Advice for a night on the town?

[telizas]

I'm doing something I don't normally do, going out on a pub crawl, which may mean more alcohol than usual. On the rare occasions I do drink, its usually 1-2 cocktails. Tonight I'm thinking more in the 4-5 range. (We're taking the bus, and its close to home, so no worries there.) Planning on a hefty dinner before and there will be lots of walking involved (hence the "Crawl" portion of the night".)

How would you handle this? A temp basal? (I use a pump) Higher or lower? Bolus for drinks? Not bolus for drinks?

Its a Zombie Pub Crawl, FYI, so costumes are required. :D

[Subby]

How does alcohol normally effect you? Whatever indication you have there, would seem to me to be the best guide insulin wise. Lots of walking with slightly unknown factor of alcohol, sounds like lots of chances for going a bit low... take snacks, that's for sure. Drink water, I find matching my alcohol with equal parts water stands me in good stead. Test a lot! Have fun!

[telizas]

Yeah, I have NO idea how it actually affects me, as I don't drink that often. :/ I'll be giving a lot of real blood tonight I think! :D

[Joeprep4820]

Alcohol usually spikes my BG then lowers it by morning. When drinking I tend to increase my basal a bit to help counteract this spike. Even with walking the booze and mixers will spike it more than the walking will lower it (I am no stranger to crawls). Be prepared for an elevated BG when you get home, but don't bolus for it 100% in case of a plummet.

[art]

It's all going to depend on WHAT you drink, not how much.
If you're drinking Guiness you're going to be pumping like an oil well.
If you're drinking Bud light or Mich Light it's almost like drinking water.
Mixed drinks? Depends on the mixer.
Sco0tch and soda. Have at it.

It's all about the carbs.

Art

[davef]

Test often, alternate your drinks with water and have fun!!

[xMenace]

Drop your basal rate to 50% for 1.5 hours per drink, but do bolus for them, though not agressively. Eat some food (protein) and try to run a bit high.

[shiftzor]

My advice would be to inject for each pint you drink and then eat a snack (no insulin) at around 1-2 hours after you stop drinking. At least that would work for me but I can't speak for you. Another option would be on 4th pint skip bolusing instead of a snack or including a snack. Often I begin to get drunk at this point so I forget to bolus :D and I usually monitor my bgs on the way home. The more drunk you get the less bg/hypo/hyper aware you will be. I am no saint when it comes to alcohol its one part of my regime that is so difficult to control, I try to avoid it which doesn't always help the situation. The less regularly I drink alcohol the faster I get drunk when I do and usually end up drinking too much. Catch 22. No I don't have an alcohol problem :D honest ;).

[Subby]

It's all going to depend on WHAT you drink, not how much.
If you're drinking Guiness you're going to be pumping like an oil well.
If you're drinking Bud light or Mich Light it's almost like drinking water.
Mixed drinks? Depends on the mixer.
Sco0tch and soda. Have at it.

It's all about the carbs.

Art

Straight spirits raise my BG faster than the equivalent in soft drink or juice. Whether this is technically "alcohol sugars" working in a particular way or not I don't know. But going by the label, I am having no "carbs". I hate this too, as I am very partial to vodka and scotch.

I consider it almost fruitless me trying to bolus for this effect of strong alcohol, too volatile. Maybe one day I will tackle it again.

For me beer need a bolus but very carefully, definitely less than normal as the alcohol does have a downward effect. I need to make sure the bolus is working at the start, if my BGs run away they can be hard to get down after the fact. I need basal all there working, to avoid risk of runaway. Then if I do go a bit low at some stage, snacking is a good way to "bump" it back up.

Whatever I drink I need to watch it as I can get creeping highs at 3 - 6 hours (although not runaway usually), and often the next day I need less insulin and have even BGs from liver suppression (actually, very similar to what I get most of the time now, with metformin!)

I think what is important about this thread is to see how different people react to alcohol and different drinks. Tread smartly and with an open mind.

[telizas]

We had a TON of fun, and I stayed pretty even.... I honestly can't remember when I corrected for a 143 - I was pretty toasted! Except for that correction, I was in the 90s all night. I didn't bolus for drinks, as we would have a drink, walk quite a bit, then have water at the next place, walk a bunch. Had Chipotle (a known carb count) for dinner. It was COLD too, so that kept us walking fast.

I probably won't be drunk again until next Zombie Pub Crawl....

(I have to say, it was pretty fun to ride the bus to the event in our zombie costumes! Some gangsters on the bus were freaked out by the maggots [corn syrup and white rice] in my hair, LOL!)

Woke up at 95 just about 20 minutes ago. YAAWWWWnnnn....

[Moonglo]

Oh, I am so glad you were able to enjoy a night on the town. We have to be able to enjoy ourselves occasionally, right? Glad you had a great time :)

[art]

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y59/AirForceShooter/nopics.gif

Art

[telizas]

I didn't get any pics of ME. I'm waiting for my very hungover friends to send me some pics.

Here's a link to the official photo album tho:

Zombie Pub Crawl 2009, Minneapolis (http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?page=1&oid=129227666075&aid=-1&auser=&view=all)