Here is my question. What do you carry in your diabetic bag?
Here is my list
1 glucagon kit 1 pen
1 pencil
4 orange level life gel
2 quick sticks
1 ketone strips bottle (unopened)
1 erythromycin tablet bottle
1 phenergan bottle
1 immitrex bottle
1 controlled substance card
1 plastic bag
1 onetouch ultrasmart meter
1 pencil case of pen needles
1 frio with lantus and novolog pens
1 bottle of lancets
1 pencil case of alcohol pads and gauze pads
1 scratch pad
1 bottle OTC
1 lenware universal battery and cable
1 pencil case consiting of USB cables for meter and emergency cell phone
I don't have a diabetic bag either. I just carry glucose and meter stuff. If I am leaving far enough that I can't get home for something then I carry some extra stuff. For your diabetic bag I think you need a carry on suitcase, Josh. When I travel on a plane I carry this (it has everything I need including some snacks):
I'm on MDI and low carb, so basal is covered by my morning levemir shot until about midnight when I have another. If I have a problem with bolus, it can be managed via exercise, glucose tabs, and just not eating. Since I'm never injecting more than a few units, the risk of a severe hypo during the day is minimized.
I carry a small BG meter, some sweet tarts (glucose tabs), and a loaded syringe with about 25 units (I inject a few units at a time from that). Then I have my Dexcom CGM in my other pocket.
I finally got myself a second glucose meter about 6 months ago. I carry that in my purse all the time, along with some glucose tabs and a small food snack.
If I'm going to be out during dinner time, I'll throw my pill box in my purse also so I have my evening meds with me.
Yikes! I carry my meter and glucose tablets and that's all she wrote. I have a pump and live in a small town so I can get home for any further needs. If I'm going further and overnight I add pump set replacements and insulin. I have a bag ready in case of emergency but even that just has pump supplies and my passport and I would add insulin and a pill box with my meds on the way out the door.
Personally, I'd rather be over prepared than under prepared. There was a time when I carried about a week's worth of supplies with me "just in case" something happened. Then, I went through a period where I carried basically just my meter, and found myself in situations where I needed to change infusion sets or my pump battery died and I was unprepared. So now I'm somewhere in between.
I carry in my purse at all times:
glucose meter test strips
lancing device
alcohol swabs
Skin Tac
infusion set
pump cartridge
extra meter and pump batteries
insulin pen needles
insulin pen with Apidra
2 tubes of glucose tablets
a few fruit leathers
a tiny food scale
Advil
Benadryl
EpiPen
inhaler
I should probably note that I can't drive and use public transit. Therefore, when I'm away from home I'm almost always a 30-60 minute trip away, and a round trip home and back to pick up supplies would be hugely disruptive. Plus, I'm well aware that were there any type of disaster, public transit would be the first thing to be shut down, in which case I'd be virtually stranded until it was up and running again.
I have a larger kit which I carry when I am going on trips, that holds about a week's worth of supplies. I don't carry a glucagon kit around because no one around me would know how to use it if I went low. If I'm running high in the morning I will throw ketone strips or my ketone meter into my purse and bring it just in case I need it later in the day, but I don't carry ketone supplies around daily.
I carry my glucose meter bag with meter, strips, lancet pen. In the pocket I have some extra lancets, as well as pump and meter batteries. I also have a small gladware container of spice drops for lows. Additionally, I wear a medic alert that points to my wallet where I have all information, medications, pump/sensor type, emergency contact, etc.
When I was still working, I kept an emergency kit at work with infusion sets, sensors, medication for 1 week, etc. That was more because I am in DC and my husband and I worked a long way apart. So, if we had to flee, I was not going back into the city to pick up medical supplies!
You are all kinds of prepared, but whatever makes you comfortable is what you should do.
I should add that I have pump and meter batteries in my meter case as well, of course as lancing device and strips. If I am going away overnight I also add a syringe so I can do an insulin injection if needed.
You have no need for more than a single lancet, or
single short acting insulin pen.
Meter and one bottle of strips in your fanny pack.
The rest is entirely excess.
You want a survival bag, that is an entirely different creature, and ALSO kept in an entirely a different place! Not around your waist, until that long term emergency actually happens. Completely unnecessary...
Cords, go in a glove box, someplace you can keep them secure. No valid need for an entire box of lancets, syringes, any alcohol swabs, etc. ever. (Swabs haven't been "protocol" for over a decade, unless, unless you are disgustingly dirty, and happen to need to inject/test from ONLY that spot.... extremely unlikely, and still would not be necessary)
But you have too much, of the wrong stuff on your person.
You want to keep a baggy of a small bottle of 5-6 strips, a lancet or two, a syringe/tip in a tiny baggy in the arm rest... great. But most belong in your DISASTER BAG... IMHO
The OP said they use public transit, therefore do not have a glove compartment or arm rest, etc. And, while I agree that an entire box of lancets or alcohol pads might be overkill, if you use public transit your "disaster bag" has to come with you as there is no car to keep such things in.
And in regards to alcohol pads (because I carry a few, too), I don't know about you, but after sitting next to and/or touching and/or holding handrails with some of the people you find on public transit ... I ALWAYS wash my hands and/or use alcohol (if I don't have access to a sink) before testing/eating/injecting. Perhaps a completely different story if you are in your own car all day and have limited contact with people with questionable cleanliness ... I don't worry about alcohol or washing my hands if I'm at home or work, but while on or after using public transit, I definitely do!
"Disaster bag"? I thought it was just the diabetic bag that is carried everywhere... And it is a lot of excess but luckily we each have a choice in what we want to haul around with us. I could not possibly carry all that stuff on my daily treks but I am on foot a lot.
My "disaster bag" does not travel with me, it stays at home and includes a crap load of cans and boxes of non perishable food stuff, water, diabetic supplies, cleaning packets (I do keep a couple of these in my purse), flash lights, batteries, a radio, candles, and a first aid kit.
I'd be exhausted if I had to carry that around with me every day - LOL!!
I was referring to Stuart's comment that what the OP was carrying was a disaster bag. I agree that I have an actual disaster bag at home with food, etc., and wouldn't consider the stuff carried on a daily basis to be one. I just meant that those of us who use public transit don't have a car to keep "excess" supplies in (such as extra pump supplies) and so must carry them with us.
I can't believe the OP does not have a book, a puzzle book or writing tablet, and a music device and ear buds in that bag! Those are essential for my public transit :)
I am not dissing the bag of stuff, I just would not carry all that. I'd return home if I ran into trouble.
