Alcohol

As a brand new OmniPod user, can anybody advise how much to lower the basal rate to run a temporary basal rate when having a few glasses of wine. Off on holiday tomorrow!!

Many thanks

If you drink sweetness zero white wine it should make only a slight difference. I don't know about red wine. Unless a few means a lot, then I would just test additional times and do small corrections if needed. It's risky to drink AND increase your insulin. Have a great holiday.

I have drunk both red and white wines (I tend to like dry, full-bodied wines) and have never noticed a change in blood glucose, even if I have more than one glass. Maybe that would be different with a rose or Riesling.

It's a YMMV thing, but here's what I do:

>2 drinks in an evening, I shut down my basal by 50% overnight and through the early morning. Sometimes I will wake up a little higher than normal, but I usually find that I wake up perfect and it continues to drop through the morning if I don't keep that 50% decrease. So I've surmised that the alcohol processing takes about 12 hours or so.

The other option is to eat a large carb-load and go to be high.

I usually just bolus a little bit, wine isn't a lot, or eat food with it and eat and drink and be merry. If you are worried or have noticed your BG dropping more precipitously from drinking, I wouldn't drop it more than a little bit and would test a lot to make sure it didn't spike.

Thanks all - we're off now :)

I believe the customary practice for diabetics is two glasses of wine is ok and so are the same amounts of beer. Apparently the liver has something to do with it in relation to the insulin. Here is a link to a question on the internet:http://alcoholism.about.com/od/diabetes/f/insulin.htm

I have experimented with this myself and found that turning the basal rate completely off works best for me. And just take the normal bolus for the meal. My doctor always has said that if your going to consume alcohol, it should be no more than a couple drinks and definitely with a meal.

They tell everyone not to have more than a couple of drinks, diabetes or not.

It's different for everyone. I personally haven't ever noticed a change in blood sugar due to drinking so I don't lower my basil at all. I mainly stick to light beer and hard liquors without carbs.

It really just comes down to trial and error. If you're unsure, have one or two and just test a lot to see what it does. On occasion, I've been out with friends and had many more than the recommended two or three. I make sure to test often as a precaution, but have never had my sugars going low because of drinking.