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Insulin pump on holiday

J

Janerd

Member
Messages
21
Hi everyone,
I realise this subject has been covered a 1000 times and I apologise for asking again but I can't find a specific answer.
My daughter sophie wears a minimed pump and has done for 8 months, we are going to Portugal next month and although we have travelled abroad with the injection pens we have not done so with the pump.
Sophie is thinking about going back on pen injections for the week. We discussed this with the hospital back in April when sophie was supposed to go to Tenerife for a few days with a friend and her family (this was all booked before she knew she was having the pump). The hospital didn't really like the idea of her going back on injections and the explanation they gave about how to revert back to injections and then back to the pump after sounded so complicated and to top it off they also told Sophie she would feel absolutely dreadful back on pens. The upshot was that Sophie decided not to go on the holiday, which I found rather sad.
Anyway, we now find ourselves in the same situation again and I think Sophie will want to go back on injection pens so I again asked the question and received an email from the hospital explaining the procedure. They suggest she reduces the basal rate on the pump for two days and inject half doses of lantus, then when we leave for the holiday to just disconnect the pump and start the 100% lantus and commence injections as before.
My questions are, I am wondering if we should go away on the pump and just see how it goes, if Sophie doesn't get along with this we can then switch to pen injections. But will this take 2 days planning as described by the hospital, because if the pump just stopped working (god forbid) we would have to revert straight back to pens as we would not have the pump to adjust. So I don't see the difference. Has anyone had any experience of this. Hope this makes sense it sounds all gobbledygook.
Just interested to hear other people's experiences of travelling abroad. We have pump insurance but the thought of re-programming the pump again makes me break out in a cold sweat.
Any answers and thoughts would be most appreciated
 
Hello - my DSN told me to follow the following plan initally if my pump failed on holiday, or any other time :-

Work out Total average insulin over the last 6 days (e.g. 26) Half it - 13 Add 10% - 1.3
My daiy injection Levermir dose would be 14.3 (13 + 1.3)
Normal novo rapid bolus to carb ratio to cover food.

I don't know know if this is standard advice but this is what I would do. She said to go from here and see what tweaks were needed every 2/3 days.

In terms of holidays - you will see that I have posted further down on a similar type of question to yours. I just stuck with the pump and that's what will do in future too. I always arrange for Medtronic to send a spare pump, I always make sure I have my pump settings written down and I have insurance - try and cover all the angles !!!
 
Thanks Riri, that's really helpful. I would prefer to go with the pump and see how it goes but obviously it's sophies choice what we end up doing. The plan we were given by the hospital covered a pre-planned transition from pump to,pens and what I really needed a plan for if we decide to switch to pens immediately, so your answer is spot on.
I actually posted this exact same question on another forum and am quite dismayed that I got shot down in flames by 3 people suggesting its not really up to me, why can't I just let Sophie decide for herself, and what's the problem with the pump anyway. Even asking exactly how old is your daughter. So iv found myself today having to justify the question again, so it was nice to see your reply just answering the question without questioning my motive.
 
No worries Janerd - glad to be of some help :thumbup:
 
I don't think that I want to chance taking my pump on holiday abroad especially if I am going on a beach and be in and out of the sea,..... I'd be worried about someone stealing the pump for one thing which I think would fetch some money on the black market and also it would be just my luck to start getting failed delivery problems causing me to do a prime to see if tube was blocked and if not take out set and you can bet this will happen either on the plane or if I've gone off on a daytrip somewhere. Too much hassle..............
 
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