Traveling with a Diabetic Child.

[SueM in MN]

I love that post and it is the clearest advice, thank you.

Hands Sue a sticky to put his list in the FAQs

I think this thread would do nicely for the disABILITIES FAQs.
It has a lot of good information and some different points of view.

 

[mackay_j]

I don't want to be pedantic, but much of this advice works opposite for some kids - type 1 diabetes is a very much "Your Diabetes May Vary" type of disease.

For instance, there's really no reason why a child who is high cannot exercise if they don't have ketones. Exercise AND Ketones do not mix but exercise will not bring on ketones. For many kids exercising is a great way to bring down bg's.


For many kids, excitement can bring on lows just as easily as highs and for many kids it varies from time to time. for hypos, you should ALWAYS have glucose on your person. Always. In a pocket, tucked in your waistband, tucked in your bra but ALWAYS on your person. At disney you can always have your bags with you, so you should never be without your diabetes supplies.

For pumps, simply wearing them under your clothing should not make them overheat. NEVER hand your pump to a CM always keep it with you. ALWAYS.

Please I don't want to start an argument over this, but if you are doing this to bring down you or your childs sugars, then please check that your diabetees team are in agreement, and that they have kept up to date with recent research info- yes it does bring down sugars and some people do use it and have gotten away with doing so for years- but that doesn't mean they will continue to be lucky. When you have high sugars your body is infact being starved of energy (It can't make use of the available energy in the blood). That is why at diagnosis most children are lethargic -during this time your body is both more prone to ketone production (as its is caused by the breakdown of tissue to try and produce the energy the body is desperate for) and also to prone muscle fatique because of the lack of available engergy -including the heart muscle!

In research programs for alternative insulin admin- all excersise is stopped for any pacient whos sugars are high, even at the cost of a reaserch run- that can be an expensive thing for company/charity involved and not something that would be done unless there is good medical reasons to stop that run - I can assure you there is.

As I said you may be lucky for ever, but having seen first hand the concequenses of heart muscle fatigue, it not a chance I would take. I have even come across a child under a ped team (not diabetic specilast team) who had been told this was OK, however, after discussions she requested to be re-refered to a diabeties team and has now been given the more up to date info on this. Again if you have been told this is OK by a diabetic team, then I would request an electronic ketone meter so can tell you there are ketones present or being produce (even at low levels ketone productone indicates energy starvation to the body has begun) and not just use ketone sticks. I would also get them to give you a blood glucose number at wich you should stop excersise. I cant remember the the US number system - As I said before for us in the UK we have normal range of 4-7 and should not ever do excersise over 15.

 

[Selket]

Well...there is exercise and there is EXERCISE. My 7 year old 1st grade has 30 mins of PE and it is not super intense. An older child or adult might be really putting in miles and hours on the track or bike, swimming, etc.

Touring a theme park could be more intense or less intense depending on the age, fitness level, heat, etc. I've found that we often get really stubborn highs or lows in the heat at Disney. I probably would not go in July or the hot months if the Children With Diabetes conference wasn't then. Of course it gets hard to pull the kids out of school at other times - I know that is peak travel season for many.