As many here know, my brother was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease AND diabetes. The diabetes is making it difficult for him to find ways to quench his chemo-related thirst. He has been drinking water but is finding that it's not enough lately. He doesn't like the after-taste of the artificial sweeteners, though he can handle diet ginger ale, and is trying to get used to Crystal Lite.

It's possible that with the chemo changing his taste buds he might be able to handle the aftertaste as the treatments continue, but I'd still like to get some idea of what alternatives might be out there.

So I was wondering if I could ask the many learned women here what they know about the options for diabetics as far as beverages go.

Note for Chatty: you mentioned months ago a product that you buy in the health food store, a diabetic-safe sugar alternative. I've searched the threads but can't find the name of the product. Could you remind me what that was again, please?

I'm a diabetic and I drink a lot of water.
The water got to be boring, and I found Lipton's flavored Iced Teas that are in packets that you can put into the water bottle.
No calories.
I believe Crystal Lite has the same thing but has 5 calories in each packet.
I love the drink called an Arnold Palmer.
It's half Iced Tea and Lemonade.
Don't have to use sweetener, but I do, and I love it.
It really quenches the thirst.
Prayers for your brother.
Lynne

I drink Fruit2o its artifically sweetened. My favorite is Diet A&W root beer, tastes exactly like regular root beer and leaves no after taste at all...I use Sweet & Low for tea, and I get sugar free kool-aid at Wal-Mart that is better than Crystal Lite flavor wise...SugarLike is my sugar of choice for baking, their website is www.bakingbutter.com I use their white and brown sugar...Tell your brother to X out any and all white foods from his diet, no white rice, potatoes, pasta ot bread, use brown rice, sweet potatoes, wheat pasta and breads....Also get and take cinnamon capsules, and an herb called Gynema Sylvestre, good for diabetics....I hope this helps.I nearly forgot, I suck on sugar-free popsicles constantly at night, don't gain any weight and the red and banana ones are my favorites. He could keep a bunch of them in his freezer..I too drink diet Peach ice tea and its great...

Thank you Lynne and Chatty,
I'm going to be talking to my brother later this evening and will pass all of this along.

Have either of you tried Gatorade's new drink Propel? Gary has been craving Gatorade, but we haven't even thought about Propel (2g of sugar per 8 oz bottle).

My husband's diabetic too, but has no problem with artificial sweeteners, so we never have a problem finding drinks for him.

Have never tried gatorade myself yet, but if he craves it, get him some to try...

I think Gatorade is full of sugar - as much as he's craving it, I don't think he'll break down and drink it, just because his sugars have been out of control for weeks and he's only just getting them back down to a safer level. But he's going to look into the Propel (made by Gatorade but with a lot less sugar).

He's actually decided to go into emergency tomorrow to get rehydrated through IV. They might suggest doing the IV thing on a regular basis since he's having such difficulty drinking enough (he has dry mouth from the chemo which gives him an unquenchable thirst and cold sores [from the chemo] in his mouth which make it painful to drink.)

BTW, he was interested in the diet root beer and the flavoured iced teas, so I'll look for those tomorrow for him.

Eagle a diabetic whose glucose levels are too high suffer from dry mouth as well, so he has that and the chemo to handle. Its A&W that has the sugar free (really good) root beer and Lipton ha the ice teas, they come in many sugar free flavors, I like the peach flavored and the plain. Tell him to try the sugar free popsicles, they last awhile and definitely curb the dry mouth.

Eagle, I wrote this big, long, drawn out reply to this yesterday and then got a work call. When I came back, I guess it had timed out because it was gone.

Anyway, Ocean Spray makes wonderful (the best) lite juices sweetened with Splenda. They are cheapest at Wal-Mart. But realize, that they still have sugar in them. They are not sugar free.

As far as flavored water, make sure it doesn't have aspertame in it, some do, some don't. Buy the ones that don't.

For a treat, my husband drink diet soda. Sometimes it just hits the spot.

The best drink for diabetics is water. Pure and simple. It's necessary they drink lots because you don't want them to become dehydrated since they don't have many other options.

Today on the way home from his doctor's appointment, we stopped for yet more prescriptions. I bought him a bag of sugar-free hard candies - something a lot of people on the cancer-support forum recommended for the dry mouth. He had one and immediately noticed the difference. So that was a huge relief. He shouldn't eat too many because they'll still affect his sugar, but I'm just so glad he's found SOMETHING!

He also ate some solid food tonight. Hubby and I cooked him up a few shrimp, rice and green peas, and he ate a small plateful. So that's another good sign (it's the most he's eaten in weeks).

The doctor insisted that he had to pour those liquids down his throat no matter how awful they tasted. He already drinks over 110 oz of water a day, so we picked up some new sugar-free drinks in the drug store (they all had Splenda, not asperteme). I haven't found the Lipton Iced tea packets or the diet A&W root beer yet, but will look tomorrow. And I forgot about the popsicles (it was a long and tiring day today).

Dotsie, I haven't seen the Ocean Spray lite juices here. My brother lives across the street from Wal-Mart, so I'll check for it there next time we go. Thanks for the suggestions! I think my brother is finally resigned to getting used to the aftertaste - there is no other choice right now if he wants to drink anything other than water!

Eagle,

I can drink the fruit flavored herbal teas without sugar and they're good warm or iced. I add lemon when I have it. I prefer unsweetened tea to artifically sweetened myself. Blueberry, peach, and raspberry are my favorites.