travel / timezones? (type 1)

[zoeee]

oo, first "proper" post!

so i've had type 1 for 9 years now, but i was on mixtard 25 twice a day up until the last few months where they finally made me do the basal bolus (lantus once a day with humalog for meals) - telling me that it'd sort my control (it was high too much ) -to be honest it's not going great (at all!), seems more out of control than ever and my nurse has told me she "can't take me any further and has run out of ideas" so i'm being given to someone else next week, hopefully they can make sense of it/be a bit more clued up than she was :| !
anyway! - babbling.
i've taken a year off before i go to uni, and my friend and i have been planning a trip to america for years - and this is the year we're going! but i'm not sure how i'd go about doing my insulin, as i've never been anywhere abroad on this regieme and the biggest timezone change i had was 2 hours - before, i'd just make the injection a bit earlier / bit later than usual, and my levels would be back to 'normal' the next day.
but on basal bolus, going 8 hours "into the past" - what would i do?!
i assume i'd just bring a watch with me with the UK time on it and carry on doing my lantus injection when i would be doing it in the uk, whatever time it is in america - that makes the most sense to me? or would i have to try and change my lantus to suit their timezones - even though we're going through quite a few different states so they'd change a lot - surely that would mess my sugars up quite a bit because doesn't lantus take a few days to adjust to?

and am i going to have problems with security at the airports because of the huge number of needles/insulin i'll be taking with me? i've never had issues before, just brought a doctors note - but obviously security in america is much tighter than here & spain, and i'm going there for a month so i'll be bringing quite a bit with me!

and is there anything else i should be aware of?
sorry for all the questions, i was trying to keep this short & to the point haha! x

 

[JUSTFOCUS]

have you tried asking people on an american site whats what .I'm sure given different time zones in the usa they possibly might have visited the uk!!
Hope this helps.
JF

 

[cugila]

Zoeee

Here's a link to this websites own Community pages sections about travel abroad and using Insulin etc.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/travel.html

There have been many previous threads here about the subject, just do a search with the keyword Travel and you will hit on all the relevant posts.

I am sure you will also find some of our more travelled T1's who will give you the information and tips as well.

 

[AndyS]

Hi Zoeee,

Depending on what sort of time you are taking your Lantus this can be the easiest way.
I go off to the US with work at least once a year, next trip is next week in fact. Last year was the first year I was there after Diagnosis and at the time I was on Lantus and Novorapid.

I was taking my Lantus at around 7-8pm UK time so I just rolled it in with lunch while I was there.
This actually made it much easier when I came back since I would then keep doing it at the same time.

The trouble with Lantus is that any change takes a few days to soak in so if possible you really want to try and keep it at the same time relative to a fixed time refernce. So your idea of a watch set to UK time for the first few days is a good one until you get used to taking it at say lunchtime.

As for travelling I haven't had any trouble with the security guys. I keep all my supplies in a smaller bag I can pull out and put through X-Ray on it's own and I tell them I am diabetic and have sharps and insulin in my bag when I get to the conveyor.
Also you should get a note from your Dr / DSN and also take a copy of your prescription in case you need anything while you are out there.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy the west coast.

/A

 

[copepod]

Time difference between UK and eastern US is only 5 hours, 8 hours difference to west coast, 9 hrs to Alaska and 10 hrs to Hawaii. Once you get there, changes of 1 hr are only the same as when clocks go forward or back (GMT / BST). So, it's up to you to change time you take Lantus to whatever suits you best. The beauty of basal bolus is that you can take your bolus when you want to eat, any number of meals in 24 hrs, rather than bimodal / mixed insulin commiting you to eating again in 6 hrs or so. If you have a digital watch, it might have a dual time function, which means you can display both UK and local time (or previous local time) - whatever helps you.

Get proper insurance, get a letter from your diabetes clinic (as GPs usually charge) to explain need to carry insulin & sharps on this and future trips, carry emergency food at all times, don't bother with special diabetic meals on planes.

Have a great trip.

 

[spideog]

I tend to just stick on the departure time zone until I get to wherever, keeping an eye on bg levels on the way, and then switch to the local time zone on arrival. Last couple of long flights have been 24 hour ones though and I was on two lantus shots a day so that fitted in fine. For the more tricky 5-8 hour changes I would just treat the outbound journey as a long day and the return as two short ones. Does depend a bit on if you have daytime or overnight flights though.