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Alcohol

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Harri0723

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
New to all of this and haven't had a beer since being diagnosed, but I was wondering way into the future for me, is it still possible to have a couple of beers and keep control of your levels or is it just unrealistic and not worth any risk?
 
It depends on the individual @Harri0723 Try it and see 🙂

I’m not a big beer drinker but I find I need a small bolus for cider and some beers. I don’t for wine or spirits.

Try a small amount and see what your blood sugar does. Also, be aware that alcohol can mask hypos or sometimes even contribute to them if you drink a reasonable amount. For that reason I often have a few crisps or similar if I drink on an empty stomach. I wouldn’t do that for beer but I would do extra blood tests to make sure all was well.
 
You could try skinny lager. 89 cals and 3 carbs a bottle. Peroni, moretti it isn’t but it’s acceptable so I keep the moretti for special occasions now. G&T is my usual tipple and that’s only on a weekend too
 
Good question @Harri0723!

Yes alcohol is still possible, but diabetes is typically fickle and annoying about it, and as others have said, individual experiences vary widely.

One of the tricky things is not the carbs in the alcohol itself, but the way alcohol affects both the brain and the liver.

Initially the carbs in beers and ciders can hit the BG rapidly (though this varies from person to person, so there can be a hefty initial spike.
Ales and bitters can have around 20g of carbs per pint, and laters 10-15g a pint... so you don’t need many to make a whole meal’s-worth of carbs.

But...

While the liver gets busy processing the alcohol, it can rather let you down on the whole ‘trickling out glucose to keep you going’ front. So many people find that alcohol provides a net BG drop - sometimes significantly.

So alcohol, adds significant risk of hypoglycaemia. And of course, alcohol also impairs brain function, so you are less equipped to spot early warning signs... AND if anyone sees you stumbling about and slightly incoherent from hypoglycaemia you will have alcohol on your breath, and will appear to be drunk.

So you have to experiment. Initial advice to me was that I should limit to 2 pints at any one time, and snack to avoid hypo. With the benefit of sensors, an insulin pump, and some experimentation 😉😛 I have had some success with small boluses to offset the initial BG rise, but you have to be *very* careful with that, because not all days act the same... and the later BG drop on some days can be much bigger than on others.

So go carefully, and err on the side of caution 🙂
 
I used to enjoy wine, my favourite drink would always be a Bombay Sapphire, tonic, ice and slice of lime.
I haven’t had either since 2016. Sometimes I think it would be lovely to have either of an evening.

i should add I have never been a big drinker, but would always enjoy a glass of wine or a G & T when out.

I often think it would be lovely to sit with a drink at home. My socialising days are no more, even before Covid-19. Mainly because I miss having someone I enjoyed going out and about with.

I am turning into a bit of a recluse I’m sad to say, when once I was so happy and outgoing!

Do the members think the odd drink would be ok from a diabetic view?
 
Annette&Bertie said:
I used to enjoy wine, my favourite drink would always be a Bombay Sapphire, tonic, ice and slice of lime.
I haven’t had either since 2016. Sometimes I think it would be lovely to have either of an evening.

i should add I have never been a big drinker, but would always enjoy a glass of wine or a G & T when out.

I often think it would be lovely to sit with a drink at home. My socialising days are no more, even before Covid-19. Mainly because I miss having someone I enjoyed going out and about with.

I am turning into a bit of a recluse I’m sad to say, when once I was so happy and outgoing!

Do the members think the odd drink would be ok from a diabetic view?
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I’m the same. Was never a big drinker but enjoy a glass of wine. Provided you are able to control it. We have a glass on sat & sun evenings with our meal. I bought an air suction to remove air and keep wine fresh and it lasts until the following weekend. Tom Kerridge is an all or nothing person so he could never open. a bottle without drinking the lot so he gave it up. For me, I enjoy a drink but I’m able to keep to my weekend rule unless a special occasion. However it does depend on your diabetes control and liver and general health . Sad to read you’re becoming a recluse.Have you heard of Meet-ups?once this situation passes you could find something that interests you like painting, gardening and meet like minded people?
 
Hi Sally. I could open a bottle of wine, have 2 glasses and not look at it again for a month. The same with G8n and Tonic.

yes I have heard of meet ups, but it wouldn’t be my thing.
 
Hi @Annette&Bertie, we still enjoy red wine or spirits (rum & sugarfree ginger, or G&T & sugarfee tonic) and it has always been fine with me, a type 2. Mr Marten is hovering on the edge of pre-D and is normally tested annually as his brother is type 2 and his late mother was too. They do a nice bottle of posh rum in Waitrose.... 😱

I did find the other day though that 2 Rich Tea biccies spiked me slightly so I'm leaving off having them again for a while :(
 
Well our Gin bottle has always been like that, it's kept firmly capped in the dark inside a thick cupboard nowhere near a radiator and we'll happily get it out and have one, even though it's been open for months by now. I don't think spirits 'spoil' anywhere like as quickly as wine or liqueurs do. Certainly taste the same anyway, to us.

And yeah - I really believe we can have a 'very occasional' drink without harming diabetes control, spirits have never been a mega problem EXCEPT when any of us imbibe 'one over the eight' ie our personal 'eight', not a pre-defined 'eight' and that lowers our BG and suppresses our own liver's ability to chuck its store of glucagen into our body. Of course, we have to have s/f tonic instead of 'full fat' - so not Fever Tree cos it isn't completely s/f - and I reckon that's exactly why it tastes so flippin good, dangnabbit!

Ever looked at U3A in your area Felinia? - you just never know what they may offer that might appeal.
 
Annette&Bertie said:
Hi Sally. I could open a bottle of wine, have 2 glasses and not look at it again for a month. The same with G8n and Tonic.

yes I have heard of meet ups, but it wouldn’t be my thing.
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Good to know you can take it or leave it. Wish I could help with getting out though. So important when we become older. I’ve no children so fear being alone when I become older.
 
Well I am 71 don’t have family, so a big worry.

i am used to getting out and about in my car, even for food, however, not doing so these days, and I don’t think life will ever be the same for any of us.

The profile pic of me was taken 2 years ago, but I have never looked my age. Since becoming diabetic, I feel like it. It is the worst thing that could have happened to me.

Incidentally, my nearest Waitrose is 45 miles away and they don’t deliver here.

Jenny there isn’t a U3A anywhere near me. I am a non-fiction writer who is taking some downtime for the past 6 months or so.
 
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Of course you've piqued my interest now Felinia!

What sort of non fictional subjects would that be, then?
 
I think an occasional glass of something is fine - though the latest thinking does seem to be that ‘no alcohol’ is always better than ‘some alcohol’ - not from a diabetes perspective - just generally

I try to keep units-per-week down to the suggested 14 (or whatever it is this month), but I don’t stress too much tbh.
 
Never really understood alcohol. Can accept that in historical times it was a way of storing calories from fruit that would otherwise rot and that ale was safer to drink than water out of the brook but neither of these reasons hold up in post Victorian times.
 
Oddly enough I would never have drank enough to fall into the units per week scenario because I have never been a big drinker. On doing some research it seems to me for the little I would drink it’s hardly worth bothering about, basically I wouldn’t even be talking daily or weekly, more on the odd day maybe only the odd glass once a month.

my biggest carb intake has been fruit, since I was as young as 5 I have always been a big fruit eater, even now I find it hard to control. I eat more berries than I do apples, oranges, bananas, but very rarely grapes which are not my favourite fruit. Plums, figs and persimmons are my favourite fruits, kiwi and all exotic. A friend who is not diabetic is always amazed at my fruit bowl
 
I experimented to check out the impact.
I generally stick to the units per week, drinking a G&T and a wine in Fri, sat and sun.
We then don’t drink during the week.

However we sometimes succumb to my OH’s rule that if we are watching a programme that was recorded in the weekend, we are allowed a glass of wine!!

It is a good plan and seems to work.
 
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