Went into hypo from drinking alcohol..

Jaylee

Oracle
Retired Moderator
Messages
18,231
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
At 18 you want to go out with your mates and have a few beers. Thats what you do when your 18!

Edited: To add diabetic or not!

The benefits of hindsight.. Back in my day.it was also the dangers of someone slipping "something" in yer drink?? (Girl or boy.)

Alice Cooper coined it in his song lyrics.. "Eighteen."
Also, the band Skid Row wrote a song you could attribute to life with diabetes "18 & life you got it, 18 & life to go..."

At 18 "we" invented "it." ;) (LoL so did previous generations.) Personally, (As a T1 diabetic struggling with it all.) I bowed out & made myself "designated driver." Watched my mates make drunken fools of themselves. Sounds boring. But I did have interesting encounters on these nights out suggesting I leave my drunk mates at home...

I had fun, & also learned to mix insulin dependency & drink "responsibly." (When appropriate.) :)
 
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Mike d

Expert
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7,997
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Type 2
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Other
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idiots who will not learn
At 18 you want to go out with your mates and have a few beers. Thats what you do when your 18!

Edited: To add diabetic or not!

I didn't, so you certainly don't speak for me. :banghead:
 

Taraji_T

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
That must have been very scary for you, but this is going to get easier.

I’ve never been on insulin, but I was on meds early on and basically it’s going to be about balancing your insulin, foods and drinks. Personally, if it were me, I’d get a full grip on insulin first, then wade into how it interacts with drinking.

There are many books about insulin use that may help, including Using Insulin by Walsh, and Think Like A Pancreas by Scheiner.

Edited to add: learn the sign of a hypo and never ignore them. When in doubt, eat/drink first and ask questions later.
very helpful thank youuu
 

Taraji_T

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi, Taraji_T,

The reason you experienced a hypo when drinking alcohol, my friend, is because your liver is spending so much time dealing with the 'toxin' known as alcohol that it has little chance to cover anything else.

You are MORE LIKELY to suffer hypos if you drink spirits, rather than wine(s) or beer(s). This is because with spirits, more of the sugar is converted into alcohol than with wines and beers.

Normally, when it is detected that your blood sugar (glucose) level is falling the alpha cells (islets of Langerhans) of your pancreas begin to produce a hormone called glucagon. This stimulates your liver to 'give up' some of its stores of glycogen ... the way it stores glucose. As your liver is so much dealing with the alcohol content, this process becomes inhibited. i.e. it doesn't work as efficiently.

As you are taking a basal insulin ... long-acting insulin ... this will continue to work in lowering your blood sugar (glucose) level. Although Lantus is reputed to not have a drastic blood sugar lowering effect ... it's designed to keep your blood sugar levels on an 'even keel' for extended periods of time ... you are MORE LIKELY to experience a 'low', accorrding to the following webpage is approximately 6 hours after injecting:

https://www.diabetesnet.com/about-diabetes/insulin/insulin-action-time

This does NOT, however, mean that you need to 'give up' drinking. You just need to be more aware of what can happen. (By the way, once your liver has finished dealing with the alcohol, you are MORE LIKELY to have a 'rebound' where your blood sugar levels will rise higher than they might otherwise have been.)

Be well, Taraji_T.

Lots of Love and Light.

Mick
x x x x
x x x

P.S. Please don't be offended, or alarmed, at the 'x's'. It's merely a logo, of sorts, that I've used for the past 40-odd years.
thank you so much Mick