[Diabetes-Talk] travel and diabetes in public

[Jamie Gurganus]

Amber,


I know many of us will chime in here on what we do for traveling and eating out. I am probably not as discreet as some people are, since I had no problem breast-feeding my son nor taking my insulin in public! Now that I have an insulin pump, it is not a problem taking my insulin just as my food arrives. When I used a Nova-pen, I just quickly pulled up my shirt and quickly gave my shot into my stomach. If you are wearing a dress or something that you can’t expose your abdomen with, then going into the bathroom would be the best solution. Of course, you also don’t want to give your injection in front of people you don’t really know.

As for the airport, you never want to go through any scanner. Always asked to be patted down. You also don’t want your extra sensors to go through the X – Ray, so you are supposed to take them out of your baggage. I never had any issues with packing my extra sensors in my luggage. 

When keeping your extra insulin cool on the plane, make sure you use a cold pack that is clearly labeled as a freezer or cold pack. You also want to keep it in a separate zip lock bag that you can take out of your Kari – on and put in the tub when going through security. When in a hotel, you can request a refrigerator for your room. 

Much like traveling with children, you always want to make sure you have plenty of snacks and glucose tablets with you. I always keep a tube of glucose tablet on me during the flight. There is nothing worse than having a low blood sugar during take-.off or landing and not having access to all of the candy in your Kari – on! That only had to happen to me once for me to learn to carry glucose tablets on me during the flight.

As for the Dexcom during flight, you have to always turn your cell – phone on airplane mode. That will disconnect Bluetooth. Once you are seated, I turn airplane mode on and then go into settings and turn Bluetooth back on. I never shut down my phone, since I need to know what my blood sugar is at all times.

I hope I answered most of your questions. Please feel free to ask more. Others may have different ways of managing things that you may also find helpful.

    Jamie

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 1, 2019, at 7:23 PM, Amber Wallenstein via Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi all:
> I will be traveling a lot for work in the next year.  What are some things I should know for traveling by plane with diabetes?  Do I have to have a doctor’s letter or anything, or do TSA agents give you problems about needles or lancets or your CGM?  Can  a CGM go through X-ray equipment?  I will be staying in hotels and I need to keep my insulin cold. If I ask can I get a small fridge?  
> Any other things I should know?
> How about eating in public and diabetes?  I have to take my insulin  right before eating. Do you just go to the bathroom and do your shot?  
> Sorry I’m just a little paranoid here. Thanks for any advice.
> :)
> Amber
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