With the calendar about to tip us right into the holiday season, I wanted to share a few “traveling with diabetes recommendations,” since many of our fellow PWD will be braving the roads, seas, and skies to get home for the holidays. (How many of you travel by boat to get home? Any PPWD [pirate people with diabetes] reading here?)
On the road with a busted pancreas? Here are some tips for traveling when you don’t make insulin:
Pack back-ups. Wearing an insulin pump? Bring a few more infusion set changes than you think you’ll need. Have a long-acting insulin and fast-acting insulin pen in your carry-on, just in case your pump craps out. I always keep a few syringes in my bag, too, on the off chance that I’ll need them. And if I’m planning on being away for a week or more, I’ll bring an extra vial of insulin, in case I smash one on the bathroom floor. (Rarely happens, especially since adding this protective cover to my arsenal.)
And bring extra underwear and socks. Just because.
Keep a solid glucose supply. With airport security different in every city and country, you never know when a juice box will be tossed as contraband. Keep your glucose supplies non-liquid, if you can. I keep jars of glucose tabs in my backpack and one of those raisin box 6-packs in my carry-on in case of lows.
Wear a medical alert ID. A medical ID speaks for you when you can’t speak for yourself, and with the unpredictable nature of diabetes sometimes peaking during travel, it’s crucial to have your bases covered. Wear something that says you have diabetes – a necklace, a bracelet, a temporary tattoo, a REAL tattoo … whatever can help someone help you if you need it. And the medical alert jewelry available today is an upgrade compared to the crap we used to have to wear, so there’s that bonus.
Know where you are. As someone with a useless sense of direction and an equally useless pancreas, resources that help with directions are key. Whether I’m trying to get back to my hotel or am in need of the closest medical facility, the Here WeGo app has been really great while on the road. You can download maps of the cities you’re visiting before you even get on the plane and the maps work in real-time and don’t require cell service/wifi to use while you’re out.
If you’re not a fan of smartphone technology, do some research ahead of travel to scope out the nearest medical resources. Either method will arm you with important information, if you need it.
Have fun. Hell yes have fun, because traveling with diabetes is completely and utterly doable. And there is fun to be had, and stuff to SEE. Whether you’re taking an afternoon to roll up on a mountain and hike that thing or jet-setting off to another country to take in the sights, planning properly makes diabetes less of a Thing and more just a carry-on.
Safe and happy travels!!
[bctt tweet=”On the road with a busted pancreas? Here are some travel tips! ” username=”sixuntilme”]
I would start with have fun first. Then I would go to carry backups. I tend to carry double supplies. If I need one I take 2. 2 I take 4.
Then in the end I always carry my favorite glucose packs. I honestly really like those packages. (but please don’t tell Sheryl that)
Road ID has new bar necklaces for the ladies. I got the rose gold for Pip, and tried it on for size. Super cute, and as always great quality. http://www.RoadID.com
I resisted putting “this diabadass’s mother” by my cell #. Sigh. So many regrets. ;D
Thanks for the hookup on those Securitee blankets! New to me!
“this diabadass’s mother” – so funny! Great idea and very tempting!!
StarBurst candies are portable, individually wrapped, and generally available in airports, and each one has 4.2 grams of sugar- so they are like glucose tablets not tasting like chalk. They get hard after a while, but have bailed me out many time on planes, trapped on run way for 2 hours at dinner time, in meetings, at ADA, etc…
And a syringe is a low tech highly reliable back up at least for rapid insulin. They have saved me many times as well. Bummer is if no long acting insulin, you have to inject your basal amount every 2-3 hours, but it beats DKA and works for short periods of time.
Also- insulin does not need to be refrigerated while traveling, depending on type it is good for at least a month at room temperature. Leaving insulin in frig might lead to it freezing if the temp is not well regulated, or forgetting it when you leave…
Nice tips!
Another point, TSA checkpoint leniency may vary, but if you want to keep extra insulin cold, you can travel with a completely frozen solid ice pack in your carry on.
This might be dumb but I asked my Endo for a letter saying that I had diabetes and could travel on the plane with insulin and stuff. 🙂
Not dumb at all. I have traveled with letters like that a bunch of times.
I had a similar letter a few years back from Dexcom that saved me in Canada, where they apparently had never heard of CGMS. Security was about to tell me to remove the transmitter right in the line! You might be able to get one from your sales rep – the guy I worked with in FL at the time was super and got the language directly from corporate.
Thanks, Kerri!!
I just traveled this weekend and had my pump crap out so I needed those back up pens I dutiful carry but never expect to use!! Saved my diabutt big time!!!
Thanks for all the tips!!!! Hope ur holiday travel goes smoothly!!!
Great tips. In my years of traveling I’d say raisins, Starburst or those Halloween size packs of Skittles work great as glucose go-tos. No refrigeration and no chalky taste 😉 But glucose tabs for me still work the quickest – I try to keep a tube bedside wherever I stay.
Also, don’t forget how much walking lowers BG. Every hot chocolate and knish I consumed on a trip to NYC only required drops of insulin after I factored in the miles of walking and going up & down stairs to the subway.
Tip for parking in garages at airports, etc. – snap a pic of your car with a landmark or sign in the frame. I would have lost my mind looking had I not had a visual in many places.
Last thing I’d say is maybe try to keep ‘in range’, not ‘perfect’. Stress, lack of sleep, an unfamiliar routine, flying, etc. all tax your health, especially if you have diabetes. Plan for rest and time to eat, better to wait an extra hour at the gate with food and drink than end up in a mad dash if you can avoid it.
Happy holidays!
Ever since I started pumping with the Disetronic H-Tron+ in 1999, the system that supplied you with two pumps from the start so you always had an available backup, I’ve requested and received travel loaner pumps from Deltec (Cozmo), Animas (One Touch Ping), and now Tandem (T-Slim). I just needed to call the pump company a week or so before leaving, fill out a form, and agree to return it when I got back home. I have done this on several international trips as well as trips to remote areas in the US, basically anywhere I wasn’t confident in being able to get to a location within a day where a replacement could be delivered. So in addition to all of the great advice above, please consider relying on your pump company for this service. (And make sure to have a written record of your basal rates, active insulin time, correction factor, etc. in case your pump blanks out and you need to program the backup pump on the fly!)