Tips For Travel & Diabetes

A while ago I traveled to Darwin where the weather is so HOT and my diabetes tried to push me around as it did not like the sudden change in weather either. Have you experienced that and how do you find travel and diabetes? I travel a lot for work, which I love, but find that my diabetes is often more unsettled and adds extra considerations and energy zapping moments. This starts from the packing with all the medical supplies, to the impact of flying, to the adrenalin, stress and busyness of the work on the ground at the other end, to the different sleeping situation and available food.

Darwin and her skies were worth the effort however.

On that trip for example, I had a long wait in Alice Springs on the way there and the food choices were dreadful, so I had to go for a white bread sandwich – cue an afternoon of high blood glucose. When I arrived in the evening, I had pre ordered shopping online (a great travel tip of mine!) so it was already in my room, but as it was 8 pm, I had snacks instead of a full meal. This pattern continued for the weekend, with outings around dinner time meaning I was not at my apartment to make my meals, and there was a lot of snacking and not much real food. My many food restrictions due to gastroparesis make this extra complicated.

On the way home, the Darwin airport offered only large white bread rolls and I wasn’t prepared to deal with the highs again, so opted to be a fruitarian for the day, and ate only fruit until I got home in the evening by which stage I was STARVING!

To add to the difficulty, I had spikes and crashes in blood glucose due to the heat, changes in pump site daily, where usually it is every 3 days, and generally paddled a lot under the surface while providing excellent services to the clients I was there to work with.

I would love to hear how you manage travel and diabetes so please share below and you can read my tips here

Helen

xx