Can somebody give me a kick up the backside, please...

[jessie]

Morning all,

I was made redundant last month after 7 years at the same place and ever since I feel like I have a new lease of life, my confidence has grown and I'm having the best time I've had in ages. Only thing is it means I want to go out and party all the time, and have never been one to stop at a couple of glasses of wine.

Apart from the odd hangover I feel fine really, blood sugar still well controlled, low carb diet going well although I don't have much of an appetite at the moment.

I am feeling a bit guilty about what I'm putting my body through... am I any more likely to be harming myself than a non diabetic? Or as long as my blood sugars are ok should I stop giving myself such a guilt trip?

Help! :?

Jessie. x

 

[sugarless sue]

Hi Jessie, the fact that you know that you are over drinking is the first step so..............!! :twisted: :twisted:
Try and do something else for a change instead of going drinking. Pictures perhaps or some other activity non drink related but fun.
See if any of your friends want to join some sort of club/gym etc.

 

[jessie]

Thank you for the advice Sue, the little angry faces are scaring me into pulling myself together!

Jessie.

 

[cugila]

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

 

[sugarless sue]

Enjoy your life Jessie, but don't ruin it with too much drink. Life is for living to the full and that means so much more than just partying!

 

[Patch]

I know exactly what you mean Jessie. Thing is, I can't advise against partying - the amount of good it does to your general well-being can't be measured! I know if I was you I'd keep doing what you're doing - as long as there are no negative effects, and you're not drinking completely to excess (and i realise that other peoples idea of excess on this site is not the same as my idea of excess... :wink: )

 

[jessie]

Cheers Patch, I do resent the fact that I have to 'be more careful' now and just want to carry on with my life how it always was... I think I just need to pace myself a little more.

Sue is right though, I had some really fantastic sober times when I was first diagnosed - could remember all of my nights out, it was great! Must try harder...

:wink:

 

[howie]

maybe just party at ever other opportunity?

it's my toughest dilemma, since diagnosis i've felt pretty restricted but doing things like jogging without my meter and partying till dawn have really made a difference to my overall happiness cos they've made me feel normal.

i always check my bg's when i'm partying and the other week i pretty much maintained flat 5's for the whole night and that included a curry, so i didnt feel too guilty about that one but i do get on the guilt trip at times.

i think its the idea of missing out on anything,

howie

 

[jessie]

You've hit the nail on the head Howie, it's almost like pushing the limits to see what happens and having a good (normal) time in the process... I like the idea of partying at every other opportunity, I could do that, I think :wink:

 

[LizzieP]

Hi Jessie,
This is what I am going through at the moment! When I say 'partying', I mean in no uncertain terms 'boozing'. I cut down drastically when first diagnosed as I was terrified of mixing alchohol and insulin. Then gradually, as I got the hang of things a bit better, I learnt I could still go back to my old, 'naughty' ways without too much of a bad effect on my blood sugar levels. However, when I went for my last diabetes clinic, my HbA1c was 6 (delighted!) but my cholesterol had shot up from 4.3 to 5.7 total. Annoyingly, they didn't have a proper breakdown of my lipids so I don't know what my tryglicerides were but I'm betting they weren't great and that will most likely be a direct result of trying to carry on like before as if nothing has really changed and binge drinking at weekends. Trouble is, things have changed and I now realise we do need to take more care of ourselves than most. I wouldn't beat yourself up too much about going a bit mad now and again. Life's for living, after all and your cholesterol might be spot on for all I know! 8)

 

[jessie]

HI Lizzie,

Our situations do sound exactly the same! My cholesterol is a little on the high side too at 5.1, I hadn't really thought that could be due to alcohol.

I hope you're getting on OK now - do you have any tips for stopping at just a few drinks on a night out, or is it just really good will power?!

Jessie.x

 

[LizzieP]

Just sheer will power (not quite there yet!) and not having that one drink that tips you over into 'devil my care' mode!
If you look up binge drinking and high cholesterol on google, that might give you a bit more info than I can. Have fun, though, whatever you do!

 

[kegstore]

Hmm, my primary concern would be bg levels, but you can't ignore the payload of booze for it's own reasons, and the catalytic effect it seems to have on insulin. I certainly can't drink like I used to, but that was my body telling me - aged 27 my hangovers shifted from hours into days...

Redundancy has always been a very positive experience for me, large payouts with which to go travelling longhaul! Aah happy times