I asked a while ago but never really understood so I'm back at it.

Is the reason you are told to limit alcohol with Glucophage (metaphormin) really that your sugar might drop too low because wine lowers the blood sugar?

No, that's not quite it..

Metformin works to enhance the body's use of insulin.. allowing it to take sugar out of the blood, and returning it to a normal level. Alcohol actually increases the effectiveness of metformin, so it's like taking extra pills. Not good, because metformin starts working overtime, REALLY enhancing the insulin uptake, and dropping the blood sugar too much.

And for other answers.. wine has virtually no sugar in it, it's all turned to alcohol (atkins anyone? - I dont recomment that by the way). Also, the drop in blood sugar after alcohol consumption only happens for people with tendencies for hypoglycemia, not a worry for anyone on metformin. yes it does. No, it has sugar in it. Alcohol=Sugar Yes it does. I do not know how, but it does. Yes any alcohol will lower your blood sugar as it will intially raise your sugar up but then it will drop severely as it turns to glucose. Alcohol in all forms briefly elevates your blood sugar, then causes it to fall suddenly. No alcohol is safe, especially on your medication. A small glass of wine at dinner can work wonders for several health reasons besides helping to lower blood sugar. My heart doctor also recommend a glass of wine. oh i almost for got that is RED wine. It hellps alot of other things also, circulation, also calms the body..........so to answer you yes, yes, yes. bettyk the problem is that when you drink alcohol it goes through the liver and while this is going on you liver doesn't process anything else including sugar. So your liver won't release any sugar and that is sort of how you go low. Also glucophage works with the liver (building a wall not letting any extra sugar out) so there is no safe amount of alcohol that you could have while you take this drug. Actually, most wines will slightly *raise* your blood sugar. However, you have the right general idea. Alcohol will lower your blood sugar, so the alcohol in wine tends to reduce your serum glucose levels. However, most wines have a small amount of residual sugars, left over from the grapes it was made from. So the net effect, in most cases, is a slight increase in your carb load, and therefore in your blood sugar. The effect varies a lot, however, depending on the particular wine and how it was made.