You'd have thought I'd thought of this ahead of time...but I didn't......
We're traveling cross country, camping our way from the East to the West, down the West coast, then back across from the West to the East, over the next four weeks, with four kids, one of which (our son, age 9) has T1. And, he just started pumping in May, so I'm still learning all the ins and outs. And, I thought I got everything covered before we took off this morning....till we crossed our first time zone and realized that changing time zones are not accounted for by the PDM (he's on the OmniPod).
So, my gut is telling me to keep William's Pod on "home time zone", because it will make record keeping and reporting (which we'll be doing frequently from the road) much simpler, and not confuse the "time between boluses & meals". There's no Lantus to adjust (thank goodness), but I'm not sure how his body is or isn't going to adjust to different time zones, and possibley screw with all those basal and bolus and correction segments we've worked so hard to program over the past two months.
Any practical advice based on travel experience? Our WiFi availability will be spotty the next few weeks, so please bear with me if responses are slow :)
Thanks!!
Mo
P.S. Yes, I AM going to try to reach our Ped Endo tomorrow by phone to see what they say.....but wanted some "pro" advice as well :)
I've always left mine at home time since one unsuccessful attempt with a 3 hour change. Even when I go abroad, my body doesn't adjust to the new time for about a week, so staying with home time reduces strange bg fluctuations.
I change mine (& my daughters) when we travel outside of our home timezone. The fluctuations in basal rates are based on the activity level (or lack thereof) at that time of day... if you are normally east coast and leave the pump on that time zone, the overnight changes in basal rate will likely not match up to when your son is sleeping. Definitely work with his doctor and follow their advice. You can tweak as you go along and figure out what works.
I wouldn't be worried about the record keeping part... the endos office should be downloading the pump data, so they will see when the time changes take effect. You can just put an * in your notes that you changed it and what you changed it to/from, etc.
hi Monique, I travel for work and the pump has been really great for me and travel. I am usually stressed when flying (stressed, snacking, and sitting) so I increase basal rates for most flights.
If I am staying in a time zone for more than a day or so, I change my pump to the local time. My basal rates range from 1.25 to 0.4 units per hour, so yes, it really does make a big difference and my body and my basal rates catch up in a day or so. if I am on a day-trip, (like san-fran for a day - what a long day!) then I leave my pump at the home time.
believe it or not, when daylight savings starts it takes me 2-3 days to adjust, so it's a much bigger issue than my trip to china (12 hours difference) when I caught up in about a day.
so if he has a wide range of basal rates, or if it's a long stay, then the best bet is to change the pump time.