For me it definitely lasts many hours, usually at least 10, which is well after I blow 0 on a breathalyzer (doing alcohol research means you have access to extra toys to test these things with). Drinking more than a very small amount in the evening always affects my blood sugar that night into the morning.
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That almost sounds like a fun experiment. 
I may just be more sensitive, though I haven’t noticed lows drinking hard cider (only up to a half of one), so it’s probably a thin line between the amount of alcohol that’s ok and the amount that will drop me.
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I don’t consider number in the 60s low. Non diabetics drift in and out of the 60s every day. When you have a real low, which I hope you don’t, it’s a very different thing than a natural drift into the 60s…
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It didn’t feel natural, though. I didn’t feel great before standing - felt slow and so, so tired, it was hard to make myself get up, and once I got up, I was shaky, clammy, etc.
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Well actually, I am a glucometer. That picture really is me.
And while I can’t speak for @Chris or @docslotnick, I do know for a fact that @Thomas is actually a vague marsupial creature. 
Just having fun bkh. You are free to be who you want here.
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When I got home from the hospital after being DKA, dropping to the 80s and 90s made me feel shaky! It’s all relative to what’s been “normal” previously, I reckon.
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Now don’t sell yourself short. We know you can do arithmetic and also run. So you are way more than your humble glucometer beginnings.
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Absolutely true. I started insulin on a Thanksgiving day, and after some time my meal bolus sent me into violent shaking and chills. At 150 mg/dL. Which was stable, not plummeting.
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Mongoose
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[collective intake of breath]
It is a meerkat. And it is not a marsupial. Eesh. And here I thought this forum was populated by educated people!
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Agreed.
Meerkat obviously being a specific member of the Mongoose family.
Otherwise known as snake killers.
CT Maritime Aquarium: Meerkat Cam
Didn’t they even get their own TV show a few years back?
Most hard ciders contain significant carbs, 15 g or so in a glass, which will to some degree counterbalance the lowering effect of the alcohol. A glass of dry wine contains roughly 2 g carb.
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I have put off learning about the effects of alcohol as I realistically figure we have a few years left before it starts to (likely) be relevant for us.
However in terms of the carbs effect of alcohol vs the liver effect would not the timing of the two be significantly different with the carbs hitting first in the typical range of food while the liver impact hits many hours later?
This certainly is one of my biggest concerns over college. The possibility of binge drinking in college is a reality. Frankly it is a very scary thought when combined with Type 1.
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@bkh. I’ll have you know that my avatar is not “the dog”. That is my departed and beloved friend, who was more human than most humans I’ve met.
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This has been my experience, yes—this is why when I drink I usually try to have no or low carb drinks or I take insulin to cover the carbs in things like beer, and then I both lower my overnight long acting insulin (worked better when I took Lantus 2x a day than currently w Tresiba) and eat a snack with carbs and fat in efforts to go to bed a bit high (if I had more than a couple of drinks, I’d need to go to bed at 200 or so). When someone is new to it though, I’d just guide them toward getting to the 200s whether by the alcohol or snacks before bed (without active short-acting insulin). Better to wake up still high than have a low overnight with alcohol in the system.
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This is interesting. In this scenario, are you drinking without eating? If you are eating at the same time (or near enough), wouldn’t lowering your meal bolus negate the need for a later snack?
Am I the only one here who does not go low after a drink or two? I eat whenever I drink – crackers or something with a cocktail, and with wine a meal that is not low-carb/low-fat – somehow it just works out for me.
Sometimes I am—if I’m at a bar or club or something after dinner say. Sometimes I’m eating, but if I back down on my insulin for that, I have to be high for a while—it doesn’t really cancel out, because the alcohol effect happens so much later after the carbs that it makes more sense IMO to try to stay at in target range during the evening and then bump up only in time for the later low.
Also, one drink is noticeable for me, but often in a great way—I’ll wake up at 70-80 with no morning rise at all. It usually takes at least two or a strong cocktail to be at risk of being low.
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For what it’s worth though, I think my liver is very active in releasing glucose and I can easily see the effects of that in other ways besides alcohol—I also have major effects after a having prolonged lows, where for the next 12-18 hours I will be at much greater risk of subsequent basal-type lows, I assume because my liver releases extra glucose and gets depleted and thus stops for a while, so my basal dose is temporarily too high.
It doesn’t seem to affect my BG at all.
I don’t know I’ve never just had one or two
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