Possible danger | How to minimize harm | Alcohol awareness
Taking alcohol with people with diabetes can lead to serious and life-threatening consequences.
Possible danger
These include:
- Hypoglycemic coma is a condition of the body in which sugar is reduced to critically minimal values.
- Hyperglycemia is a condition in which the glucose value is significantly higher than normal. Coma can also develop amid high sugar values.
- The progression of diabetes, which will make itself felt in the distant future and will manifest itself in the form of developed complications (nephropathy, retinopathy, polyneuropathy, diabetic angiopathy and others).
Most often, after taking alcohol, hypoglycemia develops, when the amount of insulin or tablets is more than required. If a person missed the first precursors of such a condition (tremor, excessive sweating, drowsiness, speech impairment), then ordinary snacks will not help him recover consciousness. A method such as intravenous administration of glucose will be used and may even require a hospital stay.
How to minimize harm
- It is possible to prevent undesirable consequences for the body from drinking alcohol by adhering to the following important rules:
- Do not drink alcohol on an empty stomach. It is also forbidden to replace a full meal with alcohol, so as not to further intensify the feeling of hunger. Before drinking, you should have a snack.
- When drinking hot drinks, it is important to eat a normal amount of food to prevent the development of hypoglycemia.
- The wine should be diluted with plain purified water to reduce its calorie content.
- During and after drinking alcohol, you need to periodically measure the patient’s blood sugar level. It is recommended to shift control over this to the patient’s relatives, who should be warned in advance about alcohol consumption and possible dangers.
- You need to drink only a small amount of alcohol and be sure to adjust the dose of medications according to the accepted portion of strong drinks.
- To avoid a sharp rise in sugar, do not take prohibited types of alcohol.
- After alcohol, physical activity should be avoided completely.
- It is forbidden to mix different types of alcohol.
- It is imperative that you control the amount of carbohydrates and calories you eat in order to adjust your sugar level in time with an injection of insulin or drugs.
Alcohol awareness
It can be very difficult for a person who has diabetes to limit himself in his favorite taste preferences or completely exclude them from his diet. But it is important to understand that the disease requires adherence to strict rules regarding nutrition in order to avoid dangerous complications.
Alcohol, although it brings pleasant short-term moments to a person’s life, is not a necessary component, without which it is impossible to exist. That is why people with diabetes should suppress the desire to drink alcohol as much as possible, or at least observe all of the recommendations listed above while taking it.