How to come off pump for holiday?

[AJB_81]

Hi pumpers, anyone know the formula to come of the pump and temporary go back to injections for a summer holiday? Using NovoRapid in the pump, basal rate at 18 units/day, bolus dependant on carbs (obv).
So bolus req's will remain the same, but what do we do with the basal? We'll go with Levemir, do we do a straight swap, e.g have 18 units of Levemir with the pump off, or is it not that straight forward?? Any help appreciated!

 

[Picci]

I'll be watching this thread closely andybraith, I'm still waiting for my pump but I intend to revert back to MDI for my annual holidays abroad. I know many do holiday with the pump but I have no intention of getting harassed at the airport and having issues sunbathing and swimming. Good luck.

 

[kimrooney89]

I've only recently got my pump. My DSN advised that if i was coming off my pump to calculate the previous days total insulin, add 20% then half it to get your levemir dose. Hope this helps

 

[DCUKMod]

Hi pumpers, anyone know the formula to come of the pump and temporary go back to injections for a summer holiday? Using NovoRapid in the pump, basal rate at 18 units/day, bolus dependant on carbs (obv).
So bolus req's will remain the same, but what do we do with the basal? We'll go with Levemir, do we do a straight swap, e.g have 18 units of Levemir with the pump off, or is it not that straight forward?? Any help appreciated!

Andy - I have no experience of this myself, but I know @donnellysdogs has transitioned to and from a pump a couple of times, so she may have some insight to offer you.

 

[AJB_81]

Thanks @kimroomey89 - that's very useful! We've holidayed with the pump the last few years but a full day in a water park is a challenge, basically disconnected most of the day and correcting as and when... See how we go this year on injections. Plan to switch a week before and monitor with a Libre sensor.
Thanks again!

 

[kimrooney89]

Thanks @kimroomey89 - that's very useful! We've holidayed with the pump the last few years but a full day in a water park is a challenge, basically disconnected most of the day and correcting as and when... See how we go this year on injections. Plan to switch a week before and monitor with a Libre sensor.
Thanks again!

No problem at all. My DSN also said if you hook back up to your pump before the 12 hour action window of your levemir, just to reduce your temp basal. Sounds like pens may be the best option if you'd be disconnected from your pump for the majority of your holiday anyway. I hope you have a fab holiday!

 

[noblehead]

I've only recently got my pump. My DSN advised that if i was coming off my pump to calculate the previous days total insulin, add 20% then half it to get your levemir dose. Hope this helps

That is an excellent reply @kimrooney89 , when starting on a pump my basal rate (started on just the one basal rate) was my lantus dose minus 20%.

 

[Tracyann35]

I used my pump in Greece about 4 weeks ago, security were fine, coming home was more difficult I kept being told to put it through the scanner eventually someone came over swabbed it and let me through! It wasn't an issue as I wore tankini style bikinis so no one could really see it, was just a bit awkward trying to keep it cool in the sun so just changed Insulin every day to be on safe side. But next holiday I'd like to go back to MDI Good luck

 

[Steffany]

Sounds super lazy, but I think I'm just going to email my diabetes team any time I want to go abroad now I've got my pump because I'm AWFUL at maths anyway so I'd probably screw up the conversion back to pen and end up ruining my own holiday.

 

[AJB_81]

Well we've made the switch to MDI and things are going well so far, here's what we did: -
1) Put a Libre sensors on two weeks before our holiday,
2) With 1 week to go we disconnected the pump first thing in the morning and immediately injected 11 units of Levemir. Pump basal of 18 equates to a requirement of 22 units of Levemir (18 x 1.2= 21.6, so round up to 22 and take half in the AM and half in the morning).
3) Monitoring BGs with the Libre meter and so far so good.
4) Counting carbs and injecting NovoRapid just as before, 10g carbs = 1 unit.
5) We're ready to go
FLORIDA HERE WE COME!

The biggest issue at the moment is when BGs drift and we want to correct, the pump is so easy to have the odd correction here and there, so don't think MDI is a tempting prospect long term but good for freedom in holidays!

 

[AJB_81]

A few reasons why the pump isn't ideal for holidays: -
- long periods with the pump disconnected when at water parks or in the pool so BGs drift up
- Insulin & pump get too hot
- for the ladies who wear a bikini they have the cannula on show & some don't like to have this visible.

Always a good idea to have a doctors letter to prove condition, also good to take a repeat form as further proof.

Personally I think being able to switch to MDI's quickly and confidently is not such a bad thing in case a pump ever fails

We've had lots of holidays with the pump and this time thought we'd try something different and back to injections for 3 weeks