Type 1 diabetic and Alcohol

[LiamStenson]

So I'm a 20 year old college student in Philadelphia. I've been drinking for about 4 years now, mainly beer. I have the pump and I'm also a division one soccer player. I go out on the weekends and normally end up very drunk. I never touch my pump when I'm drinking. My blood sugars always shoot up and then even out by the end of the night. I just want to know what you other diabetics do when your drinking? This seems to work well for me but I'd love to hear about anybody else's tips when drinking.

[RyanT1023]

I was told by my diabetec counselor that for every beer I drink I should eat as well with it as the alcohol lowers your sugar regardless of the carbs in beer , so say coors light beer has 15 carbs in it and instead of taking insulin to drink it you do the opposite, you should eat something worth around the same carb count as the beer your drinking therefore off setting each other hope this helps

[Juanady]

There is absolutely no reason why Type 1 diabetic should not drink alcohol beverages.

[Lienki]

I am a 22 years old and have been a diabetic for 11 years now. My tip when it comes to alcohol...is a glass of water between every drink. You still have a great time, but with each glass of water you drink...in that time you can check yourself, like I know what is my symptoms of a low and a high. And in that time I can set it right without alarming any of friends!

[Super_sally888]

Hi,
Please be very careful when drinking and taking insulin.  Make sure your friend also know you are diabetic and what to do if you are unresponsive.
Of course, the best advice would be to control how much you drink so that you don't get very drunk.  Being very drunk has many potential negative consequences even aside from diabetes.  However, with diabetes, you risk going hypoglycaemic, which can potentially be fatal.

Maybe there can be a change of mindset and you should drink socially only, not to get very drunk.

I am a lot older than you and nowadays I moderate my drinking (though I certainly do enjoy a beer or two, or wine regularly) so that I am aware of what I am doing and how I feel.    I do test my blood sugar more frequently if I am drinking or doing anything different so I can react to the situation.

Hope this helps you.  Stay safe.

[ckauf11]

I'm turning 21 next week and have just been diagnosed with type 1 about a month ago. I'm still figuring it out. I celebrated my friends birthday last night and had about 2.5 drinks of vodka soda. Has no carbs and my glucose levels stayed pretty stable through the night. I ate a sandwich when I got home just in case (because it was my first time drinking since being diagnosed) which actually made me wake up a little high because I didn't cover it with insulin. Overall went pretty well.