Alcohol and type 2 diabetes

[AggieMike88]

as many of you are aware from my posts in the med forums on here and type red board, I am a type 2 diabetic. And I'd like to ask a question on something I experienced this evening regarding the consumption of alcohol.

My fingertip readings this evening were:

• 19:55 - 99 mg/dL after 45 minute walk of 3 miles
• 22:20 - 173 mg/dL after eating a salad with turkey and ham purchased at local deli and mistakenly getting sweet tea (which I drank anyhow to see how badly it would push ny members. And boy did it. Also took my meds (Metfo4min, 1000mg) after finishing my meal.
• 23:28 - 99 mg/dL after drinking 2 - 3oz drinks of Woodford reserve bourbon

So the sweet tea kicking me to 173 I get. Waaaay too much sugar in that for my my needs, and it's on the "do not consume" list. And normally that salad with Dali meat only causes a 20-25 point rise.

But what about the alcohol brought my blood sugar back down into a very desirable range? Normally, with just the Metformin, I would have seen a 15-20 pt drop in an hour... But the intake of alcohol causing a nearly 80pt drop got me curious.

BTW I am pushing real hard to get the CACI for DM2. Just got to avoid that sweet tea when they switch the position of the dispenser on me.

 

[Mason]

Your "time stamps" are confusing, and seem to be a mix of 24-hour and 12-hour times. is the 11:28 reading actually 23:28?

If so, I would venture that your last reading is the result of the last dose of metformin kicking in and counteracting the sugar provided by the tea.

The booze probably wouldn't show up unless you did further readings at 0100, 0200, or 0300. But I promise you that alcohol will affect your blood sugar the same way other carbohydrates do.

 

[AggieMike88]

Correct. 23:28 is what it should have read. I have edited the post.

 

[RJM62]

I never much cared for hard liquor, anyway, so I gave it up altogether when I was diagnosed. Therefore I have no experience with that.

I do know that beer will skyrocket my glucose, whereas red wine actually lowers it (especially when eaten with a meal with more carb content than I would normally prepare for myself). I don't know why, at least not on any sort of scientific level. One of my old docs said she believed it had something to do with the flavonoids in red wine, and that it is a commonly-known but less well-understood phenomenon.

Rich

 

[jhughes11]

The liver stops producing glucose while it processes the alcohol which it treats as a toxin. This suppresses the blood glucose level for a period of time. I have found that the liver makes up for lost time once the alcohol has been processed.

 

[AggieMike88]

The liver stops producing glucose while it processes the alcohol which it treats as a toxin. This suppresses the blood glucose level for a period of time. I have found that the liver makes up for lost time once the alcohol has been processed.

That likely fits...

Numbers so far today...

0726: 117 (wake up number, then light low carb breakfast and morning meds)
1125: 107 (pre-lunch check)
1430: 105 (deli salad for lunch and regular iced tea)