Back
TRAVEL ADVICE FOR INSULIN DEPENDENT DIABETICS
If you are planning a trip that involves crossing a few time zones, that is to say
if your day is lengthened by 3 or more hours when you are travelling westwards from
the UK to the USA:-
A) If you take one injection per day, increase your dosage by 10% on the day of
travel. e.g. 20 units of Isophane at night will increase by 2 -
B) If you take two mixed insulin injections per day, increase your total daily dose
by 10-
C) If you are on basal bolus regime such as Glargine and Novo rapid, add an extra bolus injection before each meal on the plane leaving out your long acting until you are back on a 24 hour clock at your destination.
If your day is shortened and you are travelling west to east, such as USA to UK or
UK to Australia:-
A) If you take one injection per day, decrease your dose by 20% on the day of travel. e.g. 20 units will become 16 units.
B) If you take two injections per day, decrease your second dose by 20%.
C) If you are on basal bolus regime, add a bolus injection before each meal and when you arrive at your destination have your usual long acting insulin. As the day is shorter, you are advised to reduce the doses by a small amount.
It might be prudent to run your sugars slightly higher than usual and this will not cause any harm, but avoids the occurrence of hypos . On a day that involves carrying your luggage and perhaps walking distances longer than you are accustomed to, the requirement for insulin is reduced.
Travel -