisable to take insulin that matches what sugars are in lager, for example: 4 beers = 40 grams of sugar/carbs, would it be good to take 4 units of insulin or would this be too risky over night?

If it was a case of taking insulin whilst drinking, how would it work out? I usually take about 45 mins - Hour to drink a pint of beer in the house (purposely spread out so I dont drink any more than 4 pints) so obviously I could not take insulin with each drink, perhaps maybe halfway through (after 2 drinks) I could test blood and take 2 units?

I would be grateful of hearing peoples opinions or success stories once again

I usually just experiment and TAKE the insulin to measure the results but this would be far to risky.
 
If you must drink, I recommend that you stop drinking beer. The interaction between the sugar in the beer and the effects of the alcohol on your liver are just too unpredictable. You will end up swinging too low and too high. Switch to spirits, or at least to dry white wine.
 
What happens by the way is that your liver drops everything it is doing to focus on getting rid of the poisonous alcohol. It reckons the alcohol is more of a threat to your survival than a little hypoglycaemia. :-/
 
My experience is that if I inject 2u for each pint up to three pints (most beers are 25g cho per pint), my 4th and 5th don't need insulin and keep an even keel on my glucose level. But I do monitor reasonably carefully these days.
 
Lager tends to act as tim above for me -- i would take 2u per pint for the first couple and then not any later
also a small carb snack at bed for safety.

this is after testing the theory a fair few times
 
Mark, stick with the red wine if your going to have a drink, I enjoy a glass or two on a weekend and it has little effect on my bg levels, as where beer and lagers do.

As your newly diagnosed just go easy and check your bg regular until you know what effect alcohol has on your diabetes control, also before going to bed have a small carby snack to stop your bg levels falling overnight.
 
Hi. In my opinion you should not be drinking 4 pints of lager in one evening when on insulin. As Spiker says I would be more worried about the alcohol suppressing the liver's ability to dump glycogen in an emergency than matching carbs?
 
Hey Mark! When I drink red wine it doesn't effect me too much.. Does if I have like a bottle though :') I mainly have vodka & diet coke, doesn't seem to have any effect at all I feel quite 'safe' with that. Larger can be hit n miss, cocktails Send me high as a kite but I do love a cocktail! same with cider! Booo!... This post maybe sounds like I drink a LOT... Most of it is just for research purposes to see how it affects my bg?...
 
I am like mark, newly diagnosed, well 6 month type 1. I like a drink and always have done. So far I have pushed it and at my worst had a 14 hour session on lager and was fine but my DN told me to have pizza on the way home without fail which I do. Also don't drink on an empty stomach and bolus for the food and maybe a bit more. I have taken extra shots while on a session and the pizza has worked but as I am a newbie and still honeymooning I am not an expert. Enjoy the honeymoon while you can as I know my drinking days are probably numbered!
 
Ive been diaberic for 18 years so im certainly not newly diagnosed, just posting to see what other diabetics do in similar occurances. I find this teaches you more than reading boring articles on the net. I had 4 beers last night and it raised my sugar to 13 which isn't to bad but could do with it being lower hence why I posted to see if anyone else injects. Was also 11 this morning so again, not to bad but not ideal as a reading. Thanks for the help!!
 
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