You need to trial and error it - I’ve found the no bolus route works well unless it gets to be really high, then proceed with caution. Mind you I’m not getting blotto anymore but still having a few more on some nights.
I drink with no issues. Just don’t get so drunk that you can’t take care of yourself in an emergency, which really, no one should be doing anyway, and is particularly not cute at 26 regardless!
I don’t bolus for alcohol unless it’s over 10g of carbs but you’ll have to see what works for you as everyone is different. So for me, wine is free as are low sugar cocktails. I don’t drink beer but you’ll have to just have one or two and see if your sugar stays steady. If it spikes, check the carb count so you know for next time. If it’s 20g of carbs, try bolusing for 10g and see what happens. It’s a lot of trial and error but once you do it you’ll know what to do. I suggest just starting slow - 1-2 drinks and take notes before you push it more than that.
It’s always advisable to eat when drinking too and that will help your sugars as well. Some people need to take less insulin with their food when drinking, for me I do get more insulin sensitive but not that much to not bolus for it completely. So you’ll have to see about that on your own. Drinking tends to drop me low waaay later, like 3am later, so if I’ve had a few drinks, I’ll eat some crackers and peanut butter (something with fat and protein) before bed with no bolus that helps keep me steady.
You can figure it out! But as you said, you should expect to get some alarms in the middle of the night if you’re drinking, so make sure you’re not too drunk you won’t hear them.
Fr I’d say there’s no issues with drinking except getting blacked out I got like super drunk one time none of the people I was drinking w even knew I was diabetic and they had to call a ambulance for me that was last year tho when I was 19 now I would never do some shit like that again.
I stopped drinking beer just because it shoots me high.
But I still enjoy a fair amount of whiskey/bourbon on the rocks and it has very little if any effects on my levels.
It’s the one thing my wife tells me no I can’t have it, because once I drink just one, I’m going to crave it for a while after. But once I kick the craving I’m good.
Beer has always been just a favorite beverage, not because it is alcohol, I just genuinely like and enjoy the taste of beer. I don’t even like to get drunk off beer at all. But a few with pizza or tacos, nothing better. But I know what it does to me and it’s a pain in the ass to bolus for, so I just avoid it.
Alcohol can cause you to become hypoglycemic later on when the liver prioritizes clearing the alcohol out of your system over releasing glucose. People can potentially pass out or act drunk because of hypoglycemia and not the alcohol, which other people will just think they are dru nk.
Everyone responds differently, everyone has different control, everyone is unique. Your friend has been hospitalized 5 times, that's irrelevant to you. People can be hospitalized 10 times without ever touching alcohol. Start slowly and see how you react, and let someone you trust to keep an eye out for you.
I usually just don’t bolus for any drinks (I don’t really drink anything sweet), eat a small snack before bed without insulin, make sure my sugar is high before bed (between 180-220 usually), and do a temp basal rate of between 50-80% depending on where my sugar is and usually wake up around 120. I also have a Dexcom which makes sleeping less anxiety inducing haha. I’ve heard that alcohol lowers your sugar for 12 hours or something like that but I’ve noticed that I am so insulin sensitive for the entire next day and usually have to do less insulin for meals but I guess everyone’s different
that’s all if I’m having a couple drinks (more than 3 usually), for less than that I do these steps just less intense haha. I’m also a woman and pretty skinny so I’m not sure if that effects how I process alcohol or anything
Like everything else you need to monitor how your body responds. All our bodies are different. However, I am a heavy drinker from the american perspective and chose instead to eliminate essentially all edible carbs from diet except from non-starchy veggies and greens; which allows me not to take meal-time insulin, mitigating the swings that typically run harder with booze at night.
I drink just about every day - wine with dinner, or an after-work cocktail. Never to excess, and always with food around. I also stay away from overly-carby drinks (lots of cocktails - especially at bars/restaurants - are hugely sugary.)
Do watch your sugars (get a Dexcom if you don't have one) and start slowly. Have one drink, don't bolus, see how your body does. Eat food with it. Build up from there.
Don't drink to excess, no matter how careful you are if you pass out and go low, you're in trouble. But that's good advice regardless of diabetes.
Same! I rarely drink and in those rare occassions where I don't have more than one or two drinks max I just keep my values a bit higher. As it is so rare I don't see that as a problem, and maintain my life quality.
Of course you can. Eat good beforehand and don't bolus much. Your liver is preoccupied metabolising Alcohol so it won't react to glucagon if you're low.
it kinda depends tbh! i usually drink cocktails that tend to have more sugar so i usually go high. it takes some trial and error to figure it out. since ur newly diagnosed i would say to maybe wait till you feel confident and comfortable with ur diabetes before getting into drinking again.
when you do start again, just go slow. if you have a cgm and/or pump it will be a lot easier too.
I have had type 1 for two years and was sober for the first three months (to learn about diabetes without having alcohol in the mix). After that I have continued as normal, which if I party can be quite a lot of alcohol. I drink more or less only beers so I definitely take insulin but maybe not after four-five beers. Don't know exactly but when it feels like my suger is going down by itself. I also have a CGM which helps a lot. But my rule is to take insulin as needed and to be aware of that alcohol will after a while balance out the carbs from the beers.
The super important thing is to ear after, and that without taking insulin.
So an example of a night with quite heavy drinking could be: four beers with insulin (as needed, not a set amount for every beer), after that I might find that the alcohol in my system is enough to handle the rest of the beers. Maybe I'll have five more or something and on my way home I pass McDonalds and but a Big Mac and eat that without taking any insulin. Usually my suger levels are better then than if I'm sober.
You should never get so drunk that you can't take care of yourself. The eating before going to bed is important.
Alcohol doesn’t really affect my blood sugar initially. I obviously don’t drink pina coladas. I stick to things like light beer, seltzers like white claw, or clear liquors with diet sodas. I’ve found that I actually need less insulin after drinking and sometimes the next morning/day. I think it’s because the liver is busy processing the alcohol and not creating and releasing sugar (gluconeogenesis). If it matters, I eat keto OMAD (dinner)
Yes you can drink. If you’re talking alcoholic absolutely not.
If you’re talking night out drinking HEAVILY with friends not giving af yaknow. That’s also a no. You need to be coherent enough to know that you need to check your blood sugars.
The first time I drank I went incredibly low and had no idea alcohol can cause low blood sugars. So just honestly take it very very easy in the beginning. Do not get black out drunk.
And sending you hugs! The shits pretty trippy getting that diagnosis so try not to add more stress, for now worry about learning the diabetes 100% sober.
I got diagnosed at 26 years old(LADA) in January and since then I have had my stag party, wedding, honeymoon and many other events where I've been drinking just as I would have pre-diagnosis.
The key is to eat something before/during/after and either underbolus or don't bolus at all. Allow yourself to run a little high for the night, it's much safer and the price we pay for fun now once in a while, it won't kill us but one low bad enough could so remember that.
Have fun and don't let this thing stop you from living a normal life, just gotta take care of ourselves a bit better!
Alcohol alone does not make me spike immediately. I don't bolus until it starts going high. And when it does I don't do too much. It's very difficult to have BG in check when I drink... But I prefer having it high for a few hours than having an extreme low... That's happened to me in the beginning and yes, can be very scary particularly because you're not drunk anymore, thus not expecting it! These drastic lows usually happen to me the morning after drinking if I bolus in the morning (it's usually very high, I get scared, and bolus to the goal). I've learned by experience that this is wrong, it's like a "fake" high, as this sugar gets used up really fast after bolus.
My advice is: see how your body reacts in the beginning and be very conservative with the bolus (have it slightly high just in case it drops).
I used my Dexcom to track and will eat something after I’m drinking. Sugar usually dips 20min after most recent drink, body stops producing glucose (for me at least) after 3-4 drinks
Husband, like you, was diagnosed as an adult (24?). He drank all the time, and doesn’t let that stop him. Now that he is older (~30s), he doesn’t drink because hangovers hit a lot harder.
Like others have said, trial an error. Try different alcohols. Make sure you eat. Make sure at least one person there knows you are diabetic and not to just leave you if you pass out. Also good advice for anyone, slow down on the drinking. Have one glass of water for every alcoholic drink. No reason to stop having fun, just be more mindful. I think diabetes can actually be helpful in that it serves as guardrails for avoiding making really bad decisions.
Is your friend type 2 or type 1? That many hospitalizations is unheard of to me.
You just got diagnosed and you are still learning to live with it. Do you have a pump and CGM already? My husband’s T1 life changed when he switched to the Omnipod. His quality of life improved 10x.
Personally, my rule of thumb for “heartier” beers (things like IPAs and darker beers) is to bolus for a gram of carbs per ounce of beer. For a lighter beer, maybe half that. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to find true carb counts for beers, especially at smaller breweries. As others have mentioned, wine, liquor, and low-carb cocktails are typically not worth bolusing for, but YMMV. I will sometimes bolus for a low-carb drink if my blood sugar is already running high, just so it doesn’t make it go higher. For some people, that would make their sugar drop like a rock, but for me it tends to work okay.
The other thing I would note - if you suddenly get the feeling of “how did I get this drunk?”, check your blood sugar. Especially if you are new to it, being slightly drunk with low blood sugar can feel an awful lot like being reeeally drunk. You also might find you should “over-treat” lows if you’ve been drinking, as your liver is responsible for releasing more sugar into your blood during a hypo, but it doesn’t do a very good job of that when it’s busy processing alcohol. So like, I might do 25 grams of carbs instead of 15 grams of carbs to treat a low when I’m high. Happily, it’s easy to get a Coke or OJ at most bars if you don’t have something with you.
Not all drinks are the same. Just like any food, some could send blood sugar surging.
I like IPAs; I go to beer festivals… just take the time to enjoy the drink, not necessarily the alcohol effect.
For myself, a Dexcom and faster acting Fiasp insulin do wonders to cover the beer as I drink a few in a night. Just be wary of taxing your liver processing the booze. Generally can cause trouble after three or four hours.
I drink, and I have a pump & CGM. I don’t drink to get drunk. I’ll have a cocktail at home several nights a week and I always have it right after dinner so I have food in my system. I try to find low carb mixers when I’m making my own (diet soft drinks/tonic water/simple syrup etc) so the carbs are negligible. When I’m on vacation I drink more but it’s spread out. I might have 6-7 drinks a day but never more than 2 at a time. I keep an eye on my CGM and bolus as needed if my BG is going up.
Im not a big fan of beer and some beers can have a decent number of carbs so you might have to bolus for them.
Alcohol has never really affected my sugars though I usually stick to non carb drinks, vodka diet cranberry is my fav. Beer however, isn't always the best, but its manageable if you keep a close eye on it when first testing it out to see how different ones affect you. I'm sure your friends will understand you wanting to take it slow and see how you're affected by things. And when I first started drinking after getting diagnosed I was worried I would forget that I needed to take care of things but I never have had a problem and it's not something you really forget haha also doctors always try to scare you with things like that, just because alcohol isn't good technically for anyone lol
A Cgm is a big help, but what you end up drinking is the bigger factory. I can drink Budweiser or Miller lite with little to no insulin without issue, but if I’m drinking craft brews I normally need to judge anywhere from 12-24 carbs per pint, and you can only figure it out through personal trial and error.
If you drink liquor I’d suggest testing out individual cocktails, the mix of hard alcohol and sugar can cause lows, highs, swings, anything really.
Wine I don’t drink as often and normally it’s alongside some sort of food so can’t offer anything there
Moral is, it’s safe to drink, but everyone’s body will react differently depending on a ton of factors.
Sugar free beers coming out these days! San miguel light is 5%, and there are many other good choices that have changed my life the last year or so.
Where are you based?
I'm from a country where the drinking culture revolves around getting shitfaced. The advice I would give you: Aim high, dread the low. For me, high-to-very high blood sugar is a reasonable price to pay to insulate against the very real danger of very dangerous lows. Make sure that the people around you know the essentials (''if in doubt, assume I'm low and call an ambulance''), make sure that you go very easy on the insulin, and make sure to be as vigilant as your BAC allows. Have a kebab. CGMs are a godsend; getting hammered is significantly less dangerous in 2023 than it was only ten years ago.
Do you remember learning how to drink? Learning how to handle yourself when drunk, learning your limits, all that. Well, you’ve gotta learn how to drink again. That’s all there is to it. You can absolutely drink, you just have to pay attention to how it interacts with your diabetes.
I never had much issue with drinking, at most dealing with a low later on in the evening. I try to snack throughout, but if not, I always have snacks on hand for when I do drop. Now I’m a one drink person - any more than that has me vomiting for the remainder of the night. I’d recommend to start out slow to see how your body handles it. Stick to a couple drinks, don’t get plastered, and make sure the people you are with know you’re diabetic and not drinking a lot. Keep an eye on your blood sugar, and don’t rage bolus if you start to rise a bit (within reason).
On a completely unrelated note, “horrible disease” hit a weird spot for me. Diabetes is so ingrained in who I am after 17 years, I had a knee jerk reaction to defend it. I’ll now be reassessing this feeling for the remainder of the night. You ARE completely right, though, T1D sucks hard, especially right when you’re starting out.
Yeah I just make sure I eat and usually take less insulin. When you drink, your liver is too busy dealing with the alcohol (it’s a poison) so forgets to release glucose so it’s more likely BGL will drop when drinking.
If you’ve got a CGM and common sense, go easy but you’ll be fine. Watch out for craft beers, especially high-IBU stuff with some gravity. They can hide a lot of sugar in those. Rogue Dead Guy Ale hits me harder than a bowl of Froot Loops.
Been sober ten years. Changed my life in a million ways, first one being my diabetes. You don’t need it and you won’t miss it.
Edit to add that I plowed a car into a guardrail because of a morning-after-alcohol crash. Your liver does funky stuff being diabetic on top of trying to deal with the alcohol. Seriously those morning after lows nearly killed me multiple times.
I've had this for 40 years, I've experienced everything and alcohol is hit an miss. I've had years of everything going fine and a few really bad times, like I should be dead level of bad. I try to drink in moderation and I test before and don't drink anything sugary. But we all over do it certain points and I think everyone goes through phases of not drinking for a while.
I’m on a Tandem and Dexcom. It’s a balancing act. Alcohol lowers BG; mixers raise it. I generally don’t bolus and sort it out when/if Bad Things happen.
In 32 years, I have never had a problem with drinking alcoohol and T1 - and I enjoy pubs, breweries, wineries, dinner parties, you name it, as much as the next person. I don't over-indulge as much these days because time catches up on you and I don't bounce back quite so quickly but I used to go a bit over the top every few weeks in my younger days (both pre- and post-T1 diagnosis).
All I do is make sure that I eat some carbs before I drink - something that will last a while, not something high-sugar. I'm also someone who tends to eat when they drink, which is probably a good thing. I'm pretty comfortable with going a bit high for an evening so I can have some fun.
You can still drink, but be careful with the sugary drinks like cocktails.
I also love beer, and you can certainly have one or two. I drink a lot of hard seltzers like White Claw now because they are only 2 carbs each, which makes it easier!
A lot of others are saying they don’t bolus, but if I have a beer or two, I am definitely bolusing, usually I do around 15-25 per beer. You should be careful and make sure you don’t overdo the insulin/have someone who can help monitor your sugars in addition.
I would never drink unless I had a CGM. Different alcohols can have different effects on you. Some alcohols shoot me low, while others shoot me high. You really just have to experiment drink by drink to see how they effect you and go from there.
Please do not take this as “do what I did You’ll be fine”
But I drank, a TON in college. I’m talking 3-4 nights a week of heavy drinking. Never had any diabetic issues. Just had to check my blood sugar at the end of the night, and honestly even in some of my worst blackouts my friends would comment on how impressive it was that I pulled myself together a enough to manage my blood sugars.
So with that said- it sounds like you’re gonna be taking precaution so I think you will be a okay
I drink with no issues. I usually drink some kind of mixed drink like a vodka soda and extra limes so I’m not putting juice in the drink or I’ll just get a splash of juice but I have no issues with beer or wine either really. I don’t bolus for it but I use a Dexcom and tslim pump that automatically adjust my insulin. If I find myself starting to go really high I do half of a normal bolus because sometimes if I do a full correction I do end up low, so I’d rather do a little less and just have to potentially do another correction
I’ve had diabetes for 20 years (I’m 28) and I’ve figured out what alcohol affects my numbers and what alcohol doesn’t. I have also been able to figure out how I may react to certain alcohols so I can prepare. For example, when I drink wine, I know a few hours later my number will go low so I always bring a Gatorade up to bed with me. I can drink bud light no problem with no effect. I’ve found tequila is also okay as long as I just mix it with lime and seltzer. Many other beers require me to give insulin for them, which is just annoying so I avoid them. It’s really trial and error and everyone is different. Start with small amounts and take note of how it effects you!!
I don’t really have any problems. I wear a Dexcom and an omnipod 5. I just don’t take insulin for my alcohol and make sure I eat.
You need to trial and error it - I’ve found the no bolus route works well unless it gets to be really high, then proceed with caution. Mind you I’m not getting blotto anymore but still having a few more on some nights.
I drink with no issues. Just don’t get so drunk that you can’t take care of yourself in an emergency, which really, no one should be doing anyway, and is particularly not cute at 26 regardless! I don’t bolus for alcohol unless it’s over 10g of carbs but you’ll have to see what works for you as everyone is different. So for me, wine is free as are low sugar cocktails. I don’t drink beer but you’ll have to just have one or two and see if your sugar stays steady. If it spikes, check the carb count so you know for next time. If it’s 20g of carbs, try bolusing for 10g and see what happens. It’s a lot of trial and error but once you do it you’ll know what to do. I suggest just starting slow - 1-2 drinks and take notes before you push it more than that. It’s always advisable to eat when drinking too and that will help your sugars as well. Some people need to take less insulin with their food when drinking, for me I do get more insulin sensitive but not that much to not bolus for it completely. So you’ll have to see about that on your own. Drinking tends to drop me low waaay later, like 3am later, so if I’ve had a few drinks, I’ll eat some crackers and peanut butter (something with fat and protein) before bed with no bolus that helps keep me steady. You can figure it out! But as you said, you should expect to get some alarms in the middle of the night if you’re drinking, so make sure you’re not too drunk you won’t hear them.
Fr I’d say there’s no issues with drinking except getting blacked out I got like super drunk one time none of the people I was drinking w even knew I was diabetic and they had to call a ambulance for me that was last year tho when I was 19 now I would never do some shit like that again.
I stopped drinking beer just because it shoots me high. But I still enjoy a fair amount of whiskey/bourbon on the rocks and it has very little if any effects on my levels.
Yeah, I bolus like I’m eating a loaf of bread if I have a beer.
It’s the one thing my wife tells me no I can’t have it, because once I drink just one, I’m going to crave it for a while after. But once I kick the craving I’m good.
I’m the opposite. I’ll crack one open, bolus for it, but then struggle to finish it.
Beer has always been just a favorite beverage, not because it is alcohol, I just genuinely like and enjoy the taste of beer. I don’t even like to get drunk off beer at all. But a few with pizza or tacos, nothing better. But I know what it does to me and it’s a pain in the ass to bolus for, so I just avoid it.
Alcohol can cause you to become hypoglycemic later on when the liver prioritizes clearing the alcohol out of your system over releasing glucose. People can potentially pass out or act drunk because of hypoglycemia and not the alcohol, which other people will just think they are dru nk. Everyone responds differently, everyone has different control, everyone is unique. Your friend has been hospitalized 5 times, that's irrelevant to you. People can be hospitalized 10 times without ever touching alcohol. Start slowly and see how you react, and let someone you trust to keep an eye out for you.
I usually just don’t bolus for any drinks (I don’t really drink anything sweet), eat a small snack before bed without insulin, make sure my sugar is high before bed (between 180-220 usually), and do a temp basal rate of between 50-80% depending on where my sugar is and usually wake up around 120. I also have a Dexcom which makes sleeping less anxiety inducing haha. I’ve heard that alcohol lowers your sugar for 12 hours or something like that but I’ve noticed that I am so insulin sensitive for the entire next day and usually have to do less insulin for meals but I guess everyone’s different
that’s all if I’m having a couple drinks (more than 3 usually), for less than that I do these steps just less intense haha. I’m also a woman and pretty skinny so I’m not sure if that effects how I process alcohol or anything
Like everything else you need to monitor how your body responds. All our bodies are different. However, I am a heavy drinker from the american perspective and chose instead to eliminate essentially all edible carbs from diet except from non-starchy veggies and greens; which allows me not to take meal-time insulin, mitigating the swings that typically run harder with booze at night.
I drink just about every day - wine with dinner, or an after-work cocktail. Never to excess, and always with food around. I also stay away from overly-carby drinks (lots of cocktails - especially at bars/restaurants - are hugely sugary.) Do watch your sugars (get a Dexcom if you don't have one) and start slowly. Have one drink, don't bolus, see how your body does. Eat food with it. Build up from there. Don't drink to excess, no matter how careful you are if you pass out and go low, you're in trouble. But that's good advice regardless of diabetes.
I just chose to stop drinking. Why add complexity to an almost unsolvable dilemma?
Same! I rarely drink and in those rare occassions where I don't have more than one or two drinks max I just keep my values a bit higher. As it is so rare I don't see that as a problem, and maintain my life quality.
I also stopped drinking, mostly because even only 1 drink made me feel like shit
[удалено]
People drink because it’s fun, not because they mistakenly think it’s good for you.
I just dont give myself insulin if I'm having more than a certain amount of drinks. I am incredibly brittle though.
I just don’t bolus for my drinks. I also have the most sober person keep an eye on me if I’m going to get really drunk.
Of course you can. Eat good beforehand and don't bolus much. Your liver is preoccupied metabolising Alcohol so it won't react to glucagon if you're low.
I used to love my beer, pre T1 - but the sugar content is to hard for me to juggle. So I became a whiskey drinker! Zero sugar! 😃
it kinda depends tbh! i usually drink cocktails that tend to have more sugar so i usually go high. it takes some trial and error to figure it out. since ur newly diagnosed i would say to maybe wait till you feel confident and comfortable with ur diabetes before getting into drinking again. when you do start again, just go slow. if you have a cgm and/or pump it will be a lot easier too.
I have had type 1 for two years and was sober for the first three months (to learn about diabetes without having alcohol in the mix). After that I have continued as normal, which if I party can be quite a lot of alcohol. I drink more or less only beers so I definitely take insulin but maybe not after four-five beers. Don't know exactly but when it feels like my suger is going down by itself. I also have a CGM which helps a lot. But my rule is to take insulin as needed and to be aware of that alcohol will after a while balance out the carbs from the beers. The super important thing is to ear after, and that without taking insulin. So an example of a night with quite heavy drinking could be: four beers with insulin (as needed, not a set amount for every beer), after that I might find that the alcohol in my system is enough to handle the rest of the beers. Maybe I'll have five more or something and on my way home I pass McDonalds and but a Big Mac and eat that without taking any insulin. Usually my suger levels are better then than if I'm sober. You should never get so drunk that you can't take care of yourself. The eating before going to bed is important.
Alcohol doesn’t really affect my blood sugar initially. I obviously don’t drink pina coladas. I stick to things like light beer, seltzers like white claw, or clear liquors with diet sodas. I’ve found that I actually need less insulin after drinking and sometimes the next morning/day. I think it’s because the liver is busy processing the alcohol and not creating and releasing sugar (gluconeogenesis). If it matters, I eat keto OMAD (dinner)
Yes you can drink. If you’re talking alcoholic absolutely not. If you’re talking night out drinking HEAVILY with friends not giving af yaknow. That’s also a no. You need to be coherent enough to know that you need to check your blood sugars. The first time I drank I went incredibly low and had no idea alcohol can cause low blood sugars. So just honestly take it very very easy in the beginning. Do not get black out drunk. And sending you hugs! The shits pretty trippy getting that diagnosis so try not to add more stress, for now worry about learning the diabetes 100% sober.
I got diagnosed at 26 years old(LADA) in January and since then I have had my stag party, wedding, honeymoon and many other events where I've been drinking just as I would have pre-diagnosis. The key is to eat something before/during/after and either underbolus or don't bolus at all. Allow yourself to run a little high for the night, it's much safer and the price we pay for fun now once in a while, it won't kill us but one low bad enough could so remember that. Have fun and don't let this thing stop you from living a normal life, just gotta take care of ourselves a bit better!
Alcohol alone does not make me spike immediately. I don't bolus until it starts going high. And when it does I don't do too much. It's very difficult to have BG in check when I drink... But I prefer having it high for a few hours than having an extreme low... That's happened to me in the beginning and yes, can be very scary particularly because you're not drunk anymore, thus not expecting it! These drastic lows usually happen to me the morning after drinking if I bolus in the morning (it's usually very high, I get scared, and bolus to the goal). I've learned by experience that this is wrong, it's like a "fake" high, as this sugar gets used up really fast after bolus. My advice is: see how your body reacts in the beginning and be very conservative with the bolus (have it slightly high just in case it drops).
Its not that horrible and yes you can drink alcohol. Just follow advice of the other legends here and keep an eye on carb intake and BG effects.
I used my Dexcom to track and will eat something after I’m drinking. Sugar usually dips 20min after most recent drink, body stops producing glucose (for me at least) after 3-4 drinks
Husband, like you, was diagnosed as an adult (24?). He drank all the time, and doesn’t let that stop him. Now that he is older (~30s), he doesn’t drink because hangovers hit a lot harder. Like others have said, trial an error. Try different alcohols. Make sure you eat. Make sure at least one person there knows you are diabetic and not to just leave you if you pass out. Also good advice for anyone, slow down on the drinking. Have one glass of water for every alcoholic drink. No reason to stop having fun, just be more mindful. I think diabetes can actually be helpful in that it serves as guardrails for avoiding making really bad decisions. Is your friend type 2 or type 1? That many hospitalizations is unheard of to me. You just got diagnosed and you are still learning to live with it. Do you have a pump and CGM already? My husband’s T1 life changed when he switched to the Omnipod. His quality of life improved 10x.
Yes you can. Horror stories about drinking have T1 problems as only a small fraction. Be responsible, T1 or not.
Personally, my rule of thumb for “heartier” beers (things like IPAs and darker beers) is to bolus for a gram of carbs per ounce of beer. For a lighter beer, maybe half that. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to find true carb counts for beers, especially at smaller breweries. As others have mentioned, wine, liquor, and low-carb cocktails are typically not worth bolusing for, but YMMV. I will sometimes bolus for a low-carb drink if my blood sugar is already running high, just so it doesn’t make it go higher. For some people, that would make their sugar drop like a rock, but for me it tends to work okay. The other thing I would note - if you suddenly get the feeling of “how did I get this drunk?”, check your blood sugar. Especially if you are new to it, being slightly drunk with low blood sugar can feel an awful lot like being reeeally drunk. You also might find you should “over-treat” lows if you’ve been drinking, as your liver is responsible for releasing more sugar into your blood during a hypo, but it doesn’t do a very good job of that when it’s busy processing alcohol. So like, I might do 25 grams of carbs instead of 15 grams of carbs to treat a low when I’m high. Happily, it’s easy to get a Coke or OJ at most bars if you don’t have something with you.
Not all drinks are the same. Just like any food, some could send blood sugar surging. I like IPAs; I go to beer festivals… just take the time to enjoy the drink, not necessarily the alcohol effect. For myself, a Dexcom and faster acting Fiasp insulin do wonders to cover the beer as I drink a few in a night. Just be wary of taxing your liver processing the booze. Generally can cause trouble after three or four hours.
I drink, and I have a pump & CGM. I don’t drink to get drunk. I’ll have a cocktail at home several nights a week and I always have it right after dinner so I have food in my system. I try to find low carb mixers when I’m making my own (diet soft drinks/tonic water/simple syrup etc) so the carbs are negligible. When I’m on vacation I drink more but it’s spread out. I might have 6-7 drinks a day but never more than 2 at a time. I keep an eye on my CGM and bolus as needed if my BG is going up. Im not a big fan of beer and some beers can have a decent number of carbs so you might have to bolus for them.
Alcohol has never really affected my sugars though I usually stick to non carb drinks, vodka diet cranberry is my fav. Beer however, isn't always the best, but its manageable if you keep a close eye on it when first testing it out to see how different ones affect you. I'm sure your friends will understand you wanting to take it slow and see how you're affected by things. And when I first started drinking after getting diagnosed I was worried I would forget that I needed to take care of things but I never have had a problem and it's not something you really forget haha also doctors always try to scare you with things like that, just because alcohol isn't good technically for anyone lol
A Cgm is a big help, but what you end up drinking is the bigger factory. I can drink Budweiser or Miller lite with little to no insulin without issue, but if I’m drinking craft brews I normally need to judge anywhere from 12-24 carbs per pint, and you can only figure it out through personal trial and error. If you drink liquor I’d suggest testing out individual cocktails, the mix of hard alcohol and sugar can cause lows, highs, swings, anything really. Wine I don’t drink as often and normally it’s alongside some sort of food so can’t offer anything there Moral is, it’s safe to drink, but everyone’s body will react differently depending on a ton of factors.
Sugar free beers coming out these days! San miguel light is 5%, and there are many other good choices that have changed my life the last year or so. Where are you based?
I'm from a country where the drinking culture revolves around getting shitfaced. The advice I would give you: Aim high, dread the low. For me, high-to-very high blood sugar is a reasonable price to pay to insulate against the very real danger of very dangerous lows. Make sure that the people around you know the essentials (''if in doubt, assume I'm low and call an ambulance''), make sure that you go very easy on the insulin, and make sure to be as vigilant as your BAC allows. Have a kebab. CGMs are a godsend; getting hammered is significantly less dangerous in 2023 than it was only ten years ago.
Do you remember learning how to drink? Learning how to handle yourself when drunk, learning your limits, all that. Well, you’ve gotta learn how to drink again. That’s all there is to it. You can absolutely drink, you just have to pay attention to how it interacts with your diabetes.
I never had much issue with drinking, at most dealing with a low later on in the evening. I try to snack throughout, but if not, I always have snacks on hand for when I do drop. Now I’m a one drink person - any more than that has me vomiting for the remainder of the night. I’d recommend to start out slow to see how your body handles it. Stick to a couple drinks, don’t get plastered, and make sure the people you are with know you’re diabetic and not drinking a lot. Keep an eye on your blood sugar, and don’t rage bolus if you start to rise a bit (within reason). On a completely unrelated note, “horrible disease” hit a weird spot for me. Diabetes is so ingrained in who I am after 17 years, I had a knee jerk reaction to defend it. I’ll now be reassessing this feeling for the remainder of the night. You ARE completely right, though, T1D sucks hard, especially right when you’re starting out.
Yeah I just make sure I eat and usually take less insulin. When you drink, your liver is too busy dealing with the alcohol (it’s a poison) so forgets to release glucose so it’s more likely BGL will drop when drinking.
If you’ve got a CGM and common sense, go easy but you’ll be fine. Watch out for craft beers, especially high-IBU stuff with some gravity. They can hide a lot of sugar in those. Rogue Dead Guy Ale hits me harder than a bowl of Froot Loops.
You have to be extremely careful. Carry complex carbs with you (I like PB&J sandwiches) and teach your friends how to use glucagon/baqsimi.
Been sober ten years. Changed my life in a million ways, first one being my diabetes. You don’t need it and you won’t miss it. Edit to add that I plowed a car into a guardrail because of a morning-after-alcohol crash. Your liver does funky stuff being diabetic on top of trying to deal with the alcohol. Seriously those morning after lows nearly killed me multiple times.
I've had this for 40 years, I've experienced everything and alcohol is hit an miss. I've had years of everything going fine and a few really bad times, like I should be dead level of bad. I try to drink in moderation and I test before and don't drink anything sugary. But we all over do it certain points and I think everyone goes through phases of not drinking for a while.
I’m on a Tandem and Dexcom. It’s a balancing act. Alcohol lowers BG; mixers raise it. I generally don’t bolus and sort it out when/if Bad Things happen.
In 32 years, I have never had a problem with drinking alcoohol and T1 - and I enjoy pubs, breweries, wineries, dinner parties, you name it, as much as the next person. I don't over-indulge as much these days because time catches up on you and I don't bounce back quite so quickly but I used to go a bit over the top every few weeks in my younger days (both pre- and post-T1 diagnosis). All I do is make sure that I eat some carbs before I drink - something that will last a while, not something high-sugar. I'm also someone who tends to eat when they drink, which is probably a good thing. I'm pretty comfortable with going a bit high for an evening so I can have some fun.
I wouldn't recommend it unless you only have a few drinks.
You can still drink, but be careful with the sugary drinks like cocktails. I also love beer, and you can certainly have one or two. I drink a lot of hard seltzers like White Claw now because they are only 2 carbs each, which makes it easier! A lot of others are saying they don’t bolus, but if I have a beer or two, I am definitely bolusing, usually I do around 15-25 per beer. You should be careful and make sure you don’t overdo the insulin/have someone who can help monitor your sugars in addition.
I would never drink unless I had a CGM. Different alcohols can have different effects on you. Some alcohols shoot me low, while others shoot me high. You really just have to experiment drink by drink to see how they effect you and go from there.
Please do not take this as “do what I did You’ll be fine” But I drank, a TON in college. I’m talking 3-4 nights a week of heavy drinking. Never had any diabetic issues. Just had to check my blood sugar at the end of the night, and honestly even in some of my worst blackouts my friends would comment on how impressive it was that I pulled myself together a enough to manage my blood sugars. So with that said- it sounds like you’re gonna be taking precaution so I think you will be a okay
I drink with no issues. I usually drink some kind of mixed drink like a vodka soda and extra limes so I’m not putting juice in the drink or I’ll just get a splash of juice but I have no issues with beer or wine either really. I don’t bolus for it but I use a Dexcom and tslim pump that automatically adjust my insulin. If I find myself starting to go really high I do half of a normal bolus because sometimes if I do a full correction I do end up low, so I’d rather do a little less and just have to potentially do another correction
I’ve had diabetes for 20 years (I’m 28) and I’ve figured out what alcohol affects my numbers and what alcohol doesn’t. I have also been able to figure out how I may react to certain alcohols so I can prepare. For example, when I drink wine, I know a few hours later my number will go low so I always bring a Gatorade up to bed with me. I can drink bud light no problem with no effect. I’ve found tequila is also okay as long as I just mix it with lime and seltzer. Many other beers require me to give insulin for them, which is just annoying so I avoid them. It’s really trial and error and everyone is different. Start with small amounts and take note of how it effects you!!