Just found this lurking behind the scenes from @jane – reposting here so people can actually see it:
It’s been a bit quiet on this site so I thought I’d throw this one in. I went to my first Christmas drinks party as a pump user this last weekend. Went into the do as a 5.1, gave self half the usual amount for a dinner, tested after an hour or so, gave a few units more, had more wine, more canapes, forgot or couldn’t be bothered to test, left party as a 13.5, gave self more correction units. I find it a bit hit and miss, it was pretty much the same though with MDI but would be very interested if anyone has a more reliable method /hints or suggestions for this type of social occasion . The answer might be to just stop at home , drink and don’t eat or simply get on with it and stop bothering us but I’d be interested to hear how other pump users approach the coming festivities.
@jane I’ve tried so many strategies for dealing with buffets like this, but I’ve never really cracked it. I think I generally underestimate my own greediness when I bolus before and lose track of what I’ve eaten when I top up my bolus later. It’s not normally a disaster, but definintely hit and miss. Life as a diabetic hermit would certainly be easier.
Hi @jane I’ve also tried many strategies with mixed results, I tend to bolus but I also tend to crank the basal up as well.
I normally give myself a few units before I start eating/drinking at these events so there’s some insulin active in my system.
Since I’ve been on the pump I’ve found certain carbs give me problems, so breads & pastry act much longer than they used to, but upping my bolus by 50% offsets this.
Unfortunately everyones different & you’ll have to try a few different things till you find something that generally works! Frequent checking of blood sugar is highly recommended though!
My most conspicuous success was quite early in my pump career at one of those ‘all you can eat all through the afternoon’ places that we went to along with some friends in January this year. Essentially I bolused for a reasonably hefty meal 60:40 over 3 hours, but that was a deliberate underestimate of the likely massive carb load. I then added to more smaller boluses on top at something like hourly intervals (testing to see how things were progressing). That and the walk to-and-from the restaurant gave me better results than I’d expect to see from a scrupulously counted normal meal.
We’ve been back twice and I’ve tried to replicate that success. Unsurprisingly it didn’t work out so well the first time (I clearly thought I was immune to the buffet effect) but the second time was not too bad.
I generally take the view that a highish BG after a night out, which you then correct back down to normal, isn’t really much of a problem. So with this sort of thing I guesstimate as best I can and then correct later. Being in double figures for a few hours isn’t going to kill you (or at least I hope not, otherwise I’m screwed!)
Couldn’t agree more Tim, I love a correction bolus me, thanks too Paul for the tip of hiking up the basal, I’ll give that a go. Actually the title for this ‘My canapé hell’ I lifted from a fairly low brow book I read a few years back, bad book, great title. I think that if it was realised the issues we type 1’s have with buffets & drink party soirée, the diabetic bouncers would be there refusing to let us in. However it’s our secret so I’ll continue to bravely test out new ways of overcoming this challenge at as many does as I can get invited to.
@jane I love the idea of diabetic bouncers controlling access to canape/buffet based events. I picture two burly men saying ” we don’t want your type (1 or 2) in here, there’s no way your guesstimating and faffing around with basal rates can cope with our array of nibbles, on your way”.
@jane I’m a frequent basal fiddler & proud temporary basals or borrowing from later basals to drop hi bloods work great for me. The later ones in the pumping bible & I think Alison wrote about it somewhere here?
Others don’t get on with it & if you do it too aggressively you can come unstuck, I suggest a long period of partying with cocktails & canapes to experiment with the best techniques
@alison armed with pizza??? I don’t scare easily but that’s beyond a joke! are you trying to give me nightmares!
I’m kind’ve new to diabetes, as i was just diagnosed, but I found so far that the simple things work the best. I overate on the night of the 24th and had a few cocktails but after I went for a walk I was feeling better and mg BG was a lot better.
here’s a good blog i found as well if anyone is interested: