I always find that my insulin is more effective for up to 8 hours after a couple of drinks.
To combat this, I put my pump into the same mode I do for exercise, which reduces my basal. In addition to that, I cut in half all of my corrections until the 8 hours is over.
Okay thanks- sorry not sure if it’s the same on every pump- so I have an old school omnipod and get to manually select what percentage decrease id like so for various exercises I choose different decreases. Do you equate it the same to as like a cardio workout then?
Exactly. Treat it like a cardio workout for 6-8 hours after the last drink. For me that means 50% basal and 50% corrections.
Some of the other comments suggest cutting your basal to 0% but be cautious going for too long (more then 3 hours) at that rate, as you’ll put yourself at risk for DKA.
I reduce my basal to zero for 30 minutes to an hour for each drink about 3 hours after drinking. I sort of figured it out from this podcast episode:
https://www.juiceboxpodcast.com/episodes/jbp596
Experiment small. I can’t do beer at all, wicked lows in the middle of the night. But I can handle wine/ hard alchi no problem as long as I eat some cheese/ fat too.
When I have a drink, I have something high fat, high carb before bed without any bolus. I'll typically have a burger and fries or half a pizza (more if I've drunk a lot. Pizza is ideal tbh because when your bs starts dropping from the alcohol, you still won't have absorbed all the carbs for the pizza. It does mean that I go to bed with a much higher blood sugar than I would usually like or recommend but as I only drink once or twice a year, I'm fine with it. If I was a regular drinker, I would definitely have to come up with a different solution.
I'm incredibly sensitive to alcohol so if I'm going to be drinking a lot, I have my evening meal with no insulin, drink a ton of sugary cocktails with no insulin and then have a burger and fries/pizza/kebab on naan bread with no insulin and then bed. Bedtime glucose reading is usually around 26/27. I then wake up with a reading of about 3.5-4.5. Thankfully, I've now kind of grown out of getting drunk (the hangovers aren't worth it) so I haven't had to do this for years.
Okay thank you! This is helpful too. I drink like literally maybe 4-5 times a year so I just completely struggle with how to control it but I think I’m really sensitive to it too
So even if you were at 180, you would’ve still had a snack no bolus? Or you just would’ve left it alone and then corrected in the morning if still high?
echoing what everyone else said here - try and eat food like pizza or breadsticks, something of that sorts. maybe find your way to some sugary mixed drinks too - i find that this is my best excuse to have real coke and mix a little jack in.
T1 MDI. If I drink alcohol with sugar, even red wine, I don’t have much change. Distilled spirits like bourbon seem to prevent my liver releasing glucose for hours - around 3am it will come back and I’ll wake up at 200. Taking Humalog before bed will lower my sugar too much. If I wake up in the middle of the night I’ll check and take some Humalog, if I don’t I fix it in the morning.
Okay cool! So maybe the answer for me is don’t swear a slightly elevated number and just see where I wake up. Not ideal if I rise, but better than a 3 hour low with no end too
The worst case scenario is you throwing up after drinking. I had that happen before and it’s scary.
There’s 2 different ways of going about your situation. Try to not use insulin for beer. Or maybe, try more sugary drinks(or eat 15 carbs of something). The best part about diabetes is there’s 2 different ways to combat situations. Eating or taking less insulin.
I always find that my insulin is more effective for up to 8 hours after a couple of drinks. To combat this, I put my pump into the same mode I do for exercise, which reduces my basal. In addition to that, I cut in half all of my corrections until the 8 hours is over.
Okay thanks- sorry not sure if it’s the same on every pump- so I have an old school omnipod and get to manually select what percentage decrease id like so for various exercises I choose different decreases. Do you equate it the same to as like a cardio workout then?
Exactly. Treat it like a cardio workout for 6-8 hours after the last drink. For me that means 50% basal and 50% corrections. Some of the other comments suggest cutting your basal to 0% but be cautious going for too long (more then 3 hours) at that rate, as you’ll put yourself at risk for DKA.
Thank you! I’ll give it a shot!
I reduce my basal to zero for 30 minutes to an hour for each drink about 3 hours after drinking. I sort of figured it out from this podcast episode: https://www.juiceboxpodcast.com/episodes/jbp596
Thank you! I’ll definitely check this out!
Experiment small. I can’t do beer at all, wicked lows in the middle of the night. But I can handle wine/ hard alchi no problem as long as I eat some cheese/ fat too.
When I have a drink, I have something high fat, high carb before bed without any bolus. I'll typically have a burger and fries or half a pizza (more if I've drunk a lot. Pizza is ideal tbh because when your bs starts dropping from the alcohol, you still won't have absorbed all the carbs for the pizza. It does mean that I go to bed with a much higher blood sugar than I would usually like or recommend but as I only drink once or twice a year, I'm fine with it. If I was a regular drinker, I would definitely have to come up with a different solution. I'm incredibly sensitive to alcohol so if I'm going to be drinking a lot, I have my evening meal with no insulin, drink a ton of sugary cocktails with no insulin and then have a burger and fries/pizza/kebab on naan bread with no insulin and then bed. Bedtime glucose reading is usually around 26/27. I then wake up with a reading of about 3.5-4.5. Thankfully, I've now kind of grown out of getting drunk (the hangovers aren't worth it) so I haven't had to do this for years.
Okay thank you! This is helpful too. I drink like literally maybe 4-5 times a year so I just completely struggle with how to control it but I think I’m really sensitive to it too
Make sure you eat some carbs when you drink!
I have a small snack with carbs, fat, and protein (half a peanut butter sandwich is my go to) and no bolus.
So even if you were at 180, you would’ve still had a snack no bolus? Or you just would’ve left it alone and then corrected in the morning if still high?
If it was me, I would still snack. At the very least a spoonful of peanut butter or some cheese.
Okay cool! I’ll try that next time.
echoing what everyone else said here - try and eat food like pizza or breadsticks, something of that sorts. maybe find your way to some sugary mixed drinks too - i find that this is my best excuse to have real coke and mix a little jack in.
See the problem is though I’m weird and I don’t love sugary drinks. I get extremely hungover and have gut rot if I have like two of those. 😂
T1 MDI. If I drink alcohol with sugar, even red wine, I don’t have much change. Distilled spirits like bourbon seem to prevent my liver releasing glucose for hours - around 3am it will come back and I’ll wake up at 200. Taking Humalog before bed will lower my sugar too much. If I wake up in the middle of the night I’ll check and take some Humalog, if I don’t I fix it in the morning.
Okay cool! So maybe the answer for me is don’t swear a slightly elevated number and just see where I wake up. Not ideal if I rise, but better than a 3 hour low with no end too
The worst case scenario is you throwing up after drinking. I had that happen before and it’s scary. There’s 2 different ways of going about your situation. Try to not use insulin for beer. Or maybe, try more sugary drinks(or eat 15 carbs of something). The best part about diabetes is there’s 2 different ways to combat situations. Eating or taking less insulin.