I had to come up with a creative title...sorry :)....
I will ask for those of you that are hard believers of "diabetics shouldn't drink alcohol" to just continue believing that for yourself. Otherwise I am curious to see what other diabetics do.
For myself, I do not drink any kind of beer. For some reason it gives me insane heartburn. I do drink hard liquor, like scotch/bourbon, sometimes hard ciders, and wine.
What I typically do is after a meal, I will have some scotch (never on an empty stomach). Even after a meal, my sugar plummets. I'm just curious for those of you who are a fan of the neat glass of 15 year scotch, what do you do.
For hard ciders and wines, I am still trying to figure that one out as well with my pump. Hard ciders have alcohol but also sugar, so I am curious if you just bolus for half of the carbs, or not at all. For wine, I typically just drink with a meal and I have seen some just bolus a certain percentage of carbs for the meal instead of 100 percent.
I'm actually very curious on what you do for wine, especially if you are doing wine tastings.
Understand, I am T2 on insulin. I think everyone is different. Some of this issue with alcohol is how your liver behaves. If your liver normally dumps lots of glucose and your liver is very sensitive to alcohol, drinking may be an invitation to hypo. In my case, I have a mild reaction to alcohol. Hard liquor will mildly drive me low. Carby beverages like beer or sweet wines will cause me to go high and dry wines (I prefer reds) will be neutral. Sometimes it can be hard to determine how many carbs a wine has, it is generally determined by the "residual sugar."
If I went to a tasting and tasted a fair number of sweeter wines I would have to bolus.
If you are drinking to get drunk, then I don't have any advice. I did that some as a T1 when I was in High school and College and certainly don't recommend it - it seldom comes out well.
I'm a T1; when I have a couple glasses of wine with dinner (which I do occasionally), I don't have any problems - it goes into the mix with the other varied foods I eat. I eat a fair amount of carbs with meals so adding wine isn't harder than any other food.
Cocktail-type parties are more difficult mainly because of the unpredictable rate and type of food consumption. Its necessary to bolus, but hard to know when you'll get enough food and drink to meet your insulin intake. I'll often split an injection up in those circumstances - taking some at the start and more on a bathroom trip.
I drink red wine pretty much every night with (and after) Dinner and do not count the carbs in the wine. I figure that the alcohol is keeping my liver too busy to make glucose, so it kind of balances itself out. This works for me but might not work for others. :)
I've "given up alcohol" because I suspect it's not worth the effort but I'll watch the responses in this topic as I miss wine once in a while. I don't drink to get drunk though or very often, mostly on holidays with my family (Namely Christmas l both days of it).
I'm very sensitive to alcohol though so I could only have a small amount anyway back when I did drink on holidays before the diabetes diagnosis unless I wanted to get drunk (Which I did probably 2-3 times in my life so far, pretty typical for someone who's not into partying and drinking at 23 lol I don't miss it) . I do question if my later stronger reactions to Alcohol (as I only got more sensitive to it instead of used to it?) were hypoglycemia , as my hypoglycemic reactions are pretty similar to how I think I am when I'm drunk (only I remember the hypos...I get really excitable and sociable when I'm hypo and it's really odd? But now that I don't feel them that's my only way of knowing). It might be a bad idea for me to try to drink anyway.
I have a couple glasses of wine with dinner with no noticeable affect on my BG. The rare time I've been at a gathering and had more than a couple I was fine at bedtime but then went low by morning. I've heard others say it can have a delayed result. I had an urge for a beer this week, which I rarely drink because I like dark beers and they are high carb. I got a 22 ounce bottle and drank half the first night and half the second figuring 15 carbs each. The first night I had it with a low carb dinner and woke up over 300! Last night I had it with a medium carb dinner and woke up this morning at 110. Go figure!
My general principal: Wine with dinner is fine, drinking a bit more is a crap shoot. Beer is also unpredictable and I would never even consider more than one (unless you like that light beer :::shudder::::)
Personally, I'll bolus my normal insulin to carb ratio for beer, but won't bolus anything for dry wine or liquor (I love single malt!). I never drink without eating as well. Thus far it's worked alright for me, but the beer is sometimes a little unpredictable so I will limit how much I'll have in a sitting.
I enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. I always have dry wine, not sweet, and I am always careful to drink with a meal. Wine has no apparent impact on my BG. For wine tasting (hey, I live really close to Napa/Sonoma), I am just careful to really moderate my intake, have something in my stomach, and not sample the sweet wines.
I drink red wine with dinner most days. There are times we are too busy for a sit down dinner, don't really drink then. I don't adjust for the wine and have never had a problem. There are times I will drink without a meal just eat a small snack, bolus for it all good.
I usually drink some red wine(pinot noir, cabernet, merlot) with dinner, 1 glass, and I don't factor it in at all because it has the effect of lowering my bg. I don't drink anything else and actually in the past before D I only drank wine/champagne once or twice a year due to various effects but now it seems to help chronic pain for me. I also add some cognac on my desserts sometimes, again, it has little effect. I sometimes drink the wine with my dessert so it won't make me go low or I skip pre bolus if it's a lower carb meal or I'm eating less. Sometimes when my gerd gets worse I cut out the wine and cognac for a few days. You could try to drink the scotch with some more food or maybe not after your dinner. I personally wouldn't do a wine tasting, even though I love wine and I have in the past, because there's no food and it would drop me with a bolus, you could eat before you go or bring food but that would be sort of strange at a wine tasting.
I think though at a real wine tasting you are going to spit out the wine so you don't get drunk.
I don't find it a conundrum at all. Stuff that has carbs, I bolus for and stuff that doesn't (e.g. vodka and soda...), I just pretty much toss down the hatch. I've never had heartburn so that's not a problem for me. I suppose I try to eat to make sure things are smooth but I sort of do that with or without alcohol.
T1 here (21 units a day basal with pump or lantus). My BG plummets if I drink straight alcohol (whisky, vodka, etc...). Flavored alcohols like what they do with vodka sometimes can be very sugary and raise my BG dramatically.
For beers I have done a LOT of testing over the years. Oddly, porters and stouts are the best for my BG, meaning the least large increase (sometimes increases less than coffee). Draft is better than canned or bottled no matter what type of beer you drink (I think due to the extra fermentation within those vessels). Various companies make a HUGE difference because they vary greatly in terms of what ingredients they use. For example, I cannot drink Stone beers because they always skyrocket me (http://www.stonebrew.com/). For example, Samuel Smith ( a very old company which ferments in stone squares) has a negligible affect on my BG and I can drink many with only a 1 unit bolus (http://www.samuelsmithsbrewery.co.uk/ you can find it in the US at craft beer stores). For example, Bruery beers are fermented with Belgian Dark Sugar (compared with other simpler sugars used by light ales which are eaten by yeast more quickly) and can skyrocket my BG. The type of yeast used typically corresponds with the amount of sugar added and can help you determine a better beer if you can find the data.
Look into how the beers are fermented - the data is hard to find but can be rewarding if you are looking to expand. It is all fermented with sugar, but there is a HUGE difference on your blood sugar because some beers burn off more of the sugar during fermentation than others. Belgian beers have crazy sugar and should never be drunk (Quadrupels, Tripels, Belgian Ales). No ciders either. Light beers such as IPAs, Pilsners, Kolsch, Pale Ales, light ales are a maybe depending on how many you have over how long a period and what company makes them. No cheap beer like bud, miller, corona, etc... because its a mess and you won't win either way.
Dark beers oddly seem fine. Go with Milk Stouts, Imperial Stouts, Dry Irish Stouts, Russian imperial Stouts, Oatmeal Stouts and classic Porter styles. Avoid the American Imperial Stout since it tends to go for a sweet flavor rather than bitter
My standard policy is take 2.5 units, wait 15 minutes, then drink about 2 beers over 1 hour. That keeps me level with no hypos afterwards.
