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Welcome to DF, E_Lou

YES you can still drink when diabetic. It's like you said, just test a lot and make sure you're eating. It's important to keep an eye on your numbers afterwards as well as alcohol can have funny effects on your BG. You might go to sleep at a nice pretty 5.5 and wake up quite low or miles high, depending on what you drink, what you ate, and how much walking/dancing etc was involved. Alcohol is a tricky one to predict, so be careful.

Another important thing... make sure people around you know you're diabetic. If you should pass out or start acting weird they'll assume it's the drink and you could left to it when all you need is a bit of sugar. Someone has to know what to do and how to treat you.

A lot of us have given up on drinking. I still drink, but almost never more than just one or two. Scares me too much (chicken! lol). If you're careful about it and take it easy you'll figure out how to do it safely

The weight gain. Ahhhh yes. SUX doesn't it! I was so happy when I was a skinny little thing at diagnosis. I'd never been skinny in my life! Then I started insulin, got a whole lot healthier and a whole lot rounder. *sigh*. It is possible to lose weight on insulin, but it takes a little more careful planning. I really think exercise is our best friend - well, 2nd best friend, our BG meters come first!

In my humble opinion, insulin to blame for just a small weight gain (a different amount in each of us, of course, hard to pick a number) and the rest is because we eat to prevent hypos, or add more carb to our diets due to bad doctors advice (eat them if you want, but why add MORE? our bodies can't handle 'em!), or we get less exercise because we're scared of hypos... etc. It takes a while to settle after diagnosis, but at some point when we're more confident it gets easier to stop gaining / start losing weight.

Great to have you here with us... I think you'll love this place, there's a wealth of information and wonderful people