My one year old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about two weeks ago. We are planing a trip for the first time, and I need to know what I need to do to make sure he will be okay. It is a 14 hour drive, and we will be at the beach, and on the go. What should I watch for?

The best way to stay out of trouble is to keep to your normal schedule as much as possible in terms of testing, medicine taking and meals. Make sure you pack more than enough diabetes supplies and keep them out of extreme heat or cold. You should never leave the diabetes “stuff” in the car — keep it in a carry-on bag and take it in and out of restaurants, etc., along the way. Once you arrive at your destination, you can keep the supplies at room temperature (not above 85 degrees).

Enjoy your trip!

JS

[Editor’s comment: Also see Traveling with Diabetes.

SS]

[Editor’s comment: Since you’ll be driving a long distance, look at a map, and figure out where the cities and larger towns are along the way. Then, borrow a copy of a Membership Directory from your diabetes team or local hospital’s library, and photocopy the pages relating to those cities. (Directories include American Association of Diabetes Educators (members are interested in diabetes education; many are nurses or dietitians but some are physicians) (they have an 800 number at 1-800-TEAM UP 4 also; American Diabetes Association (members are interested in diabetes but many are in research or teaching; some are physicians in clinical practice) (you can check local yellow pages for local offices and they may be able to help ); and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (most of the endocrinologists who belong to this organization are in clinical practice) (they have an on-line listing of members at http://www.aace.com/memsearch.php). The directories fortunately have entries allowing you to figure out which physicians are more interested in seeing patients, as compared to doing “rat research.”

WWQ]