Snorkeling

I’m getting married in October. We have not decided yet where we are going to go on our honeymoon, but where ever it is, it’s going to include beaches and snorkeling. I have never been snorkeling, but for some reason I have always wanted to.

My question? What do I do with my pump? I figured there must be at least 20 or 50 of you on this site who have gone snorkeling with pumps before. :slight_smile: I am determined to not let diabetes get in the way of anything that I want to do on my honeymoon.

Hi Brianna , I have snorkeled much , much prior to wearing a pump( since 2001 ) and on the Big Island, Hawaii in 2004 . For safety/security reasons Hubby stayed with our personal belongings , including the disconnected pump , while I was viewing those gorgeous coloured fish and corals ; I was wearing flippers !!..We just came back from Maui and…I did not snorkle , but I swam in the condo’s pool …I disconnected and was able to keep my eyes on our belongings .I always, when I leave my country ( Canada ) have carried a travel loaner pump with me …never had to use the thing , but it gave me piece of mind :slight_smile: .
Have a wonderful time , wherever you travel too !
Hope I answered your question …

I don’t wear a pump, but a CGMS. I went to Jamaica last May and it was really humid, especially compared to my home town. Keep in mind, where it is humid and you are wet somewhat constantly, the adhesives don’t stick very well. Make sure you are prepared when you go. Have fun!

I agree Baby Tee. I’ve had so many problems like that! In Cancun & Hawaii, being on the beach & in the sun…after how ever many hours the tape gets hot and the sticky part may sorta melt or get slippery or just not work. Tegaderm may help (?). Just be sure to carry an extra set of tape plus a syringe & insulin just in case. It is most certainly do-able though! Heck, I’ve always worn a biking w/ my pump on. I just use my upper buttocks as my sight and it is hidden w/ my bikini bottoms. I then clip the pump onto the side of bottoms. Not too bad… When I decide to swim, I disconnect (carry lots of extra alchl swaps) and put the pump away temporarily in a safe place.

CONGRATS on getting married, Yippeee!!! :slight_smile:

Brianna,

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS!

Next, snorkeling is pretty easy. What I like to do is suspend my basal delivery, disconnect the pump and store it in a large bag (aka someplace with a bit if shade and out of sight), test and go snorkeling. Since I am on the slender side, I get cold after 20 - 30 minutes, so I get out of the water, carefully dry off, test and reconnect the pump. If my BG hasn’t gone way high or way low, I usually replace the basal insulin I missed and restart my basal insulin. I always, ALWAYS carry at least one spare infusion set with me, AND a tube of glucose gel and/or tablets.

I also made an infusion set “plug” by snipping off the end of the tubing that clips into the infusion set and melting the little bit of tubing left. Before going into the water, I clip this onto the infusion set. It’s a silly thing I do to restrict the salt water from getting “in” the infusion set.

Fair Winds,
Mike

Mike,
The plug idea…Brilliant!

On our last beach trip, I decided to take a pump vacation and went back to shots for the week. It worked out great for me and my blood sugars stayed great. I was really active so I even ate a couple small scoops of ice cream during the day to avoid lows while swimming.

It may not be the best choice for everyone, but I enjoyed the week without worrying about my pump.

I haven’t gone snorkeling with my pump but I went surfing last summer. I sort of oriented my pump so it was the end of a resevoir/ infusion set. The “surfing” (all of about 3 seconds actually on the board, after 20 or 30 trips in and out…) pretty much ripped the set out but my BG went from 130s to the 70s in about an hour and a half of it? The activity was pretty frenzied.

WOT but “snorkeling” is our family term we use when discussing the propriety of movies for the tweenager, as in “is there too much snorkeling in Twilight or can she go see that?”, w/ the eventual arrangement being that she had to read the book before any moviegoing would be allowed.

My brother is an active diver, he is a T2. You do need to be aware that historically, if you were insulin dependent you were told not to dive. What this mean is that if you did organized diving, scuba or sometimes snorkeling, you would often be told “No.” But times have changed, studes have shown that give good blood sugar management, you can dive without a problem, in fact you can get PADI certified quite readily for most recreational diving. However, you may still find you get harrassed if you go on snorkeling tours, so it may be helpful to bring information. There is a good summary of the study finding that diabetics are safe diving here and a summary of the recommended diving guidelines. And don’t you let anyone tell you that you can’t dive, you can do whatever you want.

Thanks so much for all of the great advice, everyone. I can’t wait!

I spent 2 summers in Mexico prior to getting the pump. If/when I go back, I will probably leave the pump at home and go with MDI for the duration of the trip. My vacations typically consist of being in the pool, walking to the beach, being in the ocean, going snorkeling, rent jetskis, go back to the pool. Of the 16ish hours awake, probably at least 8-10 were spent in water.

For that reason, the pump would not have been effective treatment for me - just too much time disconnected to have a good basal flow. If you’re only planning on being snorkeling for an hour or so, you can disconnect and do your thing, then reconnect. If it will basically be a weeklong submersion in water (like I like to do), you might want to consider injections.

I have thought about going on a “pump vacation” for that week. I would just have no idea of how to calculate doses because I’ve been on a pump for 12 years or so (obviously I would have to talk to my endo about it). Do you find that it is easy to switch from the pump to shots and back again?

You should definitely ask your endo!

How I did it was that I took my total daily basal on the pump and rounded up to the nearest unit and I divided the basal into two. I took two shots of Lantus – one in the morning and one in the evening. I took a slightly larger shot in the morning because my basal rates were higher then (so I didn’t divide it exactly in half). I try to have the six hours after either shot be times when my basal rates were higher. I think that I did 9am and 6pm. I have heard many people say that they prefer Levemir to Lantus because Levemir has less of a peak in the first six hours – so you may try that. Boluses go the same as on the pump – you just need to remember your insulin to carb ratios (especially if they are different by time of day).

Switching from pumps to shots is a bit tricky, but I have never had a problem. I always try to do the switch when I can measure my blood sugar often (even every hour). If you only switch to one basal shot of Lantus, then you can just remove the pump before you give your first shot of Lantus. Because I prefer the two shots for more stable blood sugars, then what I did was to turn my basals down to 50% when I gave the first shot of Lantus (which is about half of my total daily basal) and I did this switch in the morning so I would be awake to catch any lows. I removed the pump all together at 6pm when I gave the second basal shot (again about half of the total daily basal). I preferred to give my evening shot so early so that I could check my blood sugars more often. I did the switch back to the pump in the same way.

Definitely ask you endo for advice. I have heard some say that you need MORE basal insulin (Lantus or Levemir) than your pump’s total daily basal, but this was not the case for me. This could be because I did my pump vacation during an active holiday – so I required less basal overall.

If you decide to do a pump vacation, you should also bring your pump and supplies with you so that you can decide to go back on the pump if it is not working out well!

Really great advice!!!

Me too Brianna, it almost seems scary. I worry that I would forget an injection. But it’s not a bad idea & your new sweet hubby can help you stay on top of it…

Same with skydiving… I just didn’t tell them I was a diabetic.

I have another question, not relating to snorkeling, but relating to honeymoon. I have not flown since the new security scanners have been put into place. Does anyone know if it is ok to go through one of those scanners with a pump?