making pump adjustments when flying long haul

[himtoo]

Hi there pump users and long distance travellers

i will be flying soon for a trip from UK to west coast Canada ( 8 hours behind UK time )
just wondering what others do as regarding things like ........

when to shift to new time zone on pump
making a couple of time zone shifts during flight- yes or no
reducing basal in general to reduce chance of hypo while flying
any other tips or thoughts for long haul travel

thanks for reading
himtoo

 

[Nicola M]

I recently (August) flew long haul to South Korea, an 11-hour flight there and 13 hours back, and they're 8 hours ahead of UK time. I personally didn't change the time on my pump until I landed, purely because, at least in my experience, they treat the time on the plane as though you're still in the timezone you left from, so the meals they provided were in UK times. I'm on a hybrid closed loop, so my basal auto-adjusts anyway, but I did pack some hypo supplies just in case, and the bonus of being on a plane is you can always purchase items if needs be. I think it's up to you when to swap to a new timezone, but I found swapping once I landed the easiest, although due to the hybrid closed loop on the way back, I swapped partway through my flight so as not to cross backwards over midnight. Niether way of doing it was particularly better or worse for me.

The biggest piece of advice I suppose is to pack plenty of snacks, hypo treatments, and get some flight socks if you haven't already, even with them, my feet swelled. I did get up roughly every hour - 2 hours for a little walk up and down the aisle. I thought long haul would be more difficult than it actually was, and I had a pretty positive experience.

 

[Chas C]

I've flown many times (monthly) over many hours, always adjust 50% of time difference on take off then remaining 50% on landing. I've never adjusted basal or bolus. Be careful with snacks on landing, check that your snacks are allowed and or don't need to be declared, easy enough to bin and repurchase at airport if needed.

 

[sona chandi]

I've changed to local time when landing.

Agree with previous advice do carry back-up supplies.

All the best.