I once dropped a vial and it shattered so that’s why when on vacay, I always take 2 bottles with me.
2 Likes
We carry syringes but not a vial. Also a meter and glucagon kit. It was @Eric2 who told us how easy it was to extract the insulin from our Tandem t:slim X2 pump.
We would do the same for over an hour away from the house. We have a kit packed that we can quickly grab-n-go. 30~45 minutes is our local range (for which we do not bother bringing the kit) so being over an hour from the house is not typical for us.
2 Likes
I have a makeup bag in my purse and it carries any diabetes supplies I might need when out and about. Although I only live a few miles from town having to go back home just to deal with something diabetes related would really annoy me so I just take it with me. It takes me 30 seconds to ascertain if everything I need is in the bag and away I go.
If I didn’t carry a purse this might not be as convenient. When I was a kid and I didn’t yet carry a purse it was pulling teeth to get me to bring any diabetes supplies with me even if I was going to be gone all day.
1 Like
I only carry spare supplies when I’m out of town. Just too inconvenient to take them along without anywhere to carry them. I’m also not in an earthquake zone.
But I had one situation about 10 years ago that caused me problems. I met my brother and family, out of town visitors, in the city to show them the sites. I was careless and didn’t check my reservoir level before leaving and ran out of insulin early that afternoon. I took commuter rail that runs only once/hour so not possible to go home and return in a timely fashion. My brother & family had just one day for the visit, so I just went without insulin for a few hours and didn’t partake in dinner.
It wasn’t the end of the world, but I learned my lesson and now religiously look at reservoir volume anytime I leave the house.
2 Likes
I almost always carry a back-up diabetes supply kit with me. While I have never been affected by a circumstance where this is critical, the penalty for an extended time without insulin is too severe to ease my preparedness.
I live in earthquake country and a catastrophic quake occurring while I am away from my home that prevents my return to home is what motivates me to continue my kit-carrying habits. I usually have enough D-supplies with me for at least a week.
While I know that this is a long-shot of this circumstance ever occurring, I don’t feel any great burden. My kit is small and light. I look at this like a seatbelt in the car. The inconvenience is minor while the potential consequence is severe.
5 Likes
Do u mean if you run to the corner store, you carry a 10 day supply of all your diabetes stuff?
1 Like
No, for short trips I’ll enjoy leaving my essentials kit behind. I live one short block from my grocery store and will often pop in without my usual paraphernalia. I’ll even leave my senior hypo-alert dog behind for these short errands.
1 Like
I carry back up of everything with me almost everywhere. It just stays in my purse and I switch out the pen with each pen change. (I use pens to fill my pod) I used to live in earthquake country. Now I live in highly unlikely but possible hurricane and tidalwave country. We drag my dog with us most places so it’s important for her and me with regards to insulin and hypo treatment. (She can use my meter, insulin and hypo treatment if needed.)
I have a smaller grab purse that holds phone, PDM, money and hypo candy for quick trips or beach trips.
1 Like
I’m an insulin dependent Type 2 using omnipod. I’ve learned the hard way to carry an emergency kit which has some backup pods, wipes, a vial of insulin, a pen with toppers, meter/strip sand emergency food. I’m not very good at remembering to fill my pod before it tells me I’m out, and if I don’t take the kit everywhere, I will tend to forget it. I keep it fairly cool as it’s with me mostly at home and at work in the AC so I don’t use a frio bag.
I second the FRIO. It really does cool whatever is put inside by several degrees via ‘evaporative cooling’. Works better in low than in high humidity areas.
1 Like
I carry everything with me, it would be foolish not to. My pump has failed a few times, insets / cartridges/ sensors / meters etc. need changed or fail etc, I do injections if above a certain number most of the time. My vial is in a small frio with syringes etc. I used to use the cooling part but now I don’t bother. I just pop it in my purse and make sure not to leave it in extreme heat or cold etc. If I go to the beach which is almost never now due to all of this and dealing with diabetes crap/ bg etc, I bring a small cooling case if it is hot or use the frio cooling part. There are always meters/ strips/ juice/ glucose tabs snacks everywhere, car, purse etc.
2 Likes
What model of pump? I’d be pissed if I had a pump that I can’t count on.
Also on Amazon is the Dixon insulin vacuum bottle. It will keep two novalog pens at temp for 38 hours when the out side temp is 85 degrees
2 Likes
Tslim. They always replaced it very quickly, but one replacement had to be replaced because it had the same issue. Then they sent a brand new one on a Sunday by courier. Now if there is an issue I ask for a brand new pump. I still like Tslim the best and would not use any of the others because of many reasons, the main one being they have the only system which protects against overdose. By the way, there is no pump that can’t fail or have problems.
I hear you, but I must say I’ve never had any of my MM pumps, worn daily since 1996 give me an overdose. But it’s true that anything can break.
Me either. I don’t carry vials of insulin wherever I go, because I have a pump with a reservoir of insulin inside it.
Same for me, but I do have syringe to wd insulin from reservoir, in case of infusion set failure or getting ripped out. (Or a cat chomping on tubing, stopping the insulin flow).
2 Likes
I have a few extra infusion sets in my backpack. The cat hasn’t taken any interest in the tubing yet.
What kind of dog is It? how long have you had him or her?
@typ1 – Norm is a Yellow Labrador Retriever, a 59-pound 11-year old male. He was bred for service work at Guide Dogs for the Blind and born in San Rafael, California. At 13 months of age he washed out of the guide dog program, likely due to dog distraction.
Luckily for me he was career-changed to help people with diabetes. He signals to me low blood sugar. He and I were paired up when he was almost two and have been a team for 9 1/2 years now.
We’re an old team in more ways than one and we often know just what the other is going to do before he does it. Kind of like a long-term human marriage. Getting Norm was one of the best things I have done for my physical and emotional health.
7 Likes