I’m curious whether anyone else has experienced significant changes in basal needs following international travel. I just got back a week ago to the east coast US after an 11 day trip to Switzerland and Italy, and my blood sugars have been wildly crazy. Normal A1C for me is upper 5s and my sugars have been consistently skyrocketing over 300. I’ve upped my total basal to 10 units over my normal max and I’m still experiencing highs near 200. I have an endo appt in two days, just wanted to see if anyone else may have a similar story.
I don’t have much experience with international travel, just traveling from the east coast to the west coast and back always causes issues for me. It takes about a week and a half for me to get back to normal after crossing over multiple time zones and then back. I have always just chalked it up to a massive change in daily routine and stress, even if it is a relaxing vacation your body still goes through a lot of stress from traveling.
I’ve experienced this, though not with every transatlantic trip. Jet lag causes tiredness, which tends to raise BG, though for me it usually settles down in four or five days. Since you’re still running high a week later, could it be that your body is fighting a low-grade infection? Airplanes and airports are full of germs.
Did your eating habits or exercise patterns change while traveling or after you got back?
Tiredness is definitely a factor, and there may be some possibility for a low-grade infection. Exercise habits definitely changed as I had been walking several miles per day for basically 11 days, although I came back into my normal routine here which still includes walks. Eating habits didn’t really change that much.
I had expected some adjustments for a period of time with the time change, I just wasn’t expecting to have to increase total basal by over 10 units per day (still isn’t fully corrected either). We are getting past a full week of being home so I’ll keep updating with my experiences.