Type 1 diabetes and alcohol
Common Questions and Answers about Type 1 diabetes and alcohol
diabetes
You may try low carb eating, which is very helpful for blood sugar management. Type 1 grit is a group with great support and information on low carb eating for diabetes management. Look also into Dr. Richard Bernstein's Diabetes SOlutions book and Diabetes University (Utube), which has great and useful series of lectures on managing blood sugars.
A CGM (continuous glucose monitoring device) can also be very useful, though frequent finger prick testing is also ok.
I am a volunteer and not a doctor so I am unable to give you medical advice, but we all have experience dealing with type 1 diabetes. My son is 28 and was diagnosed at 8.
Your honesty is wonderful and the fact that you are asking shows that you are concerned about your own health. Having said that, my concern is for anyone drinking at any age (even a few times)who is missing the buzz from drinking.
Your friends do have a right to be concerned about drinking with type one.
hello guys this site is very useful to me beacause im a type 1 diabetes 20years old and have been a type 1 since april 2007.
now my question is, what if i drink first a vodka and later a beer or vise versa first beer then vodka to the feeling that im drank?
or if i drink this and put my finger inside my mouth to throw in the bowl any effects?? thanks..
I smoke basically all the time (even in school) and i have type 1 diabetes. It's affected my motivation for school and my grades have fallen slightly but all in all its not changed my life. Ive been diabetic for 13 years (since i was 3) and i still went out and got absolutely steaming.
For a while i was the one who was always sick, always a state and it was great. It didnt affect my diabetes. So then i discovered weed which i liked better, could control easier and had more fun with.
In response to your question several things come to mind. I believe that everyone with Type 1 diabetes needs to be totally aware of what is happening with their blood sugar all the time. Alcohol can inhibit this ability for one thing. Also, the symptoms of too much alcohol and hypoglycemia can be similar and you do not want anyone to confuse a low blood sugar for being drunk as they might not give you the proper treatment.
When your blood sugar level starts to drop, your liver steps in.
Hi. I'm not a medical professional, just the parent of a kid with diabetes. Not smoking will help as a type 2 him stay healthy. Smoking gives the body more stress overall and prevents the insulin from being absorbed properly. The best way to prevent complications from type 2 diabetes is to continue to not smoke, eat a well balanced diet, and get plenty of exercise.
Drinking is worse for a type 1 diabetic than a type 2, because it causes lows in a type 1.
This is a complication of both type 1 and 2 diabetes. It is damage to the nerves. It also can result in sexual disfunction for the same reason.
I would highly encourage him to speak to his physician about your concerns. I hope he is monitoring his blood sugars and taking his pills on a regular basis. Control is so very important with diabetes.
Hi Dalki,
Yes, in time your doctor will likely know for sure which type of diabetes you have. In addition to Type 1 and Type 2, there seems to be a type 1.5 ... tho' there's some thought that 1.5s are just in the early stages of Type 1. We DMers (folks with diabetes mellitis) and our docs often call that a honeymoon phase.
I hope you're feeling better now that your bloodsugar has begun to come down. Things may remain volatile for a while, so try to be patient with yourself.
Because I was a heavy drinker, I attributed it to alcohol and was too ashamed to seek help. After some research, I decided I was suffering from dehydration because my mouth was always parched and that condition can lead to such horrific things.
I finally went to my Doctor complaining about kidney pain and he drew blood. A month later the results showed I had HIGH PROTEIN and KEYTONES. My Doc never even hinted at Diabetes, but asked me back to redo them after fasting.
herringv,
I need to do some research to answer your question, so pls check back, too. Some medications seem to make us more (or less) sensitive to insulin; other meds can affect our appetites and interest in food at all.
While I'm not a physician, what I know of most folks with Type 1 diabetes, it is not a disease that can go away without a transplant - and that's not an option for most (research will hopefully change that reality for us).
Hello debsabo,
As you may know we're not physicians here, but we are experienced diabetics. We volunteers are most experienced with Type 1 diabetes, and altho' there are some similarities with Type 2 we do have quite a different disease.
Here is the mechanism that makes us so vulnerable to severe hypos when we've been drinking.
Between December 2002 and October 2005, 189 non-diabetic patients were treated with Peg-IFN-alpha/Riba, of whom five developed type 1 DM (2.6%), three type 2 DM (1.6%) and one an indeterminate type of DM. Classical symptoms of DM were present in three patients who developed DM shortly after cessation of Peg-IFN-alpha/Riba. In the other patients, symptoms of DM were either indistinguishable from side effects caused by Peg-IFN-alpha/Riba or absent.
I also noted the JAMA reminder/caution that food does not cause Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. This study and others looked at the impact of specific foods/timing of introduction in at-risk children.
Please know that Type 2 is a completely different disease than Type 1. Type 1 is autoimmune, and researchers are striving to find out what triggers (or doesn't) trigger the disease. Type 2 has completely different origins.
I have type 1 diabetes, and have had this challenging disease for 30 years. I am believing that I may be having the first signs of some nerve damage and am wondering what doctors/specialists I sure see. Right now I have a family practioner, and have had this same doctor for years....any suggestions on where to go next? I have excellent insurance (not always the case) and want to take care of this before the situation gets worse? Help.
I know I am insulin dependent because I cannot take my pump off except for the rare few minutes or so without my sugar sky rocketing. Now would u still call this Type 2 Diabetes or Type 1? Hearing the words Juvenile Diabetes associated with Type 1 throws me off obviously because I was not diagnosed as a juvenile. But also the words Insulin Dependent are associated with the Type 1. So I DO fit into that category.
Again, both of these increase your risks. It seems that we who have dealt with type 1 diabetes in our youth and teen years (I am one of these, although middle-aged now) have a major job ahead of us just staying on top of those changing glucose levels. I personally decided when I was in my teens that I would never choose to do anything at all that would dim my ability to think clearly so that I could take care of myself.
Recommended
