Hi–I am newly hooked up to a Minimed Guardian CGM, and I am a long-time insulin pump user (currently Animas). I am about to travel to Spain for 10 days, and am unsure how to safely carry and wear all this gear. I keep reading about the pickpockets in Spain! Any suggestions?
I would keep your diabetes supply with your valuables. I took my girl friend to Paris last October and zip-lock bagged all of my diabetes supply by gear type: a zip bag for insulin vials and insulin pens for backup (don’t forget that), a zip bag for test strips and needles, a zip bag for cannula and cgm sensors, another for batteries, cgm launcher and accessories.
Lets face it, it is extra gear no matter how you look at it, but I managed.
Good luck and “viva Espana!”
Carry-on Al. Had my Endo give me a paper and took my prescription papers with me to prove the reason for the insulin, needles etc…
But TCA never asked me nothing, and in Europe, they never even noticed nor wanted me to take it off. Easy.
I am back from a wonderful trip in Spain and Portugal, and I can now comment on how I dealt with all this diabetes gear. I carried my wallet and passport in a money belt beneath my clothes. That was easy. I carried a smaller version of my daily diabetes bag (so just testing equipment + glucose) in a Pacsafe bag (slash proof, quite small, carried across my body), while I left my bigger diabetes bag with all backup gear in my hotel room (locked inside my luggage). I had my cousin who is a family practice doctor and speaks fluent Spanish (including medical Spanish) translate information about all my gear for the airport security personnel. That came in REALLY handy, as the Spanish TSA equivalent people seemed completely unfamiliar with either insulin pumps or continuous glucose monitors. But with my note I had no problems. My sensor on my continuous glucose monitor did get jostled too much, and basically the site went bad. A minor problem. Overall a great trip and now I have greater comfort for dealing with similar situations in the future.
in addition to the comments above…when i travel, i bring a frio pack (http://www.frious.com/) to put my insulin bottles (and pens, when i had them) in. they work VERY well in the philippines (where it’s like, 90 degrees and 100% humidity), so i’m confident they’ll work anywhere else in the world.