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High blood sugars on holiday in Spain

1

1claire

Member
Messages
18
Location
Banbridge
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
My 12 year old son who has type 1 diabetes approx 6 months is getting high blood sugar readings on holidays in spain. Been told by diabetes nurse to increase his lantus and give correction doses before each meal. She also suggested testing every 2 hours tomorrow if need be and give insulin if required. A little anxious on the whole matter. He never normally has high blood sugar readings. We did not expect him to be like this on holidays. Has anyone experienced this on before in a hotter climate? Am afraid of running out of test strips and insulin now and wondered if and how you can get some using EHIC card? Hoping someone can help.
 
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Hi @1claire . Sorry to hear your dilemma. Can't advise on test strips or insulin and how you may source them.
A bit of advice if it's of any use is to remember that BS levels can be controlled in 2 ways. Insulin obviously but diet and certain foods can also help.
No idea of your sons diet but holidays can often see us diabetics change our eating and drinking habits.
Hot weather , drink more, but be careful a lot of drinks can raise sugars drastically.
Little snacks instead of set meals, 2 or 3 snacks here and there and boom sugars through the roof.
Not trying to dampen holiday spirit but my own experience is that those little bits that seem insignificant can play havoc with sugars.
Apologies if you are already doing everything to ensure good control .
I hope you can get back on track and all enjoy your holiday.
 
It's possibly the heat is having an impact on him to send blood sugar up. Heat can impact to send blood sugar up, or down or not at all depending on the individual.

He might also be eating different food. Which will obviously impact on blood sugar. And eating out makes carb counting more difficult, which will only be shown on post prandial testing.

He could be doing a lot of short, sharp physical activity on holiday (swimming races, bursts of running around?) and that kind of high intensity exercise can release adrenalin and send blood sugar up.

It sounds like you've had good advice from your DSN.

Your EHIC card allows you to access state healthcare in Spain when necessary. The local, Spanish health authority decides what is necessary. Whether insulin and test strip are accessible free using your EHIC card depends upon whether they are provided free to Spanish nationals.

Here's a page on what EHIC gets you in Spain - http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/countryguide/Pages/healthcareinSpain.aspx
 
If he's only six months diagnosed then you could be seeing an end to the honeymoon period and an increase in insulin requirements unrelated to holiday. But I probably wouldn't attempt to evaluate that while on holiday.
 
catapillar said:
It's possibly the heat is having an impact on him to send blood sugar up. Heat can impact to send blood sugar up, or down or not at all depending on the individual.

He might also be eating different food. Which will obviously impact on blood sugar. And eating out makes carb counting more difficult, which will only be shown on post prandial testing.

He could be doing a lot of short, sharp physical activity on holiday (swimming races, bursts of running around?) and that kind of high intensity exercise can release adrenalin and send blood sugar up.

It sounds like you've had good advice from your DSN.

Your EHIC card allows you to access state healthcare in Spain when necessary. The local, Spanish health authority decides what is necessary. Whether insulin and test strip are accessible free using your EHIC card depends upon whether they are provided free to Spanish nationals.

Here's a page on what EHIC gets you in Spain - http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/countryguide/Pages/healthcareinSpain.aspx
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Thank you very much for your good advice. Its not so nice getting up through the night, four nights in a row so far. Tiring.
 
I find when it is hot, even in the UK my BG goes up. Someone on the forum suggested I needed to drink more water which I did and that has largely corrected the BG. I suspect it is lovely and hot out there - so maybe some extra fluids might help.
 
1claire said:
My 12 year old son who has type 1 diabetes approx 6 months is getting high blood sugar readings on holidays in spain. Been told by diabetes nurse to increase his lantus and give correction doses before each meal.
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Has the boys insulin been stored correctly, heat can really effect the potency of the insulin so that it becomes less effective.
 
I don't know if anyone else gets this but when ever I go on holiday due to time zones. it always messes my blood up. So perhaps thats why?

ps is used to live in Holland, Singapore and Spain and now I'm England .
 
He may just be excited and having too much fun..... (Yes excitement can increase BG.)
 
It could be the stress of travel and the change in climate @1claire

My sugars often go high when flying, and then it takes a day or two to get everything ok again.

Holiday food can also impact BS.

My only advice is to test lots and correct when needed.
 
Agree with the above. Insulin deteriorated of to hot. Stress raises BG
. Maybe his activity level is different. Also hydration can make s really big difference to BG readings so drink plenty of water. Good luck
 
It's unusual to hear of someone who like me had the same issues with the heat and high blood sugars.
I totally confused doctors with my mental highs in the summers for no reason; I was storing my insulin right, eating normally. I have to admit I used to dread hot weather because I knew I'd feel pretty awful running so high.
I was lucky though; once I went through puberty the heat stopped making me go high so I don't know if it was a childhood thing or something (keep in mind I wasn't in the honeymoon phase at all I was diagnosed at 8 months old and I'm referring to when I was 5-12 years old which is when most of my memories of this are).
I would say the annoying thing for me is how it effected me mentally though. As most of my childhood memories of the heat are me feeling awful because of high blood sugars I now still psychologically feel ill even if my blood sugars are fine, I find it very hard to eat on hot days because of it and then have to adjust my long acting insulin or I end up in hypos. It's funny how even at 24 those memories are still there and like to surface.
 
1claire said:
My 12 year old son who has type 1 diabetes approx 6 months is getting high blood sugar readings on holidays in spain. Been told by diabetes nurse to increase his lantus and give correction doses before each meal. She also suggested testing every 2 hours tomorrow if need be and give insulin if required. A little anxious on the whole matter. He never normally has high blood sugar readings. We did not expect him to be like this on holidays. Has anyone experienced this on before in a hotter climate? Am afraid of running out of test strips and insulin now and wondered if and how you can get some using EHIC card? Hoping someone can help.
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Hi there

I was in Spain recently. I found I didn't pack enough blood sugar testing gear, but then remembered I had packed a spare glucose meter and testing gear. I took too much insulin with me but it is better to err on the side of caution. I found as long as I kept hydrated and avoided dehydration I did not have higher blood sugar readings. There is a very good resource on what to do when ill on the Scottish diabetes uk site.

I now have a Plan A and a Plan B for when I travel overseas but don't tend to be as organised when I'm at home. I make sure I have testing gear and sugar at hand if required. I like taking rehydration tablets cyclists use as a prevention. I want to fit in and still enjoy what I'm doing . Make sure you have some form of ID and or bracelet that identified diabetes using insulin. You only live once there 's no reason we should miss out on the fun things in life.

There are some good articles in the forums on hotter climates and blood sugars
 
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