
February 20, 2004
Traveling
Question from St. Albert, Alberta, Canada:
My wife and I are planning a world tour and I have been trying to ascertain a means whereby I can ship my insulin cartridges to relatives in Australia, Malaysia and Norway. I am taking Humulin N and would prefer to ship the cartridges as an alternative. How can that be done, or can it?
Answer:
I am sorry that I cannot answer your question exactly, especially without more information about your itinerary. I would suggest, though, that you contact the Air Canada freight office in Edmonton to find out if they can give you details on refrigerated shipping to your three destinations. In any case, I would plan to take at least a month’s supply of cartridges, a spare pen and testing supplies and syringes with you, despite some inconvenience, and be sure to have a doctor’s letter stating that you are diabetic. Finally, I would contact your relatives in Australia, Norway and Malaysia and ask them to make sure that your diabetic needs can be supplied locally. That will be easy in Australia. In Norway and perhaps Malaysia you might have to use the equivalent Novo Nordisk insulin.
DOB