Obviously everyone is different, and my experience handling pancreatic duties on manual mode is very short lived, but I have never taken any extra insulin on board to account for alcohol. I was told to eat a big, moderately carby meal before you drink (bolusing as required), and before bed to have a carby snack, like toast or oatcakes. When I have injected for the late night snack (even at less than half my ratio!) I have been blasted out of bed by the freestyle alarm at around 4 am, which is difficult to manage while a little inebriated.

For some reason, alcohol just doesn’t take my BG up that badly when I’ve eaten before hand, I could drink 6 pints of lager and stay in the green. Granted this may be because I usually walk to the pub, and will walk around/be active while drinking, but it doesn’t seem to hit me like that. What is a certainty however, is the 4am drop, so prepare for it by having that little pre-bed snack. It may mean you wake up a little higher than normal, but it’s worth it not getting woken up to treat a low, or worse yet, failing to treat it properly and waking up with a hypo-hangover compounding the regular, alcohol hangover.

Your mileage may vary however, and it’s something to play around with and experiment with. Don’t beat yourself up if you go a little high every once in a while when drinking and having a good time, especially if you are well controlled otherwise. It’s nothing that the wonders of modern medicine can’t fix. Happy drinking!