Hiya, i’m going off travelling round the world in March, to San Francisco, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand for four months. The insulin i’m on is Lantus and Humalog. I was just wondering if anybody has any advice on what to do about my longlasting insulin within different time zones and also how to get insulin within these countries.Is it easy enough to get as long as you have a medical note and prescription from your doctor at home. Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thanks very much Danny you’ve been a big help!
I wish I could help , having travelled from Canada to the Netherlands a few times as far as delivering long acting insulin was concerned …totally forgot the formulas , supplied by my Endo ( in the nineties ) ; so much easier travelling with a pump …no comparisson .
I wonder if the site will work for you :
I googled after I had typed above and found : Have Insulin , Will Fly …etc. www.clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/21/2/82.full .other useful travel suggestions as well , such as a pack , to store your insulin in to keep cool : I have one , Frio pack , it’s called .
Enjoy your world tour !
I don’t know the specific countries you travel to, but my experience suggests that you should bring ALL your insulin with you (buy a FRIO pack for keeping it cool!). Every country’s system is different. For example, here in Hungary, insulin is free to all people on the national health care system (everyone), but for an outside to get insulin, it is not so easy. Usually a lot of money can get you insulin in any system, but better to plan ahead and bring it all. I have traveled with a year’s supply of insulin before with no problem.
If you are changing time zones, then just adjust your long acting insulin by 1-2 hours until you are at the correct time in the new time zone. This might mean that it takes a few days of moving it, but you don’t want to suddenly change by 4+ hours. If you are traveling somewhere where it’s four hours earlier and you usually give your long acting at 11pm, then one day (even before you get there), move your long acting insulin shot to 10pm at the previous time zone (and keep an eye out for lows), then next day move it to 9pm at the previous time zone, then 8pm, then 7pm, which is the same as 11pm in your new time zone. You will want to check your blood sugar more often when making these changes!
As Kristin said, I would suggest brining EVERYTHING with you if at all possible. I’ve traveled to quite a few different countries(close to 12, but only on the pump), and each time I’ve brought all my supplies with me.
It’s possible(and highly likely) that you can get all the stuff you need in country, but personally I’d be wary of banking on that. As for getting the stuff while you are there, yes for the most part all you will need is a prescription and a medical note from your doctor/contact info for them if needed.
As for the time differences/longlasting insulin issue: that’s something I’ve not had to deal with, but I would wager that it depends on how long you will be in each of these locations; less than a week and I personally wouldn’t adjust much, but if you will be there for 7-10+ days then I would look into changing things around to the time zone.