Diabetes Complications from Alcohol, Smoking and Drug Use

Alcohol and Diabetes

When you have alcohol in your system, your liver instantly reacts to remove it, since alcohol is a toxin. During this time, the liver stops converting glycogen into glucose until it has finished removing all the alcohol from your body. As a result, if your blood sugar levels get low, you no longer have a back-up system to restore them.

For diabetics, drinking even 2 ounces of alcohol on an empty stomach can cause your blood sugar level to plummet. If you suffer from a serious case of diabetes, consuming alcohol can put you at risk of suffering from diabetic shock, a complication of having blood sugar levels below 65 milligrams per deciliter. Symptoms of diabetic shock include:

• extreme shakiness
• overwhelming fatigue
• severe weakness.

Managing Diabetes and Alcohol

Start by talking to your health care provider. Ask about your specific type of diabetes and how alcohol will affect you. Some diabetes complications, such as high blood pressure or nerve damage, make alcohol consumption riskier.

To properly enjoy alcohol, diabetics need to:

• check their blood glucose levels whenever they start feeling weak and shaky
  
  
• check their blood sugar before sleeping if they’ve been drinking
  
  
• choose drinks with lower sugar levels, such as light beer and dry wines (To have a drink with a mixer, use one that's sugar free like diet soda, seltzer or water.)
  
  
• eat before they drink booze
  
  
• limit the amount of alcohol they drink (Experts recommend one drink for female diabetics and two drinks for male diabetics)
  
  
• take an oral glucose tablet or eat if your blood sugar gets low when drinking (A glucagen shot won't help because it relies on the liver to release glucose, which it won't do if it's busy removing alcohol from your system.)

Smoking and Diabetes

In fact, smokers with diabetes are three times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease as nonsmokers with diabetes. Other diabetes complications caused by smoking include having an increased risk of suffering from:

• blood vessel damage and constriction, which increases the risk of blood vessel disease and leg and foot infections
• heart attacks
• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol levels
• kidney disease
• limited joint mobility
• nerve damage
• respiratory infections and colds.

Quitting Smoking

The first step in quitting is to understand what makes you reach for a cigarette the most. Here are some of the more common reasons people smoke:

• as part of a routine or daily ritual (i.e., when drinking coffee, reading the paper or sitting in traffic)
• as a way to relax
• as a way to relieve stress
• as a way to socialize
• as a way to ward off boredom.

Finding out what your smoking triggers are can help you identify when you are most susceptible to giving in to the craving.

Next, work out a method for quitting. Whether you stop gradually or all at once is up to you and what you think will work best. Talk to your health care provider for tips and advice.

Drug Use and Diabetes

Similarly, drugs that affect your state of consciousness can make you forget to check your glucose levels or forget to take your insulin. Because drugs also warp your perception of physical sensation, you will likely not notice the early signs of hypoglycemia and diabetic shock. Forgetting to check glucose levels and take insulin, as well as not perceiving your body’s reactions, can lead to serious diabetic complications.

Resources

American Diabetes Association (n.d.). Alcohol. Retrieved August 31, 2007, from the American Diabetes Association Web site: http://www.diabetes.org/type-1-diabetes/alcohol.jsp.