Big night planned, what's the best strategy?

ladyfingers

Active Member
Messages
35
Dislikes
Litter!
I am meeting up with a couple of cousins that I haven't met for 30 year this weekend. They are big drinkers and in my past so was I.

Alcohol is going to be a big part of this get together and I am trying to come up with the best way to handle it. My current plan is to drink only Dry Martini with diet lemonade as I have found this to have little effect on my BG. But I've only tested after having two and I suspect I will end up having a lot more this weekend.

I've read that a lot of alcohol can increase the risk of hypos so should I have a carb rich meal prior to having a drink? Anything else I should consider?

Oh and if you are planning on replying with 'dont drink' then dont bother ;)
 

Sid Bonkers

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,976
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Customer helplines that use recorded menus that promise to put me through to the right person but never do - and being ill. Oh, and did I mention customer helplines :)
Hi, I hope you have a great night out :D

As for advise, if you drink diet drinks try to get them in a bottle as pubs are notorious for mixing up diet with full sugar, there are quite a few threads here dealing with this problem, for that reason red or white wine may be a better bet if you drink either. You really dont want to compound things by drinking and consuming sugar.

Probably not worth having a high carb meal before you go out, better to eat a normal meal and have a snack whilst out or a slice of pizza or a few chips on your way home, that will stop your levels going too low in the night whilst your liver deals with the alcohol in your blood.

Most importantly have a good time :D Oh and if you need an excuse for not getting totally trolleyed, just say you cant handle the hangovers like you used to :lol:
 

jaykay

Well-Known Member
Messages
439
One trick is to order some water everytime you have a drink and drink the water in between your alcohol. This slows down the alcohol intake and helps flush everything through. You may end up going to the loo a lot but heh, you're not going to get away scott free are you?
 

dib

Well-Known Member
Messages
95
I would agree with the above, I recently had a hypo with a level of 2.3 after just one small gin and slimline on an empty stomach. Rather than a big meal beforehand make sure you keep eating small regular carby snacks while and after drinking. Remember your liver will take 1hour to process each unit of alcohol so keep tabs on how much you have drunk and work out how long your liver will be busy processing it after you have stopped.
Have a great time and best wishes :wink:
 

frenchkittie

Well-Known Member
Messages
96
What they said :p

Or you could try white wine spritzers (white wine mixed with Perrier or other sparling mineral water). I ask for a little white wine in a large glass, and a bottle of Perrier. I top up the glass with Perrier, drink that, and then my second (and sometimes third) glass is just Perrier.

Or gin and bottled slimline tonic, same topping up principal as above.

The odd surreptitious test, a few nibbles of nuts, crisps, pretzels or whatever bar-type snacks are available... works for me.
 

cugila

Master
Messages
10,272
Dislikes
People who are touchy.......feign indignation at the slightest thing. Hypocrites, bullies and cowards.
Same as all the others really.......however, my regime on a special night out was to have my normal two pints of Guinness but in half measures, interspersed with bottled water. I had 4 halves, four waters so to all appearances kept up with all the hardened drinkers but nothing like the amount of Alcohol I once drank.......or that they drank :(

I was still sober and enjoyed the night out even more as I was sober whilst the others all had hangover's the next day. I don't need Alcohol to enjoy myself any more. :D
 

welshtony

Well-Known Member
Messages
50
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Have a good time, after 30 years, you shouldn't be short of topics of conversation!

Just in case they don't already, make sure your cousins know that you are T2. The effects of a hypo can easily be confused (by others) for a state of inebriation and it would be good if they knew in advance that you need a quick carb boost.