@jane-d BTW, I just came down to Orlando to catch a 8 day cruise. I brought five pods (have one day left on my existing one), three G7s (4 days on my current one), 3 pens of fast acting (perhaps a little overkill there, two seemed skimpy), one pen of slow acting, a bottle (50) of glucose tabs (foods better, these are convenient), the ps PDM (tertiary back up), G7 PDM (also tertiary back up), I use my phone apps for the both pods and G7 with Trio (the AID program) on my phone as primary, on the wife’s phone as secondary (why not, its free and provides a comfort factor).
BTW, beware hotel/motel/resort refrigerators! They usually have a hard time cooling down water or soda, but once in a while they actually work too well! I went to check on how it was doing and found my Frio packs frozen, the insulin was ok, but it wouldn’t have been long! I now choose to use the Frio packs and leave the little refrigerators for drinks and such!
Yeah the g7 has been a fail for me. I just this week demanded to be switched back to the g6…. Although the g7 doesn’t bother my skin and I have to do elaborate measures to keep the g6 adhesive from causing major problems…. Going into cruise ship season I just can’t rely on stuff that only works 65% of the time while I’m largely off the grid
Absolutely. Do not put anything you care about in a hotel fridge. They have extremely inexpensive thermostats and often either don’t keep things cold or freeze them solid. Insulin will be fine for a few days without refrigeration. I’ve never had a problem on a cruise ship (and I spend over 100 days a year on them) with their stateroom fridges because they’re actually more like electric coolers than fridges, which barely cool anything at all… but imo they’re a safe bet. I also always leave at least one pen out of the fridge, or whatever it’d take me to get through that ship assignment… just in case
I often don’t refrigerate insulin for a month or two. Never noticed a problem. I use glass vials (for a pump). Pens might be different but I think insulin is pretty stable in general.
That’s the result of a study done in a refugee camp. I thought it was Dafur but the search results I just found suggest Dagahaley:
Storage was being done without refrigeration but the people doing it were careful and used cold boxes for storage; while it gets ridiculously hot during the day it’s amazingly cool at night. I believe the oscillations they quote were within the storage container since I can’t believe that northern Kenya did not get much, much hotter than 37C; that number is 100F which is vaguely suspicious to me. Certainly SW Oregon gets that hot and sometimes my insulin as been at that temperature for extended periods as a result.
Soon after diagnosis my family went on vacation to Kenya (central, hotter than Dagahaley in summer) and my mother used small screw-top insulated containers for my insulin. That worked fine (for two weeks.)
Last time I read the study (I didn’t reread the above link, I just scanned it) there was some apparent degradation in insulin effectiveness but it was not sufficiently large to cause concern. It’s worth remembering that travelling to a different country and eating the food there blows away many of our preconceptions concerning the carbs in what we eat; that’s a much bigger issue than minor variations in the strength of nominally 100IU insulin.
On the related matter of frozen insulin, there’s a thread about that somewhere, @Eric ?
Yeah the whole obsession about refrigerating insulin is completely blown out of proportion…. People all over the world that don’t have refrigerators use insulin. Use common sense, don’t leave it out in direct sunlight or lock it in a hot car… it’ll be fine… if you have a fridge keep it in there for long term storage… of all the things we navigate this is not the one to be ripping your hair out over
Hi Jane - I am in Greece right now! My husband and I are visiting our daughter who is doing a semester in Athens. I don’t use a pump. I use the Dexcom 5 and use insulin pens. I have not had any problems with the CGM, which sends my BS to my phone. The only issue I have had is that I need to use a LOT more insulin, maybe due to jet lag and the stress of traveling. Carb counting is a bit tricky but can be done. Let me know if you have specific questions.
I’ve tried it. It’s true. At least in temperate climates. My insulin was never refrigerated when I lived in a university dorm, and I’ve travelled for one to two months without keeping it cool. However, if I were travelling in the tropics, I might take some cooling measures.
My sister and brother-in-law live in Kalamata. I’m thinking about visiting them. I use the Dexcom G7 and the Omnipod® 5. I seem to have so many problems with these devices needing to be replaced that I was concerned about being so far away. But from everybody’s input, the key would be to just bring a lot of extra supplies. I would probably only be there for 10 days so my insulin would be fine, but based on what you said, I’ll just bring an extra bottle of the NovoLog if I go.
As @Sam said, don’t stress about the temperature. I wouldn’t advise letting it sit in your car like I did, but it still works after a lot of temperature abuse. I got through college without ever refrigerating my insulin.
I have travelled to Greece, Turkey and other places and have not had trouble with airport customs, etc. I switched to Omnipod a while back and find they take up so much less space than Tandem TSlim supplies. Just make sure all your diabetic supplies are with you on the plane, don’t put them in a checked bag! I learned the hard way as several years ago an airline lost my suitcase for 8 days when I was in Italy and all my diabetes supplies were in that suitcase. I had to spend a day securing insulin and syringes in Italy.
Welcom @Daffodilly and thanks for sharing your experience.
My brother in law lived in Germany and refused to check luggage whenever he travelled. If he needed more of whatever at his destination, he would buy it. He did not have to carry medical supplies.
Anyway from his experience I have learned to carry necessities in my carry on and only check what I can live without.
On my last flight in October my carry on had 6 Tandem infusion sets, syringes and cartridges, 3 G7s anemfull bottle of Novolog, a new Lantus pen, a bag of syringes, Contour Edge meter and lancet device, oral meds, 3 weeks of urostomy supplies and ochange of clothes. The bag also contained by sister in laws urn. The bag was heavy but fit fine thein the overhead.
The checked bag had the rest of my clothes that I could replace at Macy’s or Kohl’s.
I wore the clothes that were appropriate for the funeral on the planes.
This was for 7 days total.
My big mistake is that neither bag had wheels - stupid is as stupid does. The other day I found a carry on bag that my former employer gifted us with- it has wheels.
I’m curious about this. At almost any US CVS I walk into. I see various Dexcoms and Libres behind the counter. I’m vacationing in Italy now and haven’t seen many diabetes supplies. Just a glucose meter at one pharmacy. I haven’t asked because I don’t need extras but I’d be curious to know from anyone living in any country other than the US or Canada who uses a CGM: do you get it at a local pharmacy? Any idea what the pricing would be for someone not on the national health plan?
I did purchase a hypoglycemic treatment here in Italy. It’s a very medical looking vial of liquid and the dextrose is supplemented with magnesium and Vitamin B. I’ve also bought hypo treatments in England where, in my opinion, the tablets taste better than similar products in the US. Kind of fun to buy this kind of stuff abroad, but I’ve never tried to buy something serious.
