Does anyone have advice about how to deal with the altitude changes when going from the Bay Area to Tahoe and being active while staying in the mountains? The last time that I was in Tahoe I had to leave a day early because I had so many problems with air bubbles. I had brought up a new unopened vial of insulin and when we arrived I changed my infusion set and cartridge and used insulin from the new vial. I wound up changing the infusion set every two days and then every day because of all the problems I was having. This time I am thinking that maybe I should go back to using pens with long and short acting insulins but would prefer to stay on the pump (I have a Ping). We probably won't be skiing but will be hiking and snowshoeing and I want to stay the whole week this time!I also have a Dexcom 7 which didn't work very accurately while we were in the mountains. Any tips will be greatly appreciated.
Crazy! I spent 3 days in Tahoe last summer and never had an issue and go to the mountains in CO and have never had a problem. My only suggestion would be to call tech support at Animas and get recommendations from them. I am sure there are a number of diabetics on pumps living at altitude. And hopefully someone from here will chime in with suggestions...
Thanks for your reply. Last time when I was up in Tahoe I did talk to tech support and they walked me through everything to make sure that I was doing everything correctly, which I was. We usually do 3-4 hour hikes numerous times during the week going up and down in altitude and maybe that has an effect.
It's like your insulin was getting the bends! Kind of funny, but not really. :) Maybe bring your pens with you just in case. I hate switching back to pens from the pump. It's such a pain (I've had to do it once when my pump busted). Sorry I'm not any help. Thanks for sharing about it, something for me to watch out for.