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The only real problem with travel was a 2 hour flight delay from Luton!
Now, it is all well and good saying I ‘corrected’ the level, but how do you go about doing that exactly? If people’s blood sugars are registering something in the teens, many may react to it and bung in a number of units to lower that back down… and then hypo an hour or 2 later. I feel it is important to respect your body, be patient at times with diabetes and keep testing your sugar levels! I corrected by just applying an additional unit more than what I believed I would require with my dirty-airport-breakfast. I was correct in my carb-counting and I guess fortunate in my flight delay (to some respect) that it gave me an extra bit of time to keep testing and I saw that I had worked out my insulin correctly as that extra unit was enough to bring me back in the health zone of 4-10mmls!
In arriving to the mountains of Val D’isere this evening, after a long but beautiful scenic bus journey, I’ve been made welcome with the night laser lights projecting a runner with an Olympic Torch on the mountains. How lovely of them!
The first full day in Val D’isere and I love it here!
I had a little walk around the mountain tops of the Alps earlier… as you do. There is a theory that High Altitude can affect your Blood Glucose level control with diabetes – apparently it can make levels run on the higher side. This, possibly, could be true.
I woke with my levels running a little high, which was odd in a way as I had my insulin in my system and normally I wake with a good level, if anything, more on the lower side. During the day, after enjoying a Hot Chocolate in the sunshine with the snowy mountain top scenes around me, we then ventured up to the tops of the mountains. I should probably here mention, I’m not the greatest fan of heights!
Blood sugars were interesting. I was 11.1mmol/l back in the room after enjoying my Hot Chocolate and bracing myself for the mountain with an extra jacket. Then, after about 10-15 mins of walking about in the snow, I was down to 7.5mml. I imagine if taking an activity in the snow, such as Skiing, levels would crash quite rapidly. Snow always lowers me quite fast as it is!
In registering a 7.5mml that was my ‘pre-ski-lift level’ – and with this lift being somewhat open, whilst rising somewhat high in the air, my prediction was that my post-ski-lift blood sugar level would rise higher than 7.5mml as the adrenaline effect may be triggered!
My theory may well have been correct as I registered a post ski lift 8.3mml level!
Well generally the British Holiday Lifestyle is to have a few drinks and eat lots of rubbish… with Day Three I’ve had the chance to do that a little!
Monday night was a fairly heavy night to be fair, but I woke with good enough blood sugar levels, 10.0ml before my bed and under control at 7.6mml in the morning. You can see there though how consumption of alcohol may make sugar levels actually gradually decrease (but it was my last night), so always test!
It was sad to leave and swap the views of the mountains for the views of the outskirts of London once again… but the travel consisted of a 4 hour bus journey back to Geneva, which included a Kebab for Lunch… THE BEST KEBAB EVERRR! And then a 2 hour flight to London. Levels ran very well, a slight higher level of 11.3mml but nothing concerning – the control was actually really good that day as shown in the below
For those who may not know, it is usually a good idea to have a pre-signed medical certificate from your GP, nurse, Doctor.. just stating that you have diabetes and need to carry those essentials such as insulin pens, needles, blood testing meters with you. I am yet to be questioned on this matter as my stuff went through the scanners in my hand-luggage, but always be prepared! I did get stopped on my way back.. needed to take off the boots!
Did High Altitude have an affect on diabetes control? I would say yes it did. I upped my background insulin by two units, one in the morning and one in the evening. I had hypos on the Monday, but the rest of the time was very much clear from them. I think the Monday was more down to the weather and change of altitude rather than too much insulin, and I suffered reoccurring hypos in a reaction. But ultimately I found my control was mainly between 4mml – 10.0mml with the additional background insulin. If I was exercising more, say skiing, then I believe it would have required much LESS background insulin as a hypo could rapidly happen there.
Did the weather have an affect? Absolutely – the Monday being prime example: 1 degrees of coldness to a very warm 25 degrees and my levels were all over the place that day!
Summary: All in all you can travel in living with diabetes. Absolutely! You can eat, you can exercise, you can achieve your dreams. The key is testing regularly, that would be the best advice I can pass on, hey, it may be a pain in a finger to do so often, but ultimately if you know your levels you know what is happening. If any healthcare professionals tell you otherwise, send them to me. In this trip I tested my sugar levels frequently, at least 7 times per day, and through that was able to feel relaxed and enjoy myself. If I needed to pick levels up, I did, if they were high and needed correcting… I did that. And I got to see some of the most amazing views in the world in the mountain tops of the Alps!
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