Going away for a few days, seeking a little advice on a few things.

[BenjaminRWT]

Hi, been a little while since I last posted here, but I have something coming up and with my Type 1 diabetes still being a bit new to me, still need a bit of advice, suggestions and so on. This is going to be a long post, I do apologise.

Later this month, I'm going to London for a few days. Initial plan was just an overnight stay, but this has now extended by a few more days.

The original reason I'm going, is for a Wrestling show. On the 27th, AEW (All Elite Wrestling) will be holding its UK debut show, "All In", at Wembley Stadium. Been a big AEW fan for a couple of years and had to get a ticket for this. They've started to actually announce the card for it now, too.

My main issue here, is timing my insulin injection that evening. Normally at the moment, I only do one injection of Lantus, currently 7 Units at 8pm every evening (no fast-acting stuff, some of you know the weirdness of me having unused novorapid in my fridge). This will literally fall right in the middle of the show, and I'm not sure about injecting outside of my house or a hotel room. In the latter case, I attended a concert a couple of months ago (first time since my diagnosis in April), and after a call to the diabetes department at the hospital that's been treating me, they suggested I would be okay to take it slightly earlier (I did it at 6 that evening, grabbing some food to eat and heading out just before doors open). All went just fine. Still kept my hypo treatments on me - a tube of Lift chewy glucose tablets - just in case. Not really had a hypo yet, but better to have and not need them, than need and not have them.

I feel doing my injection before I leave this time might be a bit too early in this case. The show is set to start at 6 and finish at 10 (It is going to be a Pay Per View broadcast). My hotel is about an hour from the venue on the tube. Doing it before may be too early, and I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to get back to my hotel after, factoring in even getting out of the stadium that night. Could be after midnight by the time I get back.

Would I even be able to take my pens with me to fit in my injection during the show, like when there's a "Lesser" match happening? I have just looked at the Wembley Stadium website and they do allow medication as long as I have written confirmation from my doctor regarding my condition and what I need for it. I'm still a little unsure about it. Like I say, still very new to this. I'll be making a phone call to the hospital for advice on this, as well.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, I'm now staying in London a couple more days - I had some holiday leave from work to use up before September, this was a good chance to do that just before I lose it - with this in mind, I have decided it would be a good time to put together a little "travel kit" for things like this. I think a good insulated/cooling case/wallet for my pens, and a mini sharps container like this would also be handy:

2 x MySharps Pocket Containers

This is a price for 2 MySharps containers. The MySharps travel pocket container is perfect for storing your used pen needles. It is easy to use, safe with a secure locking method, and will fit into a pocket or bag easily Perfect for use for travel or at work and on the move The MySharps...

www.diabeticsupply.co.uk

I'll likely pack my blood glucose monitor just in case, and I also get Libre 2 sensors on prescription. Not forgetting my hypo treatments as well.

Anything else I could benefit from adding to the list?

 

[helli]

@BenjaminRWT i cannot answer all your questions but regarding

Would I even be able to take my pens with me to fit in my injection during the show,

the answer is absolutely yes.
I have taken my insulin pens and syringes with me everywhere including theatres, gigs, stadia, and more. i have never had anyone complain about me taking these with me in 20 years. I rarely tell anyone I have these, even when they search my bag or put them through an x-ray.
In addition to taking my insulin with me to all these places, I have injected insulin whilst I am there. Apart from needing to find somewhere I will not be jogged, i don’t need anywhere special to do the jab. I avoid injecting in the toilet as they tend to be the least hygienic places. No stranger has ever commented about me injecting in public. I don’t hide it but don’t make a song and dance about it. Most people do not notice - I lived opposite a colleague at work for years, injecting at my desk and he never knew I had diabetes.

If you are still uncomfortable about carrying your insulin and injecting in public, as mentioned last time, Lantus is forgiving, You do not have to inject at exactly the same time every day. I found I could move the injection time a couple of hours each day. So, you could inject at 10pm the day before, midnight on the day, 10pm the next day and back to 8pm.

 

[rebrascora]

I take my insulin with me wherever I go and inject wherever I need to, including restaurants (of course), theatre, cinema, horse drawn carriage drive, in the car and I can even manage it walking along the street if my high alarm goes off! and I need a correction. It takes seconds and the more confident and up front you are about it, the less people notice, so don't feel that you need to be secretive. Obviously you need to be safe from people knocking or bumping you, but otherwise it really is something that you should be able to do almost anywhere.
I always have a needle fitted for those situations with just the little cap on the needle inside the pen top, so that I can just take the cap off, take the needle cover off, dial up the air shot and release, then dial up the dose, expose a bit of skin and jab it in and then carefully replace the pen top with the needle stull on and remove and dispose of the needle later when you get back to your hotel. The longest part of the procedure is the 10 seconds you hold the needle in the skin after the insulin is dispensed. Probably worth having a spare needle in a pocket just in case the one you have fitted gets snagged in clothing and bends as very occasionally happens and you can always carry an empty test strip pot to put the used needle in if you need to, which will contain it safely until you can put it in a sharpsafe.

 

[rebrascora]

@helli types faster than me! 🙄

 

[SimonP]

@BenjaminRWT i cannot answer all your questions but regarding

the answer is absolutely yes.
I have taken my insulin pens and syringes with me everywhere including theatres, gigs, stadia, and more. i have never had anyone complain about me taking these with me in 20 years. I rarely tell anyone I have these, even when they search my bag or put them through an x-ray.
In addition to taking my insulin with me to all these places, I have injected insulin whilst I am there. Apart from needing to find somewhere I will not be jogged, i don’t need anywhere special to do the jab. I avoid injecting in the toilet as they tend to be the least hygienic places. No stranger has ever commented about me injecting in public. I don’t hide it but don’t make a song and dance about it. Most people do not notice - I lived opposite a colleague at work for years, injecting at my desk and he never knew I had diabetes.

If you are still uncomfortable about carrying your insulin and injecting in public, as mentioned last time, Lantus is forgiving, You do not have to inject at exactly the same time every day. I found I could move the injection time a couple of hours each day. So, you could inject at 10pm the day before, midnight on the day, 10pm the next day and back to 8pm.

I also take it everywhere and inject when I need to, even when I was mixing from vials in a syringe (though that was quite a lot of stuff to carry and a bit of a hassle as I also used to inject in my thigh - so I got a mixtard pen as soon as I could and used my shoulder from then on until I moved to basal-bolus more recently.)

I also don't make a song and dance about it, but I did once have someone in a restaurant (at another table) turn around and tell me that they had a phobia of needles (when I was injecting in my shoulder), to which I replied that I had a phobia of dying and that they could always look away for a moment or two until I was finished.

I take a handful of needles with me in a jacket or jeans pocket (or ideally bag if I have one), I don't leave them installed before or after, but take the needle off and stick it all back together again (both covers) and then throw it all back in the pocket/bag. I've only ever had a problem with this once with a satchel I used at uni to cart books around, which had probably had used needles in it for quite a long while - I was walking back to my car after lectures one day wondering about a mild discomfort on my bottom, which was where the satchel was hanging and swinging back and forth when I walked. On further investigation I noticed that I had a needle sticking out of the satchel and making contact with the aforementioned bottom on each step! I had a clear out thereafter, but still do the same thing with the old ones now, am just slightly more careful when clearing them out of bags just in case.

+1 on the moving injection time, my morning dose can move up to 4h at a go if I have particularly early start followed by the weekend and a lie-in, evening doses tend to move less, but still easily 2h difference from day to day depending on whether I see the reminder before I head for bed (at which point I always check.)

Have fun 🙂

P.S. In the UK you won't need an insulating wallet, if you're travelling abroad or the insulin is likely to be sitting in the sun/hot room/hot car then perhaps yes, so worth having, but perhaps not a major necessity with the weather like it is right now!

 

[BenjaminRWT]

Thanks all! It's always good to get people's perspectives as I get to grips with all of this.

I know I've been okay moving my injection time a few hours either way in the past. Did it VERY early on, as there was a works do where almost everyone I knew and loved over 17 years was leaving. Didn't want to miss that.

It's just this would be the most I've ever moved it either way, ever.

My daily routine is such that so far I've found it VERY easy to stick to my time - I actually have an alarm set for it on my phone anyway in case I did forget.

I've decided in the week before, to move my injection time a bit so I should be able to just wait until I get back to the hotel after the show. Still going to get some stuff anyway. I'm planning some things for possibly next year, so I won't be wasting money on this stuff.

 

[helli]

For handling sharps when out, I refuse to waste money on “mini sharps safes” when a small pot (e.g. a used strips tube) does the job, is cheaper (free) and takes up less space.
If I am out for longer, I use an old drinks bottle for a week or a small cosmetic bottle (Boots sell a pack of travel bottles which can be used for shampoo, etc. when flying) for a few nights.
I then decant into my sharps bin when I get home.

The only investment I would recommend is a Frio pouch for your pens if you are likely to be going somewhere warm.

Regarding your trip to London, don’t forget to take extra supplies if staying overnight including a spare insulin pen. Any plans for timing will be no use if your pen is damaged and you have no back up.

 

[BenjaminRWT]

For handling sharps when out, I refuse to waste money on “mini sharps safes” when a small pot (e.g. a used strips tube) does the job, is cheaper (free) and takes up less space.
If I am out for longer, I use an old drinks bottle for a week or a small cosmetic bottle (Boots sell a pack of travel bottles which can be used for shampoo, etc. when flying) for a few nights.
I then decant into my sharps bin when I get home.

The only investment I would recommend is a Frio pouch for your pens if you are likely to be going somewhere warm.

Regarding your trip to London, don’t forget to take extra supplies if staying overnight including a spare insulin pen. Any plans for timing will be no use if your pen is damaged and you have no back up.

I was going to at least take a spare anyway. I only recently started a new pen, they tend to last me about a month, so I wouldn't want to risk running out while I'm away anyway, the one I'm using right now would be at best very near the end by the time of my trip.

 

[Satan’s little helper]

Hi, been a little while since I last posted here, but I have something coming up and with my Type 1 diabetes still being a bit new to me, still need a bit of advice, suggestions and so on. This is going to be a long post, I do apologise.

Later this month, I'm going to London for a few days. Initial plan was just an overnight stay, but this has now extended by a few more days.

The original reason I'm going, is for a Wrestling show. On the 27th, AEW (All Elite Wrestling) will be holding its UK debut show, "All In", at Wembley Stadium. Been a big AEW fan for a couple of years and had to get a ticket for this. They've started to actually announce the card for it now, too.

My main issue here, is timing my insulin injection that evening. Normally at the moment, I only do one injection of Lantus, currently 7 Units at 8pm every evening (no fast-acting stuff, some of you know the weirdness of me having unused novorapid in my fridge). This will literally fall right in the middle of the show, and I'm not sure about injecting outside of my house or a hotel room. In the latter case, I attended a concert a couple of months ago (first time since my diagnosis in April), and after a call to the diabetes department at the hospital that's been treating me, they suggested I would be okay to take it slightly earlier (I did it at 6 that evening, grabbing some food to eat and heading out just before doors open). All went just fine. Still kept my hypo treatments on me - a tube of Lift chewy glucose tablets - just in case. Not really had a hypo yet, but better to have and not need them, than need and not have them.

I feel doing my injection before I leave this time might be a bit too early in this case. The show is set to start at 6 and finish at 10 (It is going to be a Pay Per View broadcast). My hotel is about an hour from the venue on the tube. Doing it before may be too early, and I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to get back to my hotel after, factoring in even getting out of the stadium that night. Could be after midnight by the time I get back.

Would I even be able to take my pens with me to fit in my injection during the show, like when there's a "Lesser" match happening? I have just looked at the Wembley Stadium website and they do allow medication as long as I have written confirmation from my doctor regarding my condition and what I need for it. I'm still a little unsure about it. Like I say, still very new to this. I'll be making a phone call to the hospital for advice on this, as well.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, I'm now staying in London a couple more days - I had some holiday leave from work to use up before September, this was a good chance to do that just before I lose it - with this in mind, I have decided it would be a good time to put together a little "travel kit" for things like this. I think a good insulated/cooling case/wallet for my pens, and a mini sharps container like this would also be handy:

2 x MySharps Pocket Containers

This is a price for 2 MySharps containers. The MySharps travel pocket container is perfect for storing your used pen needles. It is easy to use, safe with a secure locking method, and will fit into a pocket or bag easily Perfect for use for travel or at work and on the move The MySharps...

www.diabeticsupply.co.uk

I'll likely pack my blood glucose monitor just in case, and I also get Libre 2 sensors on prescription. Not forgetting my hypo treatments as well.

Anything else I could benefit from adding to the list?

Hello,

Have a great time. Do what you have to do with the “tools” prescribed at the time you are meant to.
Carry immediate hypoglycaemia treatments, just in case.
Most crowds seem to preoccupied with the show to notice your regime. They are possibly too busy filming with phones? Just “front it” in a crowded place. My money put n it. (Or educated guess.):is there are more folk drunk or doing contraband drugs than you? No one should notice…

 

[PhoebeC]

Once you get over the weird feeling about injecting in public it stops these sorts of battles. But I have been there before myself not wanting to do it around certain people and in certain situations.
In a place like you are going nobody will even notice. I’ve done it at so many gigs and shows now, even once at the side of a Mosh Pit watching Marilyn Mason and at Glastonbury too.

Definitely take spares, my bag with my pen (novorapid) in got knocked when I was in London in November, and I had to phone my surgery to send a prescription to the local boots and pick up a new one, not a huge issue but a faff.

Have fun!

 

[helli]

I was going to at least take a spare anyway. I only recently started a new pen, they tend to last me about a month, so I wouldn't want to risk running out while I'm away anyway, the one I'm using right now would be at best very near the end by the time of my trip.

If you are close to the end of a pen, I would be tempted to take two new ones and leave your nearly finished one at home.
If it was a pen I was expecting to change to, I would not count it as a spare.

By the way, do you have reusable pens or single use ones?
The reusable ones are much better - more robust, the cartridges take up less space and there is far less waste.
Sadly, I do not think you can get smart pens for Lantus but the reusable pens for NovoRapid have a fancy top that remembers your last dose.

 

[BenjaminRWT]

If you are close to the end of a pen, I would be tempted to take two new ones and leave your nearly finished one at home.
If it was a pen I was expecting to change to, I would not count it as a spare.

By the way, do you have reusable pens or single use ones?
The reusable ones are much better - more robust, the cartridges take up less space and there is far less waste.
Sadly, I do not think you can get smart pens for Lantus but the reusable pens for NovoRapid have a fancy top that remembers your last dose.

That makes a lot of sense regarding taking two pens, really. In addition to my current pen, I still have another three in the fridge. So I'm okay there, if not, I'd be putting in my repeat prescription now.

My pens are single use ones. That's what I've been prescribed. Once they're empty, I take them to my local chemist to be properly disposed of. Although first time I did this they weren't so sure until I assured them I took off the needles beforehand. I do that as soon as I've done my injection anyway.

I know I get really paranoid over things whenever I go away. Was the same even before I was diagnosed. Almost all cases I never need to stick to plans I made. It's still good to be a little prepared though!

 

[Bruce Stephens]

My pens are single use ones. That's what I've been prescribed.

It's worth considering asking about reusable pens. (Shouldn't be any problem with that: I just asked my GP's pharmacist over the phone and she switched me over.) As @helli says, the cartridges take up much less space and the pens themselves have a pleasantly solid feel to them, and the NovoNordisk ones have fancy smart features.

 

[Inka]

Another fervent vote for reuseable pens from me @BenjaminRWT So much better and simpler 🙂

I always take twice as much diabetes stuff as I think I’ll need. I also take plenty of hypo treatments and I also like to take convenient snacks so I have them with me, eg cereal bars and the like.