My wife and I just finished a 2 week vacation in Rome, Italy with a 7 day cruise. While we were in Rome this past week I over heard a man in the hotel lobby trying to tell the person behind the desk that he has diabetes and left all of his insulin at home here in the states. English vs Italian (not easy).
I went over to him and explained that I too have diabetes. He and his wife just got in for a 2 week vacation. He is using the Medtronic Minimed 522 pump with Novalog. I told him that I am using the Omnipod system with Apidra. He tried to go to a few phamacies but with no luck, most did not know what Novalog was (how sad is that?).
Tell me if I was wrong. I offered him some of my Apidra to get by for a couple of days while he was trying to contact his Doc back here in the states. He had maybe only one days worth of insulin left in his pump. I told him that he should reduce his basal rates by 15% and watch his numbers at least until he was able to talk with his doc.
What a generous offer. I think that was a good approach with some safety strings attached (15% reduction). But since Novo is a European company it should be possible to contact them for help. I can not imagine that Novo products are not available in Italy. I would have offered a vial of NovoRapid. Hey, maybe they did not know that NovoLog is called NovoRapid in Europe?!
I would have told him to go to the closest hospital and explain to them his problem. They might be able to provide him with some insulin until he was able to contact his Dr. Or he could see a Dr there to get a Rx for insulin and syringes. I don’t even know that other countries honor Rx’s from the states. Not a good position to be in. .
I’ one who can’t take Apridra b/c it dropes me waaaay too fast. I think you were generous in your offer but I think he should have gone to an ER and told them about what he had been taking. Different insulins work different on different ppl. My pump trainer (at one time changed now he went to another community) used Apidra and recomended it for me. I tried it woke up in the ER with everybody (dr was there too) telling me not to try it again. Just one opinion.
I agree, but I had to offer. I did in fact tell him he should go to the hospital. I asked if he had copies of his scrips but he did not bring them with him.
Even though I have had Diabetes for 52 years since the age of 3 I have a check list I use when I travel.
I would have done exactly what you did…offer, but if he refused then that’s his decision as an adult. Weather we agree with it or not shouldn’t weigh on the persons decision. Very good of you to offer to help a fellow “Team D” Member!!!
I’m a pretty analytical guy so i would weighed as many of the variables as i could. Assuming he wouldn’t be able to find the insulin he uses, he likely would have ended up with something else so i would offer what i had as long as they seemed to have an understanding of the risk.
