Type 1 Diabetes Alchohol ? seizures

[Helen Barlow]

My son is 20 & has had type 1 diabetes for 3 years. He is not a frequent drinker but if he does he only has 3 or 4 drinks. He recently did this & was thought by his friends to be asleep (they know nothing about his condition which will have to change) He was left alone in a strange house all night so no one can tell us anything about what happened.When he woke up he was disorientated and had a dislocated shoulder. Later after his shoulder was put back in he said his whole body ached, his muscles everywhere but particularly in his chest were aching & he could hardly breath for the pain. He felt he might have had a seizure or some kind of intense body cramping. His BGL was 4.2 at 10am and he'd had no breakfast & it is unknown what he ate the night before. I feel he's lucky to even be alive & will need to re think educating his friends but most of all the mind boggles at what took place. Can a high BGL cause seizures or muscle cramps or is it more likely to be a low BGL. As he was 17 when he was dignosed as his parents we have been held at bay & none of us have a lot of experience although my husband has type2. I suspect his BGL was extremely low causing a hypo and seizures which resulted in what must have been a horrifying scenario.I can see we need to step up our act and he needs to be a bit more responsible but it's hard at his age but I'd like some info on how alchohol even in small amounts can effect his condition and what is likely to have happened  

[JDRF-VOL-SG]

The symptoms you describe are all symptoms that can mean severe hypoglycemia. This is the real risk when a type 1 diabetic opts to drink a lot... alcohol impairs the liver's ability to dump its stores of emergency sugars when glucose levels drop too low. And alcohol can actually cause lows to happen. So severe hypoglycemia can be life-threatening because the body cannot help itself. And of course his buddies are going to think he has just had too much to drink, since symptoms of hypoglycemia are very similar to symptoms of being drunk. Your son is lucky that he came out of this on his own and that he did not end up in a coma. Muscle cramps, seizures, etc. can be symptoms of severe low sugar levels. I hope he has learned a very important lesson and that he will protect himself from now on. I am very glad he is OK except for the scare.