How to Stay on Track When Traveling this Summer!
By: Jessica Hrdlicka MS, RD, LD/N, CDCES
Summer traveling is a super fun time of year and a great way to get away from the Florida heat! But along with fun travels can come challenges to keep your blood sugars on track between dining out, BBQs, late night dining or missing meals due to travel.
Here is some tips to have great blood sugars when traveling:
- Eat more salads! Adding salad before meals or as an addition to your favorite meals is an easy way to add fiber and lower blood sugars. They are always available at restaurants and do not forget to add lean protein for blood sugar support such as shrimp, fish, chicken or steak.
- Stay Hydrated. The Summer heat is no joke and when traveling it is easy to forget to drink! Try bringing reusable bottles to refill when you are out and carry sugar free electrolyte packets such as sugar free Liquid IV if you have a history of dehydration or plan to spend time at the pool or beach!
- Keep medications cool. Injectables medication need to stay under 78 degree Fahrenheit and above 25 degrees Fahrenheit, so have a plan to keep your medications cool through a cooling pack, cooler or insulated bag. Make sure insulin or other injectables do not freeze or get hot because this can damage your medication making it ineffective.
- Add Activity. Going for a swim, early morning or evening walk or going to the gym can help you lower blood sugar while still enjoying fun foods at your get togethers.
- Pack Snacks and avoid skipping meals. Try to bring healthy snacks when traveling such as nuts, fruit, protein bars or shakes, homemade sandwiches or popcorn when traveling, so you don’t have to rely on fast foods. Remember skipping meals can lead to lower blood sugars and overeating later, so try to make sure to have ameal or snack every 3-5hrs.
For more information on diabetes management, chronic kidney disease weight loss and nutrition, call 561-659-6336 ext 8012 to schedule an appointment with a certified diabetes care education specialist, registered dietitian or class today. Please enjoy our June 2024 Living Well with Diabetes Newsletter!
Keeping up with Advances in Endocrinology
By: Geetanjali Kale, M.D.
As busy doctors, we are seeing patients day in and day out. How does a doctor keep up with changing medical landscape?
My most favorite thing to catch up with all advances in field of Endocrinology, is to attend Endocrine Society meetings. There are two major clinical bodies in general endocrinology, namely Endocrine Society and American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE). Along with this, there are specific organizations such as American Thyroid Association, Obesity Medicine association, American Diabetes Association (ADA) etc. Doctors annually attend meetings conducted by these societies to keep up with advances in the field.
These medical bodies play a crucial role in updating physicians of latest in their field, advocating for patients and formulating guidelines for clinical practice providing framework within which care is delivered.
I love attending these meetings in person. Taking time from daily routine, you get an opportunity to completely immerse yourself in the subject, that caught your attention as a naïve medical student! You wear a learner’s hat and soak up all the information you can get.
It helps me search for specific answers for particularly difficult to solve patient cases.
You learn about new technologies and medications, that will soon be applied to clinical practice, and gives you a glimpse into future of Endocrinology and medicine in general. It’s a great platform to meet old friends and colleagues from all over the country and network a little.
This year, I attended a fantastic meeting at the Endocrine Society in Boston, MA. In four days spent between conferences and poster presentations, networking events and plenaries, I came home with recharged batteries. I had two strong take home points from my meeting this year.
First, presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in medicine. AI is here to stay in medicine and its role is going to expand over time. Doctors and patients alike are going to learn how to adapt to technology in healthcare.
Second, the field of metabolic health is going to see explosive growth. All the lifestyle diseases plaguing our patients, obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, fatty liver is going to see novel and varied treatment interventions with hopefully more affordable treatment options.
Now that I am back with more positive and enthusiastic outlook towards the field of my choice, lets get back to taking care of patients….until next year’s Academic meeting!
Pump Back up Plan
By: Ines Cobo RN, CDCES
Insulin pumps are very reliable, but problems can arise. It is important to have a backup plan in case your pump stops working specially if you are traveling.
If your pump fails, it cannot deliver the insulin you need. You must give your insulin by injection until you can get a new pump.
Everyone on a pump must have a backup plan, meet with your diabetes educator to prepare a personalized backup plan, the backup plan should be updated once per year.
Be prepared!! Take Backup Plan when traveling:
- Have long-acting insulin in a pen or vial in your fridge, Lantus, Levemir, Tresiba, Basaglar, Toujeo. Check the expiration date regularly. Replace opened pens or vials after 28 days.
- Have supplies (insulin syringes, pen needles, glucose monitor and strips) available to inject basal insulin and rapid acting insulin.
- Have a copy of your pump settings:
Basal Rates, Blood Glucose Targets, Carbohydrate to Insulin Ratio, Correction Factor/Sensitivity.
- Have Customer Service Phone Number from Pump Company.
When the pump is not working:
- Call the pump company customer service helpline to report the pump failure. Find out when the new pump will be delivered.
- Stop the pump and disconnect the tubbing and infusion set.
- Start your back up plan.
Backup Plan:
- Check blood sugars every 4 hours or continue using your cgm.
- Inject immediately an amount of long-acting insulin (Lantus, Levemir, Basaglar, Tresiba, Toujeo) that is equal to your 24 hours total basal rate and continue once daily around the same time. This long-acting insulin injection will replace the basal rate that the pump was delivering.
With each meal, inject rapid- acting insulin (Humalog, Novolog, Fiasp, Lyumjev, Lispro) according to your carbohydrate ratio and
- take extra to correct high blood sugar according to correction factor/sensitivity.
- Follow your backup plan to stay safe until you start on your new pump, if you need assistance programming the new pump, the diabetes education team can help.
Remember most insurance plans cover meeting with a certified diabetes care education specialist up to 2 times per year, so if you are desiring to lower your A1c, learn how to use your sensor, receive a insulin pump back up plan and feel better this year call 561-659-6336 ext 8012 to schedule your appointment today!
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