As a few folk have pointed out, if he's Basal/Bolus and has his ratio's sorted, eating/drinking whatever he wants at Christmas should be, pardon the pun, a piece of cake! That's the good news...it's also not necessarily about 'planning' meals, to me it's more about noting what we're taking in and reacting to it in enough time. if the idea of 'planning' everything is part of what's getting him down then maybe suggesting changing his POV to look at it that way may help? It helped me anyway
. The Carbs & Cal's app for iPhone/Android is great as you can search for foods, use pictures to judge portion sizes and even build up a 'meal' of all the different stuff on the plate and it'll give you a pretty accurate carb value to work your bolus (Novorapid I think I read earlier in your husbands case?) dose out from - means you don't have to 'plan' the meal out in advance and if you're out and about at restaurants etc you can use it to judge what you're eating without having to google carb values etc - App isn't free but it's worth every penny
Potentially unpopular opinion coming up, but bear in mind it's just my opinion as opposed to 'here's what to do' - but I'd imagine another part of what's getting to him is the idea of 'bad' results if he does over-indulge...constant high-sugars over months, weeks, years etc will absolutely have a really bad effect on him...and he could end up like me...however, the odd one here and there, even if it's over a day or 2 say AT CHRISTMAS, won't do him any long term harm...it's worth having a good chat about the fact that if he does a test and it comes out high, you just correct it - you deal with it, it's not a failure in any way, you just didn't get the amount of insulin for what you ate right on that occasion - one of my favourite quotes is from Thomas Eddison, who invented the lightbulb (well, it's allegedly from him anyway!) - he apparently made 99 unsuccessful prototypes for the lightbulb before coming up with a working design, so he was asked why, after failing 99 times he didn't just give up and he replied: "I never failed. I just discovered 99 ways how NOT to make a lightbulb". I like to think of my carb counting and doses a bit like that - if it didn't work, I mark it off as just another dose NOT to take when I have that food again
. Doesn't stop me from having a pot of custard in the future because I happened to have a BM of 18.2 the last time I had one, I just now know I'll need to take more than 3u of Novorapid per pot next time
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He's new to all this so it will take time to adjust, but experimentation with carb counting and doses takes time, and there will be lots of 'error' during the whole trial and error thing. But nothing is 'off' the menu with basal/bolus regimes, at least that's what I've always been told, there's just a lot of eating, injecting, and seeing what happens afterwards...and if it doesn't work...it's just another dose NOT to take in the future
The one thing I would advise re-reading up on is the booze - because of the whole liver/glycogen storage vs alcohol clearing issue what can effectively happen is you run high at first when drinking lots, so you take lots of insulin, then crash and hypo later when your liver finally stops dealing with the booze and starts syphoning off the glucose - slightly simplified version of what happens but it's the gist - you can actually need LESS insulin than normal if having a heavy session and occasionally need to let the sugars run a bit higher once you stop for a short time in order to avoid some nasty hypo experiences...nothing worse than crashing with a hypo whilst also hungover :/ - there's some great advice on the DAFNE website about adjusting for alcohol and there's probably some great hints and tips on here as well, but having not had a look for them myself you'd need have a wee search - but if he's wanting a heavy sesh or 2 over the festive period (and why shouldn't he, it's christmas) it's definitely worth brushing up on so the other side of it doesn't put him off doing it again - that bit unfortunately will need some 'planning' - but if it means getting to waltz in the pub and go home like there's nothing else to worry about - I'd imagine he'll be well up for it
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That's my tuppence-worth over Christmas eating/drinking anyway - hope you and hubby have a very merry christmas!