The short version: Can you use alcohol to bring your BG down if you’ve had too much sugar?
The long version: Last week I got stuck at the airport before a long flight and ended up eating some terrible carby airport food. 20 minutes into the flight my BG was 192 and I sort of started to freak, knowing it would be several hours before I could do any exercise to bring it down.
I remembered reading how alcohol can cause a low for T1s, and I considered ordering a couple of shots of vodka to see if it would bring my BG down. But I hardly ever drink, and didn’t want to arrive at my destination drunk, so I just sat there flexing my muscles, hoping to burn a little sugar, and hoping the person next to me wouldn’t think I was crazy!
In this case the sugar in my blood was from food, not from my liver releasing glucose – but what do you think? Would it have helped to have some alcohol?
Diabetics reactly differently to alcohol so it is hard to say whether or not it would have. I have drank before and sugar stayed stable, drank and it went to low, and have drank and it went high so you never know what your body is going to do.
The lowering effects of alcohol are usually delayed, but on an empty stomach, a really stiff shot might work, I suppose. laughs I don’t drink, so I can’t say that I’ve ever tried it.
I found this diabetes daily thread that explains the lowering effects of alcohol in an easy-to-understand way.
Thanks for the link! Info like this is actually what prompted the question. For instance, this article says: “Spirits, which have a high alcohol concentration and little carbohydrate, can drive blood sugar levels down quickly and profoundly, especially when taken on an empty stomach.”
In the case of this trip, I would have loved to be able to drive my BG down quickly and profoundly! But straight “spirits” are yukky and I didn’t want to drink any if it wasn’t really going to help.
The article says “especially” on an empty stomach, but not ONLY on an empty stomach. So does it still drive blood sugar levels down quickly and profoundly (or at all) if your stomach is NOT empty?
I drink a glass or two of red wine a night because it does have an affect on my morning fasting sugars (it reacts w/ metformin to avoid liver dumps in the middle of the night) But I think (I no doctor and didn’t stay at a holiday inn express last night) alcohol is not a good way to try and control your sugars. I have had occasions where I had a little too much to drink and have seen my sugars go really low <50 and I was eating. also in my book 192 is high but not immediate danger high how soon after eating was this reading by the way?
