Camping with friends

[Jambo02]

Hi there I am 13 years old and I have type 1 diabetes and me and my mum were wondering if I am ok to go camping over night with my friends.

 

[copepod]

Of course it's OK, as long as you look after yourself. Where are you planning to go? lots of 14 year olds with type 1 diabetes start their Duke of Edinburgh's Award expeditions when they are 14 years old. I had a young man aged 18 years, who'd had type 1 diabetes for one year, in my group on a 6 week climbing and scientific expedition to South Greenland, camping except for a few nights when we slept in youth club in town or onboard overnight ferry.

 

[ChrisSamsDad]

I would start with a festival - it's like camping, but with bands and films and great food (though most of them heavy on carbs). Quite a few parents let their teenagers have the independence of camping on their own, but setting up their tents a few yards away, near enough to be helpful if needed, but far enough not to get in the way.

Deershed is a great one to start with if you're in the North, but get a move on, it's on in about 3 weeks. Solfest, is also in the North, but there are other family friendly ones which are great - Camp Bestival, though it is a bit on the expensive side, and Wickham, also on the South coast is a great laugh. Most festivals are family friendly nowadays, but some more so than others.

If you're not going to a festival, you might find a lot of campsites don't welcome groups of young people, because they tend to stay up later than most campers and talk, laugh and in the worst cases, play bongos to the huge annoyance of the other campers, they also wouldn't let 13/14 years olds stay there on their own. So make sure they do allow you to camp, and find a remoter spot so you can have fun and be a bit loud without winding up the other people there.

People have odd ideas about camping - it's no that different to being at home - there are a few practical issues - if it's hot you would need to keep your insulin cool - you can get electric hookups at most campsite and have a coolbox to do that. Take some antiseptic wipes if you inject and make sure your friends are educated about your condition and you should be good. Camping's great, cooking and eating outside, especially if you can have a campfire (here's a list of campsites that allow them: http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/articles/view.asp?id=4)

 

[Galen1595]

absolutely, it's ok. Just bring your back up supplies, insulin and syringes(yes even if you already have a pump) in case of random high bg; glucagon and a ton of carbs in case of random low bg. trust me you do not want to be 2 hours away from a hospital and stressing about a bad blood sugar, ruins the whole dang trip.

 

[sahithi]

That is ok. Hope your friends know about it and they will take care of you. Take food on-time. Do not forget to take medicine if you have any.

 

[Brettmans]

Yes. The answer is that you can do anything that any other 13 year old can do and that type 1 diabetes should never ever be a reason to stop you from doing what you want to do!!

You just need a bit more planning and to think things through a bit more than everyone else. I just got back from a few days camping, and here's a few tips.

The worst thing is hypos, so make sure you take plenty of stuff to treat a hypo (including nighttime hypos) and that its always easy to get to. You might be carrying heavy camping stuff around or setting up tents so a hypo might be likely due to extra exertion, dextros in pocket is a good idea.

The next worse thing is really high blood sugar! Make sure you have enough insulin with you, and think about all the other things you need and take spares (pen needles, spare insulin pen, spare tester, extra strips, batteries for meter, spare finger pricked and finger pricked needles, pump spares if on a pump etc.. ) keep it in a bag so it's all in one place & easy to get to and keep that bag safe.

Finally make sure you have some money for snacks when out, try to eat at the same times as if you were at home (or at least have a snack) and take a mobile phone (and charger) and text your mum to tell her that your okay and promise you'll call her if you need any help!

Other than that, go camping and have fun like the other 13 year olds, and in the future always do whatever your friends are doing, just make sure you do enough planning and take everything you need -

Never let type 1 stop you from doing anything!!

Good luck.

 

[TJR56]

Yes. The answer is that you can do anything that any other 13 year old can do and that type 1 diabetes should never ever be a reason to stop you from doing what you want to do!!

You just need a bit more planning and to think things through a bit more than everyone else. I just got back from a few days camping, and here's a few tips.

The worst thing is hypos, so make sure you take plenty of stuff to treat a hypo (including nighttime hypos) and that its always easy to get to. You might be carrying heavy camping stuff around or setting up tents so a hypo might be likely due to extra exertion, dextros in pocket is a good idea.

The next worse thing is really high blood sugar! Make sure you have enough insulin with you, and think about all the other things you need and take spares (pen needles, spare insulin pen, spare tester, extra strips, batteries for meter, spare finger pricked and finger pricked needles, pump spares if on a pump etc.. ) keep it in a bag so it's all in one place & easy to get to and keep that bag safe.

Finally make sure you have some money for snacks when out, try to eat at the same times as if you were at home (or at least have a snack) and take a mobile phone (and charger) and text your mum to tell her that your okay and promise you'll call her if you need any help!

Other than that, go camping and have fun like the other 13 year olds, and in the future always do whatever your friends are doing, just make sure you do enough planning and take everything you need -

Never let type 1 stop you from doing anything!!

Good luck.

Go for it, but do the planning ahead: supplies etc. and deffo make sure your friends know both that you're diabetic and how to treat any hypo. Enjoy!

 

[Reeker]

I was in the same situation when I was 12 years old, my parents were very worried about my health, because of this they always did not allow me to spend a lot of time with friends or in the worst-case away from home. And when my class had to go on a trip, my teacher assured them that everything would be fine, and I promised them that I would take care of myself and always carry the medications and injections with me. However, on the way back at night I needed medication, and it was good that my friend had a very good flashlight, ordered from Amazon, with which I was able to find everything I needed and thus saved my life.