Insulin needs changes when travelling abroad?

[Tranly]

Hi there!
I have a big question over how travelling to a foreign country and living abroad (changes in the climate and other unseen environmental factors) affect our blood glucose. I am a type 1, diagnosed 6 months ago. When I had to travel a broad and stayed there for 2 weeks, my insulin doses changed a lot when I arrived there and after I came back my home country. These are just my first experiences and maybe my body hasn't even adjusted itself to the condition yet. So I just wonder what is it for those who have had diabetes for many years now! For us who are insulin dependent and jobs involving travelling and living abroad, do we encounter large fluctuations in blood sugar and insulin needs as the result of changes in living environments/time zones/climate? Hope to discuss this with someone. Thanks so much in advance!
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-A secret to inspirational living: Always Kindness and Love to the world!-

 

[Tranly]

I found this, but not sure how it applies to insulin pump users!
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/FAQ/Travel-questions/

"Time zones and insulin:
Journeys across time zones may mean that you need to adjust your insulin. All international flights eastwards or westwards involve crossing time zones and days will be shortened or lengthened. There is no need to be alarmed about this. Many people across time zones regularly, without any serious problem. Remember that “running a bit high” for up to 24 hours is unlikely to cause you any harm.

When travelling east to west, the day is lengthened and some clinics will advise you to take an extra meal and to cover it with extra insulin. When travelling west to east, the day is shortened and the amount of insulin and carbohydrate may need to be reduced.

In general, if your time zone change is less than four hours, you will not need to make major changes to your injections.

If you are on two injections of insulin a day, a greatly lengthened day may mean that you need a small amount of insulin with a meal between two main injections. This will usually be short acting insulin, but you will need to discuss the details with your diabetes doctor or nurse. A shortened day may mean that you need to reduce your pre flight insulin. Again, it is important to discuss this beforehand with your diabetes care team. When discussing this, make sure that you have your flight details to hand, including your departure time, the length of the flight, and the local time of arrival.

Many people now have three short-acting injections during the day, followed by a medium or long-acting injection in the evening. Because this regime gives a great deal of flexibility over the timing of injections and meal times, it can be easily adapted to time zone travel. Many people who regularly travel by air switch to this system.

Some people may have a problem with this system because the normal sleep cycle is broken by time zone travel. As a result, the medium or long-acting insulin is being taken more than once in every 24 hours. It may then build up in the body and cause a hypo. Many diabetes doctors and nurses now recommend a variation on the above; you leave out the medium or long-acting injection entirely and rely on short-acting injections before meals until you are safely back on a 24hour clock in your country of arrival. Many travellers find this very helpful because it allows them the flexibility they need.

Both systems allow you to adjust your dosage and timing of insulin injections as the day becomes shorter or longer"

 

[Emaclean378]

I'm writing this blog:

http://roundtheworldwithdiabetes.blogspot.com/2015/01/one-for-diabetics.html?m=1

Let me know if you want any advice

 

[Tranly]

Thank you so much Emaclean378! was so impressed AND inspired with your passion for traveling and overcoming the odds to make that happen. I would love to first travel Vietnam. If you come to Vietnam, I can tell you places to buy insulin and needles, which doctors to get medical help, etc. I've been pumping Novorapid (and Lantus - not anymore now though). I'm a new diabetic and with all the headaches and heartaches so far I have learned only 1 thing: to keep "it" stable is such a huge difficult job! sometimes impossible. Will need some advice on how to keep it stable first, I guess..

 

[Emaclean378]

So I guess my first piece of advice would be to not worry about it too much. For me, others may disagree, as long as your blood sugars are ok most of the time you shouldn't have any issues with your diabetes. Just make sure you do blood tests as often as possible and take less insulin if you are going to be active. This is something you will need to play about with yourself and just experiment with your dosage. Your blood sugars don't need to be perfect all of the time, your diabetes will take over your life if you worry about it too much.