Diabetes and Drinking at College

[MM25]

I've heard a lot of advice about limiting the amount to 1 or 2 drinks... but that doesn't seem very realistic especially after your body develops a tolerance of the alcohol after several weekends drinking.... Does anyone have any advice about drinking and diabetes??? HELP!!!

[JDRF-VOL-RL]

Hello.  I'm not a medical professional, just the parent of a kid with diabetes.  The best advice I can give to a diabetic on drinking is don't.  The alcohol wreaks havoc with your blood sugars, since your liver has to deal with that extra sugar in your system.  The risk of a severe low is very high.

Tolerance to alcohol doesn't change the physical issues relating to diabetes.

[Daisy0103]

For whatever reason, alcohol actually drops your bloodsugar. If you drink too much you'll find yourself not only drunk, but hypoglycemic. Most of the time people don't understand what's going on, and you wind up putting yourself in a lot of danger. Honestly, not drinking at all is the best option. However, if you're going to do it, check your blood sugar often, and eat periodically while you're drinking.

[griblit]

ok- I'm not a doctor, but I'm a WOD and spend a lot of time looking at info regarding diabetes, as my hubby is someone I want to spend forever with :)

Here's the honest scoop: Plain old alcohol will lower your blood sugar. Mixers, beer and wine have other components which will raise your blood sugar. My grandparents have been heavy drinkers for 50+ years despite diabetes, but they both tested rigorously to know their reaction to everything involved (food eaten, insulin, oral meds) INTIMATELY.

Now I will point out that Grampa has managed to bottom out many a time, due to his martini not being accompanied by food. It's embarrassing to park your car in you neighbor's front room...worse when you're on the highway when it happens. These things happen when your blood sugar gets too low because the booze plummets you. If this can happen after 50 years of practice, being an amateur really doesn't look so hot...

SO: My hubby drinks the occasional low carb beer, sometimes two or three. His blood sugars reflect as if he's eaten a bowl of mac & cheese if it's enough to get him buzzed. He knows my family's story and tries to keep it sane, keeping his HbA1c below 6. He prefers beer, but knows it's much safer to drink a vodka tonic or vodka and diet sprite, etc. You could just always drink hard liquor with diet soda- BUT know that your liver may already be being pushed if you're on oral meds.

You really have to take it all in, and know that a drink a day is not damaging to healthy folks, but when you leave the moderate consumption behind, you'll pay later- and that's just reality. It isn't as fun, but then again, you'll save money at the bar!

Cheers!

[JDRF-VOL-SG]

One real danger in case of hypoglycemia when you have been drinking (and it doesn't take a lot of alcohol to do this) is that alcohol inhibits the liver's ability to release its emergency sugars if your blood sugar drops below normal. So it inhibits your body's ability to preserve itself in an emergency low. I don't want to frighten you, but without the liver's stores of emergency sugars available, a severe low can kill. So it is absolutely imperative that you test often, and if you think you are going to drink a lot, you absolutely need to tell someone who ISN'T drinking (and who can think clearly and speak clearly) that you are diabetic, and that if you appear to become woozy, you need to have them call 911. If you don't tell the designated driver or someone who isn't drinking, your friends, whose judgment is going to be impaired if drunk, may just assume that you are drunk when your condition is really life-threatening.

Severe lows do occasionally kill, but even though this is rare, it is more likely that severe lows can damage brain cells. As a volunteer for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, I have communicated via e-mail all too often with loved ones of folks in comas because of severe hypoglycemia to take it lightly.

I agree with the previous postings: in my opinion it isn't worth it to drink when we are type 1 diabetics. Life and health is just too precious to risk throwing it away for one evening of a buzz. If alcohol is necessary for you in order to have fun, you may want to look closely at whether there is a dependency issue or self-esteem issue that makes it hard for to make a safer decision. In my personal experience, my presence drinking coffee has never stopped my friends (and me) from having fun, and people seem to respect me for making the decision to protect my health.