I am about to embark on much work related (meaning by myself) travel in May. I figure that between Tuesday and the first week of June, I will be checking in at home on the weekends, if I am lucky.
Had a bad low blood glucose tonight--first one that I actually needed help in a very long time (I snorted and I so hate that!) Now my wonderful husband will be worried the whole month, which will probably cause more lows from the stress of being responsible for his concern.
If you travel solo, does everyone worry? How do you deal with that? These are my very LAST work trips ever after 20 years of intemitten road wars (retiring) and it will be grueling. We have a deal, where I call every morning when I get up and before bed each evening (time zones make that wierd.) Only had one significant issue in all those years, which I survived. What do you do?
I travel from time to time as well and I tend to always drop low at night; in fact, the last trip I took I dropped to 49! Luckily, I woke up…I must have been out of it for along time because Dexter my CGM alarms at 90.
Now I call my husband before I go to bed and when wake up. I would love to hear other ideas as well. Thanks for the topic.
I tend to go low a lot when I travel because of all the unknowns, especially regarding food. Always be sure to have a lot of glucose tabs and food with you because you need to have them handy for 2:00AM lows. I’ve been know to get lost in a strange hotel room trying to find my food, so it’s probably a good idea to always have glucose tabs on your nightstand.
I use a Dexcom CGMS and although it’s not perfect, it does alert me to some lows that I might have missed. So it is a helpful tool for when you’re alone.
Another thing is to allow for a decent breakfast even if you have to bypass the “free” breakfast at the motel. Waffles, sweet rolls, etc. don’t work well for me so I’m usually better off getting eggs, etc.
I always carry protien bars with me. The carbs lift up my BG a bit and the protein keeps me from going low. It is funny to read your post - I am packing to go on a trip tomorrow. I never used to worry about business trips - but now I have my CGM, so I am pretty confident. I never rely on hotel breakfasts and travel with my protein bars and other carbs for lows.
I also have a problem with lows when I travel. Although sleeping alone at night in a hotel is scary for me because of potential lows, I'd really rather travel alone because it gives me more flexibility with meals and testing breaks. If I'm traveling and eating restaurant meals with others, I have more problems than if I can choose when, where, and what to eat. I also travel with protein bars, glucose tabs, sweetarts.
Recently I have been doing a good bit of day travel for work, driving for several hours and returning the same day. After a few miserable fails at avoiding lows, I finally found a balance of reducing my basal beginning the night before. Even with a reduced basal I will sometimes drop throughout the day so I try to start a bit higher.
For those of you who adjust your pump settings for travel, how much do you find you have to adjust to not go low but not end up sky high either?
I'm still working mine out but mine seems to be a reduction of about 35% for day travel. If it involves sprinting through airports, I'm sure I would need a bigger reduction but I'm not sure how much.
ahh Travel... I travel so much I am almost never home. The biggest problem is that when I get home and get settled into my "routine" I leave again a few weeks later. But just so you can adjust for it you need to assume you will have to provide all you own food at all times. Bring snack bars (protein or otherwise) or Glucose tabs. The only problem with Glucose tabs is they usually are a short term fix to a low. The protein bars and snack bars have fat and protein in them that slow the glucose changes so once they bring your sugar up they sustain it better than just sugar alone.
The other problem is Insulin. You can't check it cause it will get too hot or too cold under the airplane and carry on luggage is only good for larger planes. I travel from Houston TX to Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi, and other places not too far away that use those little airplanes. So I have to consider the carry on size of luggage for those. Not much bigger than a laptop back is allowed on the plane. I do shots and do not have a pump so my insulin paraphernalia is smaller I think but it is very much something you have to consider for long trips. ALL Insulin stays with you and a good supply of other items if you have so much you HAVE to check some of it just be sure you keep a few weeks worth of the injection site kits and other stuff in carry on luggage. Cause the airline doesn't care that they lose your bags. Even if the bags had Life sustaining medications in them.
It isn't easy and certainly not fun to get all this extra stuff through security but TSA has not been a problem yet. I have a letter from my doctor just in case and the letter has the reason for all the needles and sharp objects I carry just to be sure they don't try to take it from me. But like I said they have NEVER even asked in all the airports I go through so probably not a problem.
Then there is the wonderful hotel fridge. If you are storing insulin in them PLEASE get a thermometer. You can get good thermometers from Walmart or other stores that have a baking section. Just be sure it reads the temperature ranges for your insulin. I use a digital one that has a large LED display to show me what my fridge temp is. If it is a little fridge and has one of those little (NOT VERY USEFUL) freezers in it then it is really important to watch the temp. Those little freezers cause the entire fridge to be colder than normal. If your juice is freezing then it is probably TOO cold in the fridge. If you can afford it then stay in a Suite style room with the full size fridge/Freezer. Makes it much easier to control the temp.
As far as eating out I try to limit it to lunch only. I am usually with Customers a lot and don't have the option to say no for lunch but dinner is usually easier. I usually can find something decent on the menu that fits my eating plan during lunch though. Most of my lunches are at reasonably "chain" style places so I normally know what is on the menu anyway. Good idea to check the area out in advance (I love GOOGLE) and see if there are a few well place restaurants that have menu items your used to eating. And as it was said already BRING YOUR OWN SNACKS. No body is going to take care of you like YOU. I pack a little box of KOSHI Snack Bars with me everywhere I go.
As far as sleeping and low sugar. Uhhh I don't have a CGM and have not woken up feeling low so far but I don't have much problems with low sugar right now anyway so I guess that is a less concern for me. If you do notice lows at night just be sure to adjust your insulin accordingly and use some night time snack carbs to offset the problem. Test Test and Test again while doing something different of course. No matter if it is traveling, being sick, or any other change in your "normal" routine. it is important to test during those changes in routine.
And if you have a free texting phone it would not hurt to stay in regular contact with your spouse. I call my wife at night and Text during the day. Even if it is just "hey 10am and doing good BS at 110" I also have a cool meter that uploads immediately to the companies web site so if my wife really wants to know my sugar levels she can just log in and see my last test for that day. It has a built in Cell device so no computer needed for the uploads. Cool meter my new insurance has me using. Anyway, texting is simple and quick so try that and phone calls to each other when convenient.
And remember to find time to work out and relax. It is always good when you can take a breath and just relax. Especially after a good workout and a long day of work.
