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Alcohol and teens

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Siannie 49

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Parent of person with diabetes
Hi, just wanted some advice about teens and starting to drink alcohol. My son is 16 and had his first full can of cider, when he was out with his mates last night. He was fine. I know when going to drink, have a carby meal before. But want if he fancied a can, and hadn't eaten a high carby meal. What advice would u give?? I was scared to death last night, after he told me that he had a can. Couldn't sleep. Pleased he told me, but kept checking through the night, for lows..... This is our next phase of Being T1. Been diagnosed exactly 1year.... Thanks for Yr help....
 
I think it depends on the cider @Siannie 49 I find some are quite sweet and carby so I have to have a small bolus for them. It also depends on the alcohol strength. If I’m drinking alcohol away from a meal, I sometimes have some crisps to ‘offset’ the alcohol.

I think an important thing would be his friends knowing what to do in the event of a hypo.

@stephknits has a teen with Type 1 if I remember correctly.
 
I was diagnosed at 10yrs old (36 years ago now) so went through my teens (did a fair amount of drinking alcohol too) and the best advice I can give is watch out for sugary drinks as this will make him go high and then do insulin but because the liver is working on breaking down all the alcohol overnight it does not release sugar like it normally does so you can end up going low in early hours. Might be worth testing how he reacts a bit at home (if you feel that’s appropriate.) He will be fine as long as he is sensible, it’s hard being a teen and having diabetes as you don’t want to be different to your mates. I would suggest going to bed slightly higher than normal if you have had a drink and then correcting in morning so not to risk night time lows. x
 
Hi, I have a 17 Yr old with type 1, but they dont drink yet. Just not interested! I am also type 1 and do like a drink. My strategy varies depending on the type of alcohol, whether I am eating with it, what I am doing and how much I am having.
For one can of.cider having eaten I would have to bolus for it as it is quite carby and it would not.be.enough alcohol for my.blood sugar to drop after.
With a couple of.glasses of.wine with a meal I wouldn't need to do anything, except.normal test before bed.
If I am out for a night drinking in the pub (and not eating a meal) then you would want to make sure you had a carby snack before bed and went to sleep a bit higher than normal. We are all different of course, but I still find that beer raises my levels loads so I have never gone.low overnight or the next day, but then again, I don't drink like a teenager anymore. I might have 3 / 3.5 pints over a long evening . If drinking gin and slline tonic then would check to see if needed a snack before sleep.
Now I M sadly too old for clubbing, but that would be a different.matter as dancing would be exercise and would require more carbs.
Basically I would err on the side of caution and be a bit on the high side.
 
Different people with T1 seem to have more or less dramatic BG lowering effect from alcohol... and for some people it doesn’t kick in straight away, so it can be a bit of a minefield.

The safest option is to accept the high BGs, and to be cautious/protect against overnight dips with snacks.

Setting an overnight alarm to check levels is a good precaution.

And carry medical ID - in case a hypo is mistaken for drunkenness
 
You can still enjoy a drink with T1D. I tend to stay away from beer, cider, and larger just because of the carbs. I don't like injecting insulin when drinking.

If I am drinking I tend to drink spirits just because they lower my glucose levels sometimes quickly the next day, so I tend to make sure I have plenty of hypo stuff to hand & eat something before I go out.

Diabetes UK has some wonderful information online about drinking and Type One Diabetes.

Here is a link, https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/young-adults/type-1-drinking
 
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