So after the low earlier this week, which I’m almost positive was due to the glass of wine I had that night, I’m just curious what tips y’all have for drinking. I’m having a 1/2 glass of wine with dinner and plan to check my BG every time baby wakes me tonight (usually every 2 hours). I’m nervous, though, because I went to bed at 135 the other night and caught the low at 66. I usually go to bed around 100, so I could potentially be at a personal record low before I catch it - not sure at what point it would wake me. Also, the other night I had whatever was lingering of 1u IOB, whereas tonight, if things go as planned, in total I will have dosed 4.5us for dinner/dessert.
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i just enjoy wine and test a little more if I’m drinking. I wouldn’t over analyze a single reading of 66-- that’s still what I would consider to me in my ideal range and is a normal level for a non diabetic… 66 and going down fast isn’t good, but 66 and steady is great, to me. What are you doing for basal again? seems your blood sugars are still largely self regulating, so I think the risks are pretty low as long as you’re not doing anything crazy with basal… I just test a little more frequently while there’s bolus on board.
I frequently run lower following drinking wine but have never had a dangerous crash caused by alchohol. I have certainly given it plenty of opportunities…
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Nothing. 
So far still waking up in the 70s-90s.
I don’t think the 66 was steady - I think it was falling based on how I felt, though I didn’t wait long enough to treat it to find out. Supposedly breastfeeding can make you go low, too, though I’m not sure if that’s only a concern with basal, as I haven’t noticed much of an issue during the day, but I do wonder if it’s what’s helping my fasting levels end up ok.
I’ll just test and keep an eye on it, thanks!
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If you’re not using basal you are at no risk of “real” or dangerous lows outside the bolus window… so just enjoy it! And have more than half a glass! It is not unusual for the bg to run a little lower after drinking, because it alters the livers glucose production but there’s no risk of a dangerous low in the middle of the night even if you see lower numbers than you’re used to unless you’re using basal
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LOL oh, I would (it’s been that kind of day…), but I get headaches if I drink more than that at a time.
So what considerations are there once I’m on basal?
Just have to watch it more closely with basal because insulin can be pushing your bg down 24 hours a day… so more frequent testing if you’re drinking and don’t know what to expect, and what’s the right amount of basal when you’re not drinking can be enough to drive your bg down when your liver is busy doing other things… it takes a significant amount of alchohol to be important, I don’t think half a glass of wine is ever going to cause anyone big problems with their blood sugar
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Doesn’t seem to make much of a difference unless its 3+ overnight. For me anyway. The dexcom alarm does wake me up so I don’t worry about it too much and if it goes low it creeps over the 70-line at 5am and its a creeping basal low not a bolus cliff low so its still 50s by 7 when I get up anyway.
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Like @Sam says, try not to stress over isolated BG numbers. Because you’re having your wine with your dinner and dessert, it’s quite possible some carb/fat/protein-to-insulin imbalance or even activity/stress …
is influencing your sugars much more than that tiny amount of wine.
When you talked recently about going to some friends’ for dinner and you were worried about your numbers afterwards, try to look at the whole picture instead of isolating the food or the drink: Did you dash about a bit more getting ready to go out? Did you walk more to get to their house? Climb stairs? Were you excited? Did you eat your meal more slowly than you ordinarily would at home? Were you anxious about Baby and/or fuss with it more? (Even activity we wouldn’t call “activity” can influence sugars.) Etc., etc. Any of these can affect your BG. The alcohol may not even be a factor.
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Thank you; those are excellent points! I do think I might have a drop from alcohol about 3-4 hours after drinking. Last night, I ate ice cream but only bolused using my normal ICR instead of double bolusing like I normally would have. An hour after, which was 4 hours after the wine, I’d dropped from 100 to 85, where normally eating that much ice cream and only dosing that much I would be in the 150s. Fortunately, though, that meant I was able to eat a small snack (no bolus) before bed that kept me steady through the night and waking up in the 80s. So I’m going to repeat this experiment a few more times (oh, darn…) to see if this is what I personally need to do - drink earlier in the evening and just plan on a small snack before bed.
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