Blackjack and blood sugar

On my recent trip to Vegas, I realized that in addition to going broke, another hazard of playing blackjack is poor blood sugar control. I know a lot of people don’t understand how difficult is to try to control blood sugar, and they think that as long as I don’t eat candy and if I keep taking my insulin, I should be fine. But, it’s the nuances of maintaining good blood sugar control that irk me the most, because even when you’re checking a ton and counting carbs and taking insulin, there’s no guarantee that your numbers will be good.

So the first day in Vegas, we did my favorite thing—we went to the pool, and relaxed. We had lunch and some drinks, which I bolused for, and I kept checking through the day. I was happy because my numbers were pretty good. Then we went to dinner at SW (highly recommend!), and again I kept checking and bolused for dinner. It was smooth sailing and I was proud of myself for staying under such tight control, even in Vegas!

Then, we hit my new favorite place—the blackjack table. I was learning the ropes and then started to really get into it. I started to get pretty thirsty and kept ordering drinks from the cocktail waitress (come on, they’re free!) and I finally realized I should probably check my BS. Well, check I did, and I found out I was 308! 308!? I couldn’t figure out what had caused it, until I realized it must have been the adrenaline from gambling. There was no way for me to guess that that would happen, and no way to plan for it, which annoys me to no end. But, if having fun means erratic numbers every once in a while, I’ll take the hit! :)