http://type2diabetestreatment.net/diabetes-mellitus/hot-tips-for-roadtripping-camping-with-diabetes/
Please say howdy once again to Dana Howe, a recent graduate student in Health Communication from Tufts University who"s had type 1 since age 8. She also comes from a family of type 1s (her dad and mom"s dad are T1D too), and she happens to be an outdoor adventure nut.
Dana loves cycling, hiking, skiing and paddle boarding. But today, she"s got some wisdom to share on roadtripping and camping with diabetes.
On Adventure Travel with Diabetes, by Dana Howe
People with diabetes know that often it isn’t shots or finger pricks that make diabetes management challenging, but the ceaseless planning and worrying that often accompany it. Daily life often feels like a logistical puzzle – so how do we handle diabetes when we abandon our daily routine?
For the past month, I’ve attempted to answer this question. My boyfriend and I found ourselves with a wide-open summer and decided to take advantage of this time by embarking on a month-long roadtrip around the US. We traveled 8,000 miles, camping and hiking in National Parks, visiting friends, and exploring new cities. Each day was different. Many of them involved sitting still for hours at a time. There were some good blood sugar days and some terrible ones, but I learned a few lessons about my personal diabetes management along the way.
Avoid an Encounter with Grizzlies
“Welcome to bear country.” The park ranger greets us at the check-in gate to our campground in Glacier National Park. “We can keep this campground unappealing to bears by following some simple rules: never leave food out at your campground, including items used to prepare food. At night and when you leave your campsite, please make sure everything is in one of our bear boxes or in your locked vehicle…”
Immediately, my mind is on the juiceboxes I’ve packed to treat lows. The idea of spending the night without one right next to my sleeping bag makes me nervous. The diabetic-safety part of my brain kicks to life, whirring away, imagining worst-case scenarios and what I can do to avoid them.
My solution, like many, is simple. I keep my juiceboxes in our car with the other food, my CGM, insulin, headlamp, and car keys by my side. I set my low-alert a little higher than usual (95 rather than 80) and plan to wake up, climb out of the tent, and walk the short distance to the car if the alarm goes off.
Run in Circles
It’s 10 am in eastern Colorado in July. The sun is high in the sky, unobstructed in a clear, blue sky. I’m jogging in circles around a rest-stop off of I-70. 10 jumping jacks, 10 jump squats, stretching, another lap to the signpost and back. Some eye me, amused as they return to their cars from the bathroom - but they don’t seem surprised. Everyone out here has been driving for hours. It’s enough to make anyone run around in circles.
I am, however, the only person who has decided to actually go for it. Half an hour prior, I’d eaten a handful of pretzels. Hoping it was a small enough portion, I hadn’t taken any insulin to correct. Fifteen minutes later my CGM read double up arrows and I’m cursing my decision. I then took a few units, but insulin acts slowly and packs little punch when you’re sitting still in a car.
Within moments of my roadside workout my blood sugar is leveling off to a flat trendline and the insulin has a chance to get to work.
Wet Insulin is Better than Hot Insulin
“Do we need ice?” my boyfriend asks as we pull up to a gas station outside Zion National Park in Springdale, Utah. I’m dreading leaving the airconditioned car to go check. The thermometer on the dashboard reads 105F. I open my door and it feels like I’ve just opened an oven and stepped inside.
I peek into the cooler in trunk of my Subaru to check on our ice supply. We’d bought a bag earlier this morning and it’s entirely melted. Where I was hoping to find ice, cool beverages, and my month’s supply of insulin and test strips, I discover a smelly swamp.
“Yes,” I tell him, “we definitely need ice.”
My insulin pens and test strips are sealed in two nested Ziploc bags. They’re both completely waterlogged. The pens are submerged, the labels rubbing off on my hands as I fish them out to drain the bags. The pens don’t seem to be functionally compromised, but something about this situation rubs me the wrong way. I realize that if the test strip bottles flood, all of the strips will no longer work. I open a bottle and hear that satisfying “pop” of the vacuum seal. They’re dry and safe.
I dry my diabetes supplies with a paper towel, replace the Ziploc bags with fresh ones, place the whole bundle inside a Tupperware container, and stick it back in the cooler. I prefer my supplies to be dry rather than wet, but I need them to be cool rather than 105 degrees.
(btw, the reason I didn"t depend on a FRIO is that my month"s supply of insulin didn"t fit in it, and we were traveling with a large cooler for food anyway, so I threw my insulin in there -- not foreseeing any issues when originally I did so).
All About the Prep
Before departing on this trip I did all kinds of diabetes-related planning. Filled insulin and test strip prescriptions, bought juice boxes, honey sticks, and low carb snack options, packed a backup glucometer, CGM, CGM charger, glucometer chargers, batteries, brought a big cooler and a small cooler. All my planning didn’t prevent challenges from arising. Many of the tough days I encountered were an inherent part of departure from my daily routines. Being prepared
did, however, allow me to figure out solutions as issues arose. On the road, more than ever, I found diabetes management to be about rolling with the punches.
Whether camping at a local spot for the weekend or driving across the country, traveling and getting outside shakes up routine and provides relief the monotony of daily life. For those of us with diabetes, recreational activities like roadtripping and camping also present new logistical hurdles to navigate. May you maximize the fun and minimize the headache of taking diabetes on the road and into the great outdoors.
Enjoy your summer adventures wherever they may take you, and let us know how you manage your diabetes along the way!
Disclaimer
This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn"t adhere to Healthline"s editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline"s partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.
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