[acb-diabetics] travel tips with diabetes

[Barbara Mattson]

For those who may be planning to go to acb's conference/convention, here's 
some tips drawn from the source cited.

barb mattson

  Travel Tips
  from Managing Diabetes During the Holidays, 11/25/11,  National Diabetes 
Education Program
 Check blood sugar more often because a schedule change can affect levels. 
Pack more diabetes supplies than you expect to need in case of travel 
delays. Keep snacks, glucose gel, or tablets with you in case your sugar 
drops. Pack a small cooler with hard to find foods like fresh fruit, raw 
vegetables, & fat-free or low-fat yogurt. Bring bottles of water, dried 
fruit, nuts, and seeds measuring portions ahead.
 Carry your medical insurance card, your doctor's name and number, emergency 
phone numbers, and medical identification that says you have diabetes. Have 
all syringes, vials of insulin, etc. clearly marked with the pharmaceutical 
preprinted label that identifies the medications. Keep it in the original 
pharmacy labeled packaging.
 If you use insulin, pack a glucagon emergency kit. If you're flying & don't 
want to walk through the metal detector with your insulin pump, tell a 
security officer that you're wearing it and ask them to visually inspect the 
pump & do a full-body pat-down. Place all diabetes supplies in carry-on 
luggage. Keep medications & snacks at your seat. When drawing up your dose 
of insulin, don't inject air into the bottle because the air on your plane 
will probably be pressurized).
 Keep insulin cool by packing it in an insulated bag with refrigerated gel 
packs. (Refridgerate it once at your destination. Only the Gault House 
suites have refridgerators, and though you may be able to rent a 
refrigerator, arguing that you have diabetes won't produce one if there are 
no more available..)