Tina chick
Active Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
I'm on a insulin pump and I'm going to America in a week and a half and am unsure what supplies to take, going for 10 days.
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What to take on holiday
- Thread starter Tina chick
- Start date
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Take twice what you think you would normally use - in case anything goes wrong, gets lost or doesn't work.
Include insulin pens/insulin you used pre-pump and a spare tester.
The last time I went away I only took the tester that comes attached to my pump - but realised that could have been a mistake when there was an error message. It turned out it only needed new batteries (which was not what the error message indicated!).
Keep it all with you on the plane as well - don't put it in the hold, in case it gets lost or insulin gets frozen. I've once had to buy strips due to missing luggage which took a week to catch up with me as I was moving about. So won't make that mistake again either! 🙂
You can probably buy some things like test strips fairly easily in the States but they will be expensive and you don't want to have to hang around getting prescriptions etc if necessary!
Have a great time
Natasha
Include insulin pens/insulin you used pre-pump and a spare tester.
The last time I went away I only took the tester that comes attached to my pump - but realised that could have been a mistake when there was an error message. It turned out it only needed new batteries (which was not what the error message indicated!).
Keep it all with you on the plane as well - don't put it in the hold, in case it gets lost or insulin gets frozen. I've once had to buy strips due to missing luggage which took a week to catch up with me as I was moving about. So won't make that mistake again either! 🙂
You can probably buy some things like test strips fairly easily in the States but they will be expensive and you don't want to have to hang around getting prescriptions etc if necessary!
Have a great time
Natasha
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Airlines usually let you take an extra bag for medical necessities, have a look on their website or ring em up/email them to find out - cos my cannulas do take up far too much room in their packaging to go in ordinary bags as I'd have to cut down on shoes and that's not on! LOL
10 days I'd take a spare meter, 2 boxes of strips (so that's 100), 20 cannulas, 3 reservoirs (one lasts me 10 days but they don't take up hardly any room) and 2 vials of insulin cos you'd be cream crackered if you dropped one otherwise, plus a method of injecting insulin should the pump go belly up.
I just take a pack of ordinary insulin syringes - funnily enough it's quite a novelty when I have to use one! So far it's only been when a site's obviously gone 'off' and I am not in a position to change it within an hour or so. (I have never taken any long-acting insulin since I have been pumping and do not now have any in my possession, have always thought if I was in trouble on hols, then I'd firefight with fast acting until I could see a doctor, cos I think it's expensive stuff to sit in your fridge for 5 years until it's out of date and then chuck it.)
Oh - and my Hypokit injection kit. Haven't actually needed to use one since about 2004 I think it was, so I'm already chucking them away unused when they are out of date. But if you are THAT hypo in a foreign land, it could be literally life and death so I think that's 100% OK.
If your meter and pump communicate by Bluetooth, you'll have to turn that off on the plane so you are stuck with manual operation for the duration of the flight.
I think they ought to include that on take off, along with 'Turn off mobile telephones' add 'pumps and meters to manual' and when you land, when they announce 'Doors to manual' should say 'Insulin pumps and meters back to Bluetooth'
Oh - and all the pump cos are WELL represented in America, so you can ring the pump emergency line and if you need supplies they'll be got to you pronto wherever you are. So make sure you have a note of that number and importantly, you also know where you've put it!
Have a great holiday.
10 days I'd take a spare meter, 2 boxes of strips (so that's 100), 20 cannulas, 3 reservoirs (one lasts me 10 days but they don't take up hardly any room) and 2 vials of insulin cos you'd be cream crackered if you dropped one otherwise, plus a method of injecting insulin should the pump go belly up.
I just take a pack of ordinary insulin syringes - funnily enough it's quite a novelty when I have to use one! So far it's only been when a site's obviously gone 'off' and I am not in a position to change it within an hour or so. (I have never taken any long-acting insulin since I have been pumping and do not now have any in my possession, have always thought if I was in trouble on hols, then I'd firefight with fast acting until I could see a doctor, cos I think it's expensive stuff to sit in your fridge for 5 years until it's out of date and then chuck it.)
Oh - and my Hypokit injection kit. Haven't actually needed to use one since about 2004 I think it was, so I'm already chucking them away unused when they are out of date. But if you are THAT hypo in a foreign land, it could be literally life and death so I think that's 100% OK.
If your meter and pump communicate by Bluetooth, you'll have to turn that off on the plane so you are stuck with manual operation for the duration of the flight.
I think they ought to include that on take off, along with 'Turn off mobile telephones' add 'pumps and meters to manual' and when you land, when they announce 'Doors to manual' should say 'Insulin pumps and meters back to Bluetooth'
Oh - and all the pump cos are WELL represented in America, so you can ring the pump emergency line and if you need supplies they'll be got to you pronto wherever you are. So make sure you have a note of that number and importantly, you also know where you've put it!
Have a great holiday.
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