alcohol

[mondeoman]

im diebetes1 what is the safe amount of alcohol ican drink i inject twice aday

[JDRF-VOL-SG]

Many doctors try to encourage type 1 patients to not drink more than 1 drink at a sitting. I personally opt to avoid alcohol in order to avoid having to do the adjustments that are necessary when imbibing.Many diabetic people who do drink offer several cautions, and I will try to hit upon some of them.

First, type 1 diabetic people truly should never drink so much that they are 'drunk' -- not in full command of their senses and reactions. The danger is that alcohol inhibits the liver's ability to release its emergency sugars, so if the person is low, he or she may not be able to help himself. And of course, others will just see the slurred speech or sleepiness as the result of too much alcohol and may not realize that serious hypoglycemia is happening. From what I have read on the subject, the danger continues through the night (most people drink in the evenings), for the alcohol sometimes causes sugar levels to drop and of course the liver is not able to respond to dump emergency sugars, so while you sleep it off, you may get in serious trouble.

Below is a link about studies that support what I have written about alcohol's effect on type 1 diabetic people:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15460663&dopt=Abstract

A website by the Mayo CLinic offers the following advice concerning alcohol:
'Alcohol. Even a small amount of alcohol — about 2 ounces — can cause your sugar levels to fall too low. If you choose to drink, do so only in moderation. And monitor your blood sugar before and after consuming alcohol to see how it affects you. Also, keep in mind that alcohol counts as carbohydrate calories in your diet.'

So the key word appears to be 'moderate.' And that is different for different people. Just be careful when you opt to drink.

[t1dbb]

No one is going to say yeah go ahead and get drunk all the time. But the fact is you most likely will. Most people will argue with the following, but if you have good control I believe you can drink and have fun just like your peers. Just remember to be careful and that drinking is bad for everyone. Remember that if you go low when your drunk you have to eat something and your liver isnt going to save you.  Alcohol effects everyone differently (depending on how much glucose your liver releases and a lot of other factors) so this is just my experience.

I have type 1 and I’m in college and I drink all the time. Drinking is as much a part of school as classes are. You can drink just like everyone else altho i would advise against getting black out. Know your limits and don’t get so drunk you don’t know your own name or that you even have diabetes. Buy a small meter like the Sidekick to take with you and check your sugars all the time when you are drinking. Alcohol does make my blood sugar go down so I carry some candy with me and check my levels every time i go to the bathroom (which is a lot if your drinking beer). I found that the carbs in beer counter-act the lowering effect of alcohol. When i take shots (alcohol not insulin) I always eat a little bit and then I eat some long lasting carbs before I go to bed. I stay away from drinks full of sugar. I get pretty drunk about 2-3 nights a week. My A1c was 5.6 and i got it checked last week. Just make sure to start off slow and check your sugar often, when you first start out it wouldn’t be a bad idea to wake up every 3-4 hours and check and make sure your not going too low. If you get so wasted you just pass out that’s obviously bad. 20% of severe lows are caused by alcohol, and im sure that its pretty easy to kill yourself in this fashion. With that in mind I still drink, I am just very cautious. If eating to counteract the lowering effect of alcohol isnt a good solution I have also played around with lowering my insulin dose. This is also a good option, either way its going to take a while to figure out how to handle alcohol. I always error on the side of going a little to high, because going to low (especially when you’re drinking) can be deadly. Also none of your drunk friends will be able to tell something is wrong. Getting high is another option if you want to go out to parties and things with your friends, when I smoke my blood sugar stays pretty constant. I don’t encourage anyone to drink or do this sort of stuff but it’s part of the college experience, just be careful.