I live in Washington DC, The highest elevation is 410 feet. My son lives in Loveland CO, elevation is 4982 feet. We are also going to Cheyenne, altitude 6129 feet. My endo tells me that high altitude affects, ie raises, my blood glucose levels. Every time I visit, my BG gets much higher than normal and it messes up my visits.
There have to be T1s who travel to high altitudes and know how to deal with the changes. Would appreciate advice. Am thinking about just raising basals by 50% upon arrival. .
There is a good deal of controversy regarding high altitude and blood sugar. Many people report higher blood sugar and a few find little or no difference. There is a a nice article about this issue in Diabetes Life.
One thing seems more certain is that Blood Glucose meters may be less accurate at high elevations. I imagine others will have different opinions both pro an con. I personally have never experienced higher blood glucose at high altitude. But, like all of us know our diabetes will likely vary.
I wish you the very best. I hope the article sheds some light on the issue. I searched for:
When I was diagnosed, I lived in Idaho at about 2300 feet above sea level. When I went camping at 5-6K foot levels, I experienced a lot of hypoglycemia. It makes sense to me that going to a significantly higher elevation where the oxygen is less dense, the body will have to work a bit harder than normal.
But you and your endo say that your blood glucose rises with altitude. That doesn’t make sense to me. Perhaps other’s experience will help answer your question.
OK. Great article, which backs up Terry’s thoughts. And I do drink a LOT of water, and use a lot of Burt’s Bees on my lips.
OK. My endo may be crazy–seems like it to me.
The trips are stressful. My daughter in law is becoming more accepting of my having a chronic disease, but I still stress out about being there. I think she is a bit anorexic and mealtimes can be hard for me.
So, I would think I would be low—I always lose weight visiting, It must just be true stress. Thanks all.
