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Travelling with insulin

daniT1D

Well-Known Member
Messages
354
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hello everyone, I'm Dani and I'm 24. I was diagnosed as type 1 6 months ago and am on lantus and Novorapid. I'm after some advice regarding taking insulin abroad. I have a summer holiday booked so need to purchase a travel case/ cool bag for the pens. Any recommendations you have would be great. Thank you.
 
Hi Dani and welcome to the forum

There's Frio Wallets that you can use to keep insulin cool and they come in various sizes, just Google it and take a look to see if there suitable.
 
Hi Dani,

Noblehead is right - frio wallets are great. Have taken them as far afield as Greece and Turkey and they kept all my insulin cool which was great in such hot temps over summer esp on days when no access to fridge i.e. going out on a boat for the day.

I took two different sizes with me - one that I could fit my pens into and then a larger one to store my spare cartridges in.

Airport security didn't bat an eyelid but make sure you get a doctor's letter stating you need to keep ALL your supplies with you in your hand luggage.

Bet you can't wait for your holiday given the horrid weather we're having.



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Thanks for the tips guys, I'll check out the frio wallets. Unfortunately I'm not going until June but just thinking ahead and making sure I'm prepared so it all goes smoothly!


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Frio wallets are great i used them the whole time I spent in Tanzania. You have plenty if time yet to prepare but I know that the first time I went aboard I was nervous but it was fine. Make sure you take double the insulin you need whilst away and get a note from gp or Dsn saying you need to carry insulin needles etc with you. Carry all you need in your hand luggage.
 
It's finally holiday time my flight is 7:50am

Thank you all for your advice so far, I have my frio wallets ready and just have one final question for you (well two actually )

I take 24 units of lantus at 6:30am
- should I reduce this to maybe 20 units in anticipation of the hot weather?
- can I take this at 4:30am before I leave for the airport? Or should I stick with 6:30?

Thank you x


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I would probably risk a small high the first couple of nights you are there. Reducing your dose a bit may be wise, just be sure to test your blood sugars more regularly while you are away. Obviously you don't want to spend your holiday with blood sugars in the teens, but equally it can be complicated having a hypo in a foreign country. I would probably also suggest trying to keep giving your dose at the same time, as changing your routine may make things more unpredictable.
 
daniT1D said:
Thank you for your advice @Charles Robin


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No worries, happy to help. It is probably a good idea to stock up on a source of glucose as well. I carried plenty of dextrose tablets last week when I was away for my first wedding anniversary. It can be surprising how much walking you end up doing on holiday, especially if you are checking out all the sights and tourist attractions. Obviously don't overdo the sugar, but it's better to have it and not need it than the other way round. Of course the most important thing is for you to have a great time!
 
I think it is a matter of preference to be honest.

When travelling I find it better to back off on the basal and then just correct. If you are going across multiple time zones such that it is not practical to keep your basal at the GMT time that you normally take it then correcting for the interim with your novorapis should work.

I have to do some business trips to the US west coast quite regularly so what I do is just have 2 dinner times and does for them as I normally would then take my evening levemir at the local time.

Of course it depends how long you are away, if you are on Lantus then I guess you are on a single dose a day which may mean that you don't need to normalise to local time if you are only there a couple of weeks.

Hope you have a great holiday!

/A
 
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