HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Metformin and wine/alcohol

Support Forums
>
Diabetes
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 8/31/2016 5:41 AM (GMT -8)
Good morning to everyone. I am new to the board as far as posting goes, I have been reading for a while and what an informative, great place!! I am T2 and of course started as prediabetic and then my A1C went up to 7. My nighttime numbers and early morning numbers are high! Anyways, my doc put me on the time release metformin and told me to take it before bedtime. I stopped it after a bit as my stomach could not take it. By all the reading I have done I am seeing that a lot of you think it is worth taking and trying to get beyond the side effects...should I? Also can you have a few cocktails or wine while taking this metformin? thanks in advance for any light you can shed. wink
Posted 8/31/2016 6:09 AM (GMT -8)
Good morning, Nancy, and welcome to HealingWell. I'm glad you joined so you can ask questions! Metformin is a valuable help in lowering blood sugar as it helps the body use the blood glucose get into the cells where it's needed for energy. It works best with an eating plan that includes low carb food and some sort of exercise.

Metformin can cause stomach upset and this is why it's prescribed to be taken with food. If I were you, I would ask the doctor to change the time for you to take it, like earlier in the day with a meal. Eating a lot of carbs like bread, rice, pasta (or any food made with flour), or potatoes or greasy/fried food can also cause the metformin to give you stomach problems.

Ask your doctor about having cocktails. Alcohol by itself may have a lowering effect on blood sugar and should not be taken near the time diabetes meds are taken. Also, the choice of alcoholic drinks may be a problem. Many cocktails made with mixers and certain drinks like Kahlua have a lot of sugar and will raise blood sugar. Fortified wines like sherry and port will, too. And beer although there is low-carb beer. Nowadays you can check the carb content and the ingredients online of any drink. Generally, a glass of regular red or white wine would be fine but, again, this is something you need to ask your doctor.

Please read this website (also known as Blood Sugar 101) for a lot of information: www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/.

I'm glad you are asking questions!

yeah
Posted 8/31/2016 1:04 PM (GMT -8)
Thank you so much for responding to me, I really appreciate it. I had my momentum going with this T2 problem and then just lost it along the way somehow. I work out, I work hard at a very physical job and I get so hungry especially at the end of the day that I lose control on what I am eating. I know exactly what I have to do but it can be very hard to stay on course at times. :) I only drink red wine, or perhaps a manhatten now and then LOL. I do not drink really anything else other than maybe a extremely low carb beer like Miller 64. My night numbers are horrible as they are the same in the morning, around 177 to 212.
Posted 8/31/2016 1:08 PM (GMT -8)
Hi again. Can you write what food you're eating for meals?
Posted 8/31/2016 1:55 PM (GMT -8)
Ok. Typically and it does not vere off of this menu for breakfast and lunch, I have for breakfast, 1 slice of my low carb bread with peanut butter and coffee...or regualar wheat bread with peanut butter and coffee. Very rarely I will have a bit of greek yogurt with a tad of fresh blueberries or raspberries and a tad of whole grain cereal and coffee. Maybe two days a month I will have eggs, bacon, toast. My job is very physical so I will have a handful of almonds or a 100 calorie pack of nuts around 7 am...then around 10 am I will have a meal replacement drink either Atkins or EAS advantedge. Then at lunch I may have a BLT with a side of 3 chuncks of watermelon or 3 grapes or sliced cucumber. That is it until supper. At supper 6 out of 7 nights I have a huge green salad with veggies and a splash of oil and apple cider vinegar. Along with that I have chicken, or steak, or pork and occasionally a side of pasta, very small side or a small potato. I have low carb pizza crust that I buy so I have a salad with that and make my own personal pizza. I eat a lot of chicken mostly. My cholesterol knock wood is fine. I will have homemade food mostly and now and then takeout. I have to admit after dinner is when I lose it. It's like I have to eat more so I will have pistachios one night and something the next.
Posted 8/31/2016 2:00 PM (GMT -8)
Oh and also I forgot, I have a lot of green beans steamed with garlic and pepper for a side and zucchini with onions and peppers steamed as a side. I eat a LOT of veggies. I do drink, red wine, a few glasses with dinner but not every night. Some nights I have a whiskey coctail but nothing sweet in it.
Posted 8/31/2016 2:32 PM (GMT -8)
Have you been taking your blood sugar before and about two hours after you eat? If so, what are the readings? Your evening and morning readings of 177 and 212 are too high (you already know that!) and it's because of the carbs you're eating. The bread, pasta, pizza dough and potato are all very high in carbs and will raise blood sugar very high. Taking metformin while eating that food will probably give you stomach problems no matter when you take it.

My suggestion is to re-evaluate what you're eating, cutting down on the carbs. Read through the website I posted above for more information about blood sugar and food.

And have a glass of red wine (with your doctor's permission, of course!)
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply