Hi:
I am worried about my husband mixing a large volume of vodka with his blood pressure medicine, Lipitor and Glucotrol for he was newly diagnosed with being a diabetic. I know it is dangerous because on each medication bottle it is printed do not mix with alcohol, does anyone know the danger signs I should watch for????
Thanks

First off with the diabetes your husband should limit his drinking regardless of what medications he is taking as alcohol will sharply raise your husbands blood sugar and then cause it to drop suddenly. The alcohol may cause an increase in the normal side effects of each medication so you would have to read the literature with each medication to know what the side effects are for each drug and then watch for any increase in those. If you husband tends to enjoy drinking often he needs to check with his doctor for recommendations as to what to eat and when to eat if he is going to drink at all. His doctor can advise him on this.

Thanks so much for your reply. I will read the literature included with each medication. I just know that it is dangerous to drink as much as he is drinking with being a diabetic and taking all the medication he is taking.

debbieann,
Well, I wish I had the magic answer for you. I am living through the same nightmare and can empathize with you completely. It is very hard to watch someone you love hurting themselves, not to mention what it does to you. I wish you well and I'm thinking of you.

Until there is some kind of wake up call you can only do what you can. Do not make excuses for your spouses heavy drinking and do not try to always be there for them to pick up the pieces as that makes you an enabler. I have already been down your road minus the diabetes issue. Both of your husbands are grown adults and should stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of drinking alcohol like an adult. You may want to do some searching on the web and print out some articles on drinking in relation to diabetes and just leave them lay in a prominent spot. You should also make sure that your spouses doctor is aware of the alcohol use so that the doc can counsel them of the effects of alcohol with diabetes. Al Annon is a good place to go for help too. I did not use this group but probably should have. Good Luck to both of you since this can take a long time before that wake up call comes. Hopefully it won't be related to the diabetes.

Thank you for your responses. I went through the alcohol stages with my mother. I did and said everything I possibly could to try to get her to stop drinking. She never did, she died of a heart attack at the age of 55. My husband is 44 and has been drinking since the age of 18. Once again nothing I say or do can stop him from drinking. I am afraid it is going to take a major health problem to wake him up and I just hope he gets a second chance. A wife cannot continuously voice her opinion or men think we are *****ing at them. Everyday I see what the alcohol is doing to him and how it ages him and is killing his brain cells. His memory from the night before is almost blank. I see everyday what alcohol does to a person and cannot understand how it takes such a hold on a person that it is such a priority in their life. It has taken a toll on our entire family throughout the years and continues until he decides to give it up.
I used to argue constantly about it and it proved useless. I am going to mention it to his doctor and see what he says. His doctor was heavily into drugs and alcohol and had to go to rehab himself, so he should know exactly what he is going through. I do not look at myself as an enabler. I am not his mother.
He works out of town and is only home a day or so out of the week, so he can and will always drink whether I approve or not. I just am so worried about the affect the alcohol being mixed with all the different types of medicine is going to have on his system.

..

------------------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NativeAmericanDiabetes/