Every. Single. Day.

Pass on Your Disease to Your Kids? Or Adopt?

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:43:00 -0500

In another diabetic community (TuDiabetes.org) a converstaion topic came up:

"We ran an article this morning on Diabetes News Hound about family planning and diabetes. The author Kelsey Metcalf, one of our Expert Columnists, discussed her decision to adopt. You can read the column here: Expert: Why Diabetes Caused Me to Adopt

Im curious to hear if diabetes will or had impacted your decision to have children? "

Posted by Christopher Frankie on March 8, 2010 at 10:25am in General Diabetes Topics

And my response:

This is getting a bit more personal than I usually do in an online community, but I want my own children. I want to feel the miracle of pregnancy and to see the resemblances of my husband's face in our child's eyes. I want to be surprised, yet comforted, when I notice that our child starts to have the same mannerisms as we each do, or how she reminds me so much of my grandmother.

I've wanted children since I was 10 years old. I've wanted a family for as long as I can remember. I was diagnosed first generation Type 1 at age 14 (12 years ago now almost) and I struggled for years to subside the "mother urges" because I had read and had heard from so many sources that Type 1s could NOT have children. I mourned my "dream future" for years.

Then, about 5 years ago, I participated in a Joslin Diabetes Center Research Study in Boston MA about Type 1s and pregnancies. While I was there, I burst into tears of relief when they told me that I certainly could have my own children. They had to stop the class while I composed myself because my heart had been broken about it for years. The other Type 1s in the class (some were "currently" pregnant) comforted me that they, too, were told that they could not bear children.

Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston is in the Top Diabetes Research centers in the world. I'm going to trust their judgement, take care of my body, and take control while we try for kids of our own. We are not quite ready emotionally or financially to have children yet, but when that time comes, I'm going to be ready and waiting for our baby (each piece of us who created her) to be placed into my arms.

I'm 25 years old now, and studies show that if the parents are Type 1, if they wait until after their 25th birthday to have children, the odds of the child contracting Type 1 are cut down from 25% to 4%. Honestly, the odds of ME contracting Type 1 12 years ago were 0% (as it doesn't run in my family), so I'm just going to have to play the hand I'm given when the time comes. Because no matter what, we don't know the TRUE cause of Type 1. We don't KNOW if it's genetic or environmental. Like me, with no family history of autoimmune diseases, maybe it's just the location on the planet from which I'm residing? I can't substantiate claims that my child will have Type 1 just because I do, when I contracted the disease all on my own.

Who's to know if your adopted child might come down with diabetes too? It's all totally unknown. Just because your family does or does not have a history of the disease doesn't mean that your children will. My parents certainly didn't plan on having a Type 1 kid. But... I'm surviving each and every day and in the end, hope that I have made the world a better place. Maybe despite having diabetes, maybe BECAUSE OF having diabetes.

As far as the risk to my own health while pregnant, I will do whatever it takes to bring a child into this world, safe, happy, healthy.

Adoption is a beautiful act. I would consider it for myself if we turned out to be unable to have children. But, Type 1 is NOT going to hold me back from the ONE thing that I've wanted for my whole life. I've wanted to be a mother BEFORE I contracted Type 1. And I'm going to try as hard as I can to make my own dreams come true.

I deserve that.

My Eyes- the Viewpoint of my World

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:40:00 -0500

In August 2009, I was diagnosed with minor retinopathy. (You can read my earlier blog about this) I had hemorrages in both my eyes and they threatened to get bigger... in the end would make me blind. I'm 25 years old, Type 1 for 12 years.

This past Saturday, I had a folllow up appointment at the eye doctor and good news: The hemorrages are gone! Every last one of them! It's been 6 months since my retinopathy complication diagnosis and now the hemorrages are gone! All of my work has NOT been in vain!

I have a cloud in the left eye, behind the pupil (another form of retinopathy) but the doctor is hopeful that that, too, will clear up within the next couple of months.

On my road back to being "normal."

Or, as normal as I can be. :)

How Can I Motivate My Spouse?

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:07:00 -0500

First things first, thank you for reaching out to this community on behalf of him [your spouse]. It shows that you are a truly caring partner and supporter of him. Having a spouse reach into the unknown on behalf of you is not something that we find every day. So, thank you for that.

Second, I cannot promise that my suggestions work and I'm sure some of it won't even apply to your situation, but I'm going to offer what I know and hope that it helps.

1. Please keep in mind that he is just as frustrated with his situation as you are. I would assume that he is a normally intelligent and responsible individual? As a person with Type 1 for 11 years, I can tell you that my mortality floats in the back of my mind on a constant ongoing basis. It is always there, breaking me down. I think about it every morning, every injection, every finger stick. And my heart is pumping so hard that it feels like it's going to explode every single time I wait for the results of my last A1c from my Endo. I want to live healthy. I don't want to have amputations or complications. I want to bear children and live forever with my fiancée. I try so hard and make the best decisions that I can (with what I know) and yet my A1c has never been under 7.5. Currently, I'm recovering from a 9.5 plateau and am at 8.5. It is extremely difficult to face your mortality on a multiple times per day basis. Every time I inject or test my BG, I'm thinking "If I don't do this, I will die." So, please keep that in mind.

2. I hit a slump of "I just don't want to" every few months. I will be fine and act okay every day, until it'll just hit me at some random moment. Maybe my syringe bent when I injected and it hurt and I got pissed. Maybe (when I was on the pump) my tubing clogged AGAIN and I got frustrated. Maybe I got a sickness, the flu, and my BG just WOULDN'T come down from the 200s no matter what I tried. I hit those slumps, though, burst into tears from the constant stress, and then my fiancée sits down beside me and says: "I know it's hard." That's all that I need. For him to acknowledge that it's really really hard to constantly be worrying about the effects of what you do on a normal day to day basis. In fairness, I also turn to him (when I'm feeling better) and tell him: "I know it's hard to be married to a diabetic." But, when I hit those slumps, him acknowledging my frustration and pain- him saying that he knows that I'm TRYING really helps to pull me back out and get back on the "horse".

3. My fiancée will also go on splurges where he will pull out articles (like you said) and show them to me. Not necessarily reading them to me, but sometimes he will leave a magazine page (or an internet print out) open on the bed and I'll see it. It helps to know that he cares. And when I know that he is researching things to help me, I know that it is bothering him as well, and then I get my act back together because I know that I'm not only fighting for my life, but for our life together as well. If I'm gone, his whole world will be turned upside down. But, he is never direct about his support. If he were to tell me: "I need you around", then I would feel "put on the spot" and get defensive. His small acts give me time to ponder on my own and are subtle enough so that it doesn’t feel like he is lecturing me.

4. Try taking all of the sugary treats out of the house. If it's an issue of him overeating, maybe having the stuff unavailable will help. If you are someone with small children, honestly, if it's an issue, having the stuff around the house isn't good for them either.

5. If it's just a matter of him overeating on regular foods and then NOT injecting, then maybe it's a different kind of issue. It could be a cry for help. Maybe he should speak to a human behavioral psychiatrist to find out where his anger or sadness is lying. Many type 1s seek counseling and it's nothing to be ashamed of. I've sought help probably 5 times in the past 11 years and it helped me come to terms with my disease.

6. Is he a first generation diabetic? Maybe he needs to talk to people who are also type 1 who will be able to understand him. He may buck at the idea at first, because I did too, but talking about my disease and my problems to ANYONE WHO WILL LISTEN has helped me immensely in the past 2 years since I started reaching out. I wouldn't call it a "support group", but essentially that's what it is. TuDiabetes.org has been a great help to me.

7. Please don't guilt him into taking better care of himself. He feels guilty enough, I can mostly assure you. Most of the time when I get a high BG number or A1c, I am mentally beating myself up over it. Badly. I end up thinking very negative thoughts of myself and I hate myself and I punish myself mentally. It's hard not to feel guilty when there is so much pressure put on us to have good numbers. But it's really not so easy. Every single diabetic reacts to medicines differently. Every diabetic reacts to exercise, foods, dosages, stress, illness in an entirely different way. So, to get a cause and effect pinpointed is very difficult with this disease because we can in no way be generalized. Everything affects our BG levels, including stress and the flu.

8. Is there a way you can find someone who is diabetic around your area? Maybe find someone who seems to be stable, but ask your husband some questions about diabetes so that you can "help" the other diabetic. That way, your husband will feel of use and helpful and it will force him to reflect on his own diabetes care. Then, when he's ready, he can meet that other type 1 and see that he is not alone and that we all struggle.

9. Also, (I know I'm going to get "shot" over this) when I was on the pump, I had the ability to "shut off" my diabetes thoughts. It became so habitual that I wouldn't even think about my bolusing and such anymore. Pumps are AMAZING, but for me, it was a great tool for me to ignore my diabetes. I'm doing much better on MDI. If he’s on the pump, he might consider coming off the pump for a few months to get his focus back on his body.

I hid my disease for many many years and didn’t really come to grips with it until a few years ago. I would inject and do what I HAD to do, but over the past few years, I've really opened up about it and I will talk to anyone who asks. But, I didn’t start to open up about it until I decided I was tired of feeling sick. Then, I found TuDiabetes.org and a whole new world of diabetic friends who understood (for the most part) what I was going through. I felt good about myself when I was helping other diabetics. And when I felt good about myself, I would take better care of my body, therefore taking better diabetes care.

I am a first gen diabetic and I had a lot of resentment toward my family and friends because it is something that is completely devastating and earth shattering. I was completely alone in the disease because there was literally no one else around me who had type 1. And I refused to go to a support group.

At one point, though, my mother had me volunteer at a children's medical center and explain to kids what diabetes was and how to take care of yourself. Once I saw those little guys injecting and looking at me with those innocent eyes, my world of hell didn't really matter anymore. I just wanted to help them and to prove to them that type 1 is not the end of the world and that we can live a great life, even with the disease.

Over the past 2 years, I've met 2 other type 1s. One type 1 I've met blind injects and doesn't test his BG ever. He scares me, but he is my age and really reckless. The other type 1 is in his 40s and also blind injects. Sometimes he even forgets his basal.

Thank you for reading this post and for taking the time to learn more about living with a chronic disease. Keeping an open mind and an open heart (and mostly a closed mouth) will help your spouse in living a healthy life. Thank you for supporting us and “dealing” with the lows and the highs of our roller coaster life. And thank you for not making us feel an more guilty than we already do. Diabetes cannot be done alone. Thank you for being there for us.

Holidays and Foods

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:45:00 -0500

With the holiday season upon us, no matter which holiday you celebrate, there is typically an abundance of foods and a surplus of family and friends around us. What do you do during this time of year?

Here are a few questions to ask your Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) to help you get through this fun, but taxing season:

1. During the holiday season, are there limitations to what kinds of sweets you can eat, and what are your carb ratios for those sweets? Typically carb ratios do not change regardless of what kinds of carbs you eat (a carb is a carb is a carb), but when you eat sweets or anything high in fat content, it creates a different kind of "spike" in your BG levels. Ask the CDE how the fat and sweet break down should be handled by your injection timing and dosages.

2. If you're going to stay up later, to spend time with visiting family, should you change the time that you are going to inject your basal (if you're still on MDI - multiple daily injections). If you're on the pump, the only thing you need to consider is if your basal rate should change due to your being awake. You may need a different basal dosage because your body is still burning carbs due to being awake.

3. If you were to become ill during this season, how should you handle your insulin intake? I know that when I'm sick I'm, firstly, not very hungry, and secondly, my BG will rise up to 200 or 250 without any food/drink consumption- and won't come down until the sickness has gone away. Consider asking your CDE if you should be concerned with this (should it happen) and if you should change your intake regimen / carb ratio / correction bolus.

Hopefully these questions will open up the podium and get you and your CDE discussing other issues that may be arising.

Merry christmas and here's to good health!

A Free Four Years

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:28:00 -0400

Four years.

I just received diagnosis of my first diabetes complication, and the doctor told me: "This usually happens after seven years with type 1."

This coming September 23rd will be my 11 year anniversary with Type 1. I have struggled- boy, have I struggled, but I've always managed to come out okay. It must be in the genes. I get the flu once per year and only for a few days- living in the ever changing world of New England USA, that is a great feat in of itself!

My A1c has always been a little high, but it is not for lack of trying. I have progressively grown immune to the insulins that I've taken, forever needing more and more... until they just don't. work. any. more. I've switched from every brand that I know is available, and yet I'm still taking relatively high dosages of my current insulin- the last one on the market.

It takes a while to figure out the new medicines. When compared with the constant, comfortable units of the previous insulin, sometimes it's hard to figure out how the next one will react. When on Humalog, my carb: unit dosage was 7:1. My correction ratio was 25:1 (BG: units). Yet, on Apidra my carb ratio is 10:1 and my correction is 50:1 (double Humalog) This definitely takes some getting used to and must be gradually increased to regulate without dipping into a coma. Diabetes is NOT an exact science. EVER.

I've gone into insulin shock comas and suffered through a few bouts with Dka (Ketoacidosis- a condition where the Blood sugar is so severely high that the blood turns acidic and begins eating at muscle tissue. The only way out of Dka is to flush the body with fluids and saline solution- most likely in Intensive Care Unit or Emergency Room)

So, between all of that... I've had relatively high BGs throughout my life. I switch insulins about every two years. I've just started working with Apidra a few months ago.

But, all I can think is: four years.

Four years of extra bliss that I wasn't even aware that I held in my hands. An extra four years without impending the end of my life... four years without complications.

I saw my opthomologist on Friday, the 4th. It was a routine eye exam, one that I had scheduled months prior. I see my eye doctor once per year. He checks my prescriptions and dilates my pupils to look behind my eyes. He says it's to see if I "have diabetes in" my eyes. Nothing has ever come up from these dilations except for some discomfort while walking back into the sunny skied days.

But, on Friday, I received my first frown from my doctor. He surveyed the images of my retina, crossed his arms across his chest, rolled his seat toward me, and had his sad eyes on.

"You have the beginning stages of diabetic retinopathy."

Wait, what? I'm 25 years old! Complications already?

"You have tiny hemorrages in the backs of your eyes that, if they are not stopped, will cause you to go blind."

Oh, shit. "How do I stop them?"

"You have to keep your blood sugar levels stable. It's not so much the spikes in the 200s, but the constant days in the 200s that are causing these ruptures behind your eyes."

Considering my insulin issues (listed above), a pit dropped in my stomach because I've been trying to CONTROL my blood sugars for the past 11 years. To almost no avail. What will happen if I stay where I'm at?

"If you can keep your constant blood sugars down around 150 or lower, you may even see your hemorraging stop completely."

"And if I stay where I am?" I asked, hoping against all hope that I would be able to figure out a way to stop my 190-250 platauing.

"Your hemorraging will continue, it will develop more, and you will completely lose vision."

Damn. "If I can keep my blood sugars down, how long before I lose vision, based on what you see today?"

"You can be fine for as long as 40 more years- sometimes longer." He smiled awkwardly. "I hate having these first talks with diabetics."

"it's scary."

"I know it is."

I scheduled a follow up for six months from now- to see how quickly the retnopathy is spreading. My dad asked me to explain what retinopathy is and we came up with this imagery: Retinopathy is like a flat TV screen that has a few dead pixels. You can still see the picture, but there are a few tiny dead spots. If not treated, the pixels can grow larger, eventually making it so that you can't see the picture on the screen at all.

Four years. I'm grateful, even though I'm still distraught, that I had those extra four years without any complications.

Being thankful for the small things is all that will get me through each day sometimes.

Love and Diabetes

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:31:00 -0400

I've been with my current fiance for almost ten years. We met when I was 15 and we've basically "grown up" together. It's weird, but really nice and happy too! He is my best friend through and through and I can talk to him about ANYTHING at all.

I was diagnosed at 14. We went on our first date when I was 15 and a half, to his junior prom at high school (some great blackmail photos there!) After our first date, we kissed. As we were waiting for his mom to pick us up (how romantic!) I told him that I was diabetic and that I didn't really know what it entailed yet (only being T1D for 1.5 years at that time).

His grandfather had T2D at the time, so he felt that he was a little aware of what I was going through. I told him that I didn't need his help with my T1D care, but that I wanted him to know what he was "getting himself into" just in case something happened. He said that he was okay with it and that he would like to take a chance.

I didn't tell him about my lows and highs for two years. I basically pretended that I didn't have T1D at all and clammed up when people asked me about it. Until one day, when I was around 16, I spent the day with my fiance. Suddenly I didn't feel well. But, I thought that if I didn't think about it too much, we would go home and I could get something sweet to drink. We stopped at his grandmother's house on the way home, and I didn't have the strength to walk into her house. I started to fall asleep but knew that I needed to tell someone about what was happening to me- but... I had never involved them in my T1D care before, so they wouldn't've known what to do for me anyway.

I told my fiance that I was tired and we drove back to his mom's house. I lay on the couch and started fiddling with my meter. I couldn't figure out why I could't work the zipper. I couldn't get the blood strips into the meter hole and had dropped about 10 drips of blood onto the carpet- each test strip only half used. My fiance saw what I was doing and helped me pour the blood onto the strip.

The last thing I remember seeing was a reading of 22. I lay half conscious on the couch as I heard him tell his mom what was happening. They didn't know what was going on, so his mom said that he should just "let her sleep, she's probably just tired."

For the life of me, thank goodness he called the ambulance anyway. I was screaming inside my head for someone to help me- but I couldn't move my body.

When the ambulance arrived, I woke up with the taste of chocolate cake frosting in my mouth, my body curled up in his brother-in-law's lap and ER technicians standing over me with a bag of liquids.

If I was more open about my T1D, I would not have been ashamed to admit when I needed help. He definitely saved my life that day.

Even after that, I was only half-open about my diabetes with him... it took three more insulin-shock comas and five bouts with full blown Dka before I could really open up. Now he knows as much about T1D as I do! He researchs on his own time, brings home little pieces of "golden" information for me and offers to help me when I feel stressed and overwhelmed about it.

Just recently, I started taking a new insulin and have been having major swings with it while I figure out the new reactions to it. I was fine all day long, but suddenly very loopy feeling. Despite my slurred non-commital slurs for ice cream, he dragged me across the street to a deserted bakery, knowing full well that the ice cream stand was going to be too busy to serve me fast enough. I was at a dipping 34. Then, as a rebound effect of the danish that I scarfed, I later took a nap and woke up to him testing my blood sugar. I was at 426. He got me out of bed and gently asked me to take my insulin shot.

He doesn't take over my diabetes, but he recognizes when I need help now, and I am so grateful for that support. T1D is chronic and scary and stressful. He shares my worries (even if just a little) so that I can live happier, healthier and more optimistic.

I love him and could not live without him. I know that he doesn't look at me as a burden- and that he understands that I'm trying as hard as I can, that I hate to impose myself on people, that I hate to ask for help, that I hate to be needy- but also that sometimes I need help, in spite of my pride.

He is perfect for me and what I need.

I'd even venture out to say that he's my soul mate, if you believe in such things. :)

Dear Mark...

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:21:00 -0400

I found Mark's story on http://www.diabetesforums.com/forum/dieting/25479-type-1-diabetes-low.html

and found him completely inspiring. I tried to upload the following letter to his site, but was met with many errors.

I'm hoping that he sees this eventually and is able to help. If not, then can anyone else attest to these suggestions?

http://home.comcast.net/~mark.mealey/site/

Hi Mark

I stumbled across your story on a low-carb diabetes forum. I have to tell you that you are an inspiration.

If you don't mind, I'd like to share a brief glimpse of my story. I need help. I've been through 4 doctors in the past 3 years and none of them have any suggestions for me. I end up doing all of the research on my own and never seem to get any help from the doctors.

I've been type 1 since 14 years old in 1998. I just had my 25th birthday and am feeling the worst I've felt in my entire life. I feel like I'm gaining weight by the day... I'm 5'8" and by no means "fat". I have a lot of muscle, but I've seen my body basically inflate over the past 6 months. I feel bloated and completely malnourished. People say that I look great... but I dont FEEL great. I don't remember the last time that I felt strong and healthy.

I get pains in my legs, cramps in my buttocks. I have scars from mosquito bites... my face is breaking out when I didn't even have acne. My stomach is bloated when it used to be firm and taut. My eyes are getting blurry, my gums are sensitive, my feet are starting to hurt.

I'm developing insulin resistance= more insulin= more weight gain.

I'm 25. I can see the downward spiral.

I'm afraid to start the Bernstein diet because I am afraid of ketones. I've been told in the past that I should not have them- that they break down muscle tissue in lieu of fat because the body thinks that it is starving, so it stores the fat for later use.

Do you suggest an endocrinologist visit? The endos that I’ve seen here aren’t very helpful.

I need a doctor to steer me. I actually very much like the idea of having a diabetic doctor- someone who KNOWS basically what I’m going through.

What does a typical breakfast, lunch, dinner consist of for you? I currently live with my fiancé and his family, so it will be hard to separate my meal plans from everyone else but I need to. I can’t continue to feel this way.

Thanks so much for your time.

Katherine

If For One Day

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:27:00 -0400

Someone asked me:

"If you could have No Diabetes for ONE day, what would you do?"

-I would call in sick to work (and not ACTUALLY be sick for once!)

-I would go to the beach and not worry about spikes in my BG due to the heat-

-I would lay around and sleep for most of the day and not worry about whether I'm just tired, just relaxing, or if my BG is dropping and/or soaring.

-I would stay up late and watch movies, drink beer, smoke cigarettes, tell stories about how "ONCE I had this TERRIBLE disease...."

-I would go the a new restaurant and nibble on little bits of food that I've never tried before- not worrying about what the carb content is and/or how it's going to affect me later.

-I would leave my purse at home. It gets really heavy and I wouldn't be needing my BG meter and needles anyway.

-I would go to bed without the sting in my thigh from the needles that I didn't need to inject. I would fall asleep on the couch and not have to be woken up later on to inject. I would make love and fall asleep without having to worry about the effects on my BG.

-I would do a lot of things- the things that I do every single day, basically, just without the worry.

I'm so sick of the worry.

Endo in the S-House

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:39:00 -0400

I went to see my endocrinologist on July 7, 2009. It was for my three month appointment, but ended up really being six months in between because the office had to reschedule me.

(sigh)

He is usually very helpful, but I was kind of let down by him. I asked him about other options for short acting insulins (as I've got this resistance thing that keeps lowering my carb: dosage ratio) and he *shrugged his shoulders*.

I asked if I had used all of the available brands, and he said that I hadn't used all of them (there are three left) but he didn't offer any more information about them.

I had to strangle it out of him.

My last A1c was seven months ago- and I found out yesterday that it's a big fat 9.0. Which is TERRIBLE! And scary.

But, I KNOW that I've been getting my numbers much closer to their targets and being very careful - I've been taking up to twelve injections of the short acting insulins per day to keep my BG down. So, when I go into the lab on Saturday, I'm SURE my A1c will be down- just by HOW MUCH is what's concerning me.

I don't want to have had to go through all of the stress and extra careful-ness without a pay off.

Also, the doc kept saying my dosages wrong.

I take 44 units of Levemir.

He kept saying "Raise it to 28 units of Lantus".

Ummm... Lantus was the medicine that I was on two years ago that kept putting me into comas.

It's right there in my chart.

I know that he sees many patients a day and he's probably just mixing it up- *honest mistake!*- but it's my LIFE. I only get ONE. I needed him to be focused.

I send him letters about once per month about ideas that I have, things that are going on in my life healthwise- just to keep him up to date and make sure that I don't forget anything on our follow up appointments.

Sometimes he’s read these letters and sometimes not. If I’m doing my diligence to make sure that he’s completely up to date on my health issues, shouldn’t he do his diligence to at least have answers to my questions?

I dont know. I'm just aggravated.

I felt like I was being graded by a teacher who didn't know the subject.

Drinking with the D

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:35:00 -0400

Alcohol is fun, yes? It's a chance to let loose, have reckless abandon and the ability to "shut off" your mind for just a few hours.

But alcohol use and the Big D are... not so good together. We need to have the ability to have fun with reckless abandon, but to also have caution in the backs of our minds and meters in our pockets.

Sounds impossible? It's really not too bad.

I err on the side of low carb beers. I actually really like the taste of Michelob Ultra!

(per 12 oz serving) ha 3g of carbs, 1g protein (yay!) and no concentrated sugars.

I tend to run in the high 100s before I start to drink because once the alcohol is in your blood it slows absorption of food. If insulin starts to work, but your body can't absorb the carbs, then you're going to dip into insulin shock land.

Stay away from sugary drinks (After Shock, Gold Schlager, Snake Bite, etc.)

example: Gold Schlager (per 1 oz serving) has 11g of carbs- 10.9g of which are pure sugar.

It's hard to recover from that, after two or three shots. Especially with the alcohol that's in it (80 proof).

Make sure at least ONE person knows that you're diabetic and will "watch" you for signs of passing out. Drunk feels and LOOKS low- so be careful that you no longer go over the edge of drunk-dom.

A little tipsy is okay.

Hangover drunk? ...Not so much.

I'd suggest you run bit high the first few times that you decide to binge- then you can fine tune it as you become more aware of how your body and the D reacts with alcholic consumption.

You're free to party, just with a bit of caution.

(I'm not a doctor, just a fellow diabetic trying to figure out how to live a better diabetes life)