Travelling with diabetes.

[Jo Scorey]

Hi,
Im off travelling in the far east in Novemeber for (hopefully) a year. i have all my freo packs sorted and am in cantact with my drug company about accessing my insulin abroard, and have looked into insurance. plannings going well, but just wanted to know if anyone had any tips or experience they could share as ive never done a trip for more than 2 weeks when i could take all my insulin with me.
Also wondered about wieght loss. ive had diabetes for over 10 years since i was 10. and although i was a skinny kid, ive become a curvy woman with a very different body type to anyone in my family. is it possible that large amounts of insulin in puberty can change they way your body was ment to develop? i had poor control of my diet and bms at the time. Now even though i have a healthy diet, exercise regulary, and even tried metformin for a while i find it impossible to lose weight! any tips or advise would be good from others like myself as im a bit bored of hearing the same thing from my doctor.
thanks

 

[shedges]

Hi Jo,

I haven't travelled for more than 3 weeks, so haven't really got any advice on obtaining/keeping insulin abroad.

On the weightloss front, I am probably going to say the same old boring stuff as your doctor, but it works for me. When I want to lose weight, I eat less food and when I want to gain, I eat more. The most influencial food in terms of losing and gaining weight (and hence, the one I focus on) is the carbohydrate in my diet. Having counted and recorded EVERYTHING I eat, every insulin shot and all exercise I do for the last 6 months, I find I lose weight when eating anything under 150g of carbohydrate per day. I gain weight - muscle or fat, depending on activity levels - if I eat more than 250g of carbs per day. I.e. Lift weights at the gym = gain muscle. Do nothing = gain a spare tyre. Anything between 150g and 250g of carbs per day tends to keep me stable, with average exercise/activity levels.

Everyone is different, obviously, but due to the way a diabetic's body works, carb counting has been the easiest method for weight management I've found.

I eat as balanced a diet as possible, majority made up of fresh fruit and vegetables and keep sweet treats to a minimum. I don't exclude them, as the odd treat makes me happy But I definitely eat less sugary stuff than when I was not diabetic.

Hope that wasn't too samey.

Sam.