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first time going abroad

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Fettuciniuse

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Parent of person with diabetes
Hi, this is my first post on here, sorry if the info I am asking about is glaringly obviously posted elsewhere.....

Our son was diagnosed type 1 in March. In Feb next year we are going on hols abroad, and I wonder about travel insurance. Is there a specific site I could look at which is better than any other - what does everyone else do regarding this??

Also, travelling with insulin - my Mum read somewhere that you must carry insulin in your hand luggage due to extremes of temperatures in the hold, but then if this takes you over your allowed liquid allowances is it a problem, and do you obtain a letter from your consultant confirming your child is diabetic??
 
Hi Fettuciniuse, welcome to the forum 🙂 Hopefully others can help with the insurance question, but from what I have gathered it is not normally a problem. Yes - insulin and other supplies must be kept in hand luggage, as there is a danger that insulin can freeze in the baggage hold of aircraft and become useless. Also, you need to keep needles, meter and test strips with you in case your hold luggage goes missing. A letter from your DSN should be sufficient for confirming your need to carry supplies of insulin and sharps - security barely raise an eyebrow these days and may not even ask to see proof 🙂

Worth finding out what the local name of the insulin is for your destination just in case and take more than you think you'll need! 🙂
 
thanks for that Northerner. 🙂

One more question - what sort of cool pac/container is considered the best to hold insulin for travel/being out and about in the heat?
 
Fettuciniuse said:
thanks for that Northerner. 🙂

One more question - what sort of cool pac/container is considered the best to hold insulin for travel/being out and about in the heat?
Click to expand...

A lot of people use a Frio pack, although another member uses a small steel vacuum flask as an alternative 🙂
 
Hi Fettuciniuse,

I was diagnosed Type 1 in February and have just gotten back from a trip to USA, so I know how your probably feeling with all the new extra things to think about. I got my insurance from diabetes UK: http://www.diabetes.org.uk/travel
Mine was expensive (me travelling for 3 weeks in USA) but it is, as far as i'm aware, the only company who will insure you for any problems abroad with a pre-existing medical condition e.g. loss or damage of insulin. You can also choose different levels of cover depending on what you are doing and where you are going (bronze, silver or gold).

As mentioned by Northener, the Frio pack is great. I used the Frio pack and it is so simple to use and can (and did) reuse over and over again as and when you need it and it stays cold for 48 hours. I took all my insulin, needles and testing strips (accompanied by a letter and a print out of the prescriptions) in a plastic wallet in my hand luggage. I didn't say anything to security going through and they didn't blink an eye as it went through the scanner.

I hope this has been helpful.
C 🙂
 
Thanks CBee.

We are going to Europe, and I wonder if our EHIC (European Health Insurance Cards) entitle us to the same care there as my son would receive in the UK for his diabetes. Anybody know about this? I will look it up I think, before paying a lot in insurance to cover a pre-existing condition.

And the Frio advice is great - it looks like the perfect thing.
 
CBee said:
...Mine was expensive (me travelling for 3 weeks in USA) but it is, as far as i'm aware, the only company who will insure you for any problems abroad with a pre-existing medical condition e.g. loss or damage of insulin. You can also choose different levels of cover depending on what you are doing and where you are going (bronze, silver or gold).
...
C 🙂
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure this isn't the case as I'm sure most of our members use other insurance companies.

Fettuciniuse - the Diabetes UK country guides might be helpful for you:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/OnlineShop/Information-about-diabetes/Country-Guides---NEW1/
 
Hi Fettuciniuse

My daughter was diagnosed aged 10 in March 2007. We have been on several holidays to Europe since.
Travel insurance - I normally buy an annual family insurance. Depending on the company I've paid ?10 extra for Carol's diabetes and ?10 extra for my thyroid condition. I've used Halifax and Esure. ATM we are insured with Nationwide (due to having a Flexaccount with them) and they didn't charge anything extra for diabetes nor the thyroid.

Travelling - as Northe said, yes insulin needs to go in your hand luggage. You won't have any problems with liquid allowance, as the insulin comes in very small packages. They only worry if the bottles are bigger than 100ml. It doesn't matter how many 100ml bottles you take. Frio bag is brilliant. But make sure you dry it properly and quickly when you've finished using it, as it could go mouldy otherwise.
I have a letter from the consultant saying that Carol has diabetes and that she needs certain things with her at all times, but in the last 5 years I've only had to show it once.
Also, always take double the amount you really need with you. That way if a case does get lost or you can't get home for any reason, you have extra. I'm usually extra cautious and take 4 times as much😱 Double for use and another identical, except the glucagon.
We went on a one week cruise last week and I took 4 vials of insulin for her pump plus 4 rapid and 4 levemir pens for emergency. 4 vials normally last Carol 4 to 6 weeks. LOL, reading this back, I think that was a bit much really 😛
 
Fettuciniuse said:
Thanks CBee.

We are going to Europe, and I wonder if our EHIC (European Health Insurance Cards) entitle us to the same care there as my son would receive in the UK for his diabetes. Anybody know about this? I will look it up I think, before paying a lot in insurance to cover a pre-existing condition.

And the Frio advice is great - it looks like the perfect thing.
Click to expand...

EHIC entitles other EAA residents to the same level of care as local residents receive - very few other countries offer care with such low costs as UK; usually people have to pay for visits to doctors, prescriptions etc, sometimes with refunds coming later - see

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/countryguide/Pages/EEAcountries.aspx for links to individual countries.

I use a stainless steel vaccuum flask - for some trips, only. For my last 2 trips overseas over the past few years, each a week long, Norway in February (skiing and visiting friends) and Iceland in August (conservation stduy tour) I didn't bother. It does offer much better physical potection against knocks and vibration in aircraft, motor vehicles etc, although has to be empty of eater when passing through airport security. Basically, insulin is much tougher than most people think - if you read the patient information leaflet, it will probably say it's OK at room temperature for up to 28 days (and room temperature means up to 30oC), so as long as you don't leave it in direct sunlight or on a radiator or next to a heating vent, it should be fine.
 
Thanks for that. So as I understand it, although my EHIC will cover us, I also need to have the diabetes declared as a pre-existing condition on our travel insurance.

I am deffo getting a frio pack (or two) and thanks for the vacuum flask idea too, like that one!
 
I didn't even have to buy a vaccuum flask, as I had a selection (05 and 1.0 litre) long before I got type 1 diabetes aged 30 years 🙂

And the 17 year old young man in my group on a 6 week long expedition in South Greenland 1992 didn't have a Frio (don't think they'd been invented then) or flask - he just left his insulin in sensible places, in shade at sealevel basecamp and insulated from ice and shaded from sun when camping on glacier. Menories of his example helped me lots some 3 years later. And I was delighted to learn that we were both Games Maker volunteers at Olympics - he is now an A&E consultant 🙂
 
We went to the USA in April, our first time abroad since diagnosis, so I know how you feel! We took everything we needed for Hannah in our hand luggage and we had a pro forma letter from the diabetic clinic, but it was never asked for or checked. We used Frio packs for the insulin and these were great. Re insurance, I pay for group insurance through work (Ace insurance) and all I did was fill in a pro forma to notify them of Hannah's medical condition before we went. For this I had to get a statement signed by Hannah's GP to say that it wasn't anticipated she would need medical treatment or hospitalisation for her condition while we were abroad. I think the GP charged for this, but the insurance company didn't charge us more. I think with most insurance companies they will cover per-existing conditions in these circumstances. Just as an aside, we were advised to check where the nearest A & E was when we arrived or before we left home. We never needed it, but it was better to be prepared (especially as we were very new to it at that time.

Another tip is to take a fridge thermometer with you if you will have a fridge where you are staying. The fridge where we stayed was set too cold and Hannah's insulin went off causing us days of mystifying high readings on our return.

That sounds like a lot to think about, but in fact all you are doing is preparing for worse case scenarios. I am sure in practice it will all go smoothly and uneventfully as our holiday did.

Good luck! X
 
"And those of you comming to USA, bring plenty supplies, insulin pens are $300 for a box of 5 of Lantus or Novolog(no novorapid here, but think Novolog is the same..BD pen needles are $50 and test strips are megga. Most makes are approx $130 for a box of 100, we bought the pharmacys own brand bg meter as the strips are $35 per 100." Angela
I copied this from FB
 
We have travelled abroad twice now- no mishaps - have 2 frios which have been fine - on our last hols we contacted the airline to ask for extra hand luggage allowance-for medical stuff- think it was thompson and we got an extra 5kg.- we always print off local hosp list or go on trip advisor forum for where you are going and ask the nearest facilities.We had to really change mealtime ratios and nightime too- due to the heat etc but the hosp nurses took us through that prior to going and all was fine
 
again, many thanks for all your valuable advice - it's incredibly reassuring....🙂
 
I've been going abroad for holidays since 1969 - before I was diagnosed - with no probs.

We have annual family travelins included with our current account, it's with AXA, they do not care a thing about my diabetes even though they have had to pay a claim out - yes for lost insulin pens! - when we went to Oz.

You always need holiday ins on top of EHIC even without D or anything else because it doesn't pay for stuff like repatriation for starters. You may think well I'll never need that! - but I know a couple of people who have broken bones badly (both road accidents, one was a pedestrian the other a driver) had to be hospitalised until after the end of the hols, then needed ambulance airoplanes home. With any child, at least one parent has to stay on, hotels and food and transport ---- blah blah blah - all things that insurance pay for, EHIC doesn't ......

I did something to my knee just in Majorca (England on sea LOL) of all places 2 days before coming home and my leg was strapped solid from thigh to foot such that I'd need 3 seats to myself and the holiday co said I couldn't go on the original flight so we had to move hotels for one night, then get our own taxi to the airport - came home with Thomson though and they were brill once I got to the airport, whisked us into one of those vehicles that taz around, straight through everywhere - marvellous! - even prepared to take us into the Duty Free shop if we wanted!

Sorted out by insurer. Would have been even more of a nightmare if not insured ......
 
sorry Alba, haven't popped on here for a while, wasn't ignoring you!🙄

We are going to Lanzarote with my parents, and they have been to this particular resort before. Having read reviews, it seems pretty good there, and when medical help is needed, the staff seem to accompany you to the local medical centre anyway.

We have EHIC's, and I intend to get cover as a pre-existing condition, so I feel re-assured from the info from everyone on here. :D
 
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