Before you travel, your diabetes needs to be stable, otherwise you won't get insured. You also need a travel document from your doctor/hospital which allows you to carry your insulin onto the plane.
Then of course you need to figure out how much insulin, teststrips etc. that you are going to need. In my case i decided not to bring as much insulin as recommended (double of what you are going to need) since i am going to be in a village for one month where there will only be electricity 3 hours a day and some days there might not be any at all. This might mean that my insulin won´t be cold enough and therefore ruined.
I had to figure out where/if i could get more of my insulin along the way. Novo Nordisk makes all of my insulin and luckily my aunt works in a department of Novo Nordisk here in Denmark. She tried to figure out if i could get the insulin in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador or Colombia and i myself tried to call customer service. The answer was "unfortunately you can´t get it anywhere in these countries". We had a hard time believing this and therefore i continued searching. I called the danish diabetes center who said i should contact either the local departments of Novo Nordisk or the diabetes association in the given countries. I wrote an email to a department in Chile and Colombia which was the closest i could find to my destinations. After just a few days a got an email saying that i could get my insulin several places in Ecuador, Peru and Colombia and when i knew what cities i was going to be in, they would help me find the addresses of the pharmacies that sold my insulin. Mission accomplished!
When you travel by air, you need to keep your insulin at the right temperature. If it goes in the luggage it will get to cold and ruined. You need to carry it onto the plane, but to make sure that it won´t get too hot. I looked for different small and practical cooling bags. This was not as smart and cheap as i thought it would be. Instead a bought a thermos that could contain all 10 of my insulin flexpens.
Fill it with water and put it in the fridge the night before you leave. When you leave, put in the insulin and just ask for icecubes when on the plane. I got more ice in the thermos both on a cafe in one of the airports and in two of the planes. This was very easy, handy and cheap. Best of all it kept my insulin at the right degree through 24 hours of travels.
It might also be a good idea to get an extra blood glucose meter in case the one you have brakes or gets stolen. For me this was quite a challenge since my supplier did not sell my meter anymore. They only had the new edition of my meter. Unfortunately it uses different teststrips and i had already got teststrips for half a year to my other meter. I then went directly to the manufacturer who luckily had a few of the old meters left and were willing to give me one for free :) I came to their office and picked it up and the man i talked to said that also the teststrips should be carried onto the plane to make sure that they wouldn´t brake.
Remember that if you change time zones, you have to change the time of when you take your long acting insulin.
My last advice is to look up what kind of food is common to eat at your destination. In Ecuador where i am at the moment, they serve rice and juice with most dishes. You might need more insulin in your destination than at home if your diet changes.
Feel free to ask any questions or leave comments :)
Then of course you need to figure out how much insulin, teststrips etc. that you are going to need. In my case i decided not to bring as much insulin as recommended (double of what you are going to need) since i am going to be in a village for one month where there will only be electricity 3 hours a day and some days there might not be any at all. This might mean that my insulin won´t be cold enough and therefore ruined.
I had to figure out where/if i could get more of my insulin along the way. Novo Nordisk makes all of my insulin and luckily my aunt works in a department of Novo Nordisk here in Denmark. She tried to figure out if i could get the insulin in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador or Colombia and i myself tried to call customer service. The answer was "unfortunately you can´t get it anywhere in these countries". We had a hard time believing this and therefore i continued searching. I called the danish diabetes center who said i should contact either the local departments of Novo Nordisk or the diabetes association in the given countries. I wrote an email to a department in Chile and Colombia which was the closest i could find to my destinations. After just a few days a got an email saying that i could get my insulin several places in Ecuador, Peru and Colombia and when i knew what cities i was going to be in, they would help me find the addresses of the pharmacies that sold my insulin. Mission accomplished!
When you travel by air, you need to keep your insulin at the right temperature. If it goes in the luggage it will get to cold and ruined. You need to carry it onto the plane, but to make sure that it won´t get too hot. I looked for different small and practical cooling bags. This was not as smart and cheap as i thought it would be. Instead a bought a thermos that could contain all 10 of my insulin flexpens.
Fill it with water and put it in the fridge the night before you leave. When you leave, put in the insulin and just ask for icecubes when on the plane. I got more ice in the thermos both on a cafe in one of the airports and in two of the planes. This was very easy, handy and cheap. Best of all it kept my insulin at the right degree through 24 hours of travels.
It might also be a good idea to get an extra blood glucose meter in case the one you have brakes or gets stolen. For me this was quite a challenge since my supplier did not sell my meter anymore. They only had the new edition of my meter. Unfortunately it uses different teststrips and i had already got teststrips for half a year to my other meter. I then went directly to the manufacturer who luckily had a few of the old meters left and were willing to give me one for free :) I came to their office and picked it up and the man i talked to said that also the teststrips should be carried onto the plane to make sure that they wouldn´t brake.
Remember that if you change time zones, you have to change the time of when you take your long acting insulin.
My last advice is to look up what kind of food is common to eat at your destination. In Ecuador where i am at the moment, they serve rice and juice with most dishes. You might need more insulin in your destination than at home if your diet changes.
Feel free to ask any questions or leave comments :)
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