Holidays and T1D

Summertime, but, more generally, any period we choose for our vacations, usually coincides with increased difficulties in managing diabetes: new daily routines, different physical activities, various unknown foods, and frequent snacking are, just to make some examples, factors which tend to generate a prolonged instability in our BG track, stucking us into that "glycaemic rollercoaster" which every diabetic hates. But is there a way in which we could face these difficulties, allowing us to fully enjoy the pleasures of our well-deserved breaks without having regrets in terms of diabetes management? Of course yes, and that's how!

First and foremost, we have to remember that nothing is better than physical activity in order to tackle fast and effectively the sudden changes in our BG which we are used to experience when we have to cope with unknown foods in new situations: it can happen that, for example, due to the fear of overbolusing for a meal whose macros aren't well-defined, we may find ourselves facing steep spikes in our blood glucose track. In this case, instead of performing several boluses to correct the rising values and risking to end up with an annoying hypo (which you would need to correct, risking to end up high again, and there the rollercoaster comes!), wouldn't it be better to perform slightly smaller boluses and to take a nice stroll arounf the wonderful places we are visiting? You'll kill two birds with one stone!

In addition to this, we can't avoid to take food itself into account. At least for what concerns my experience, I've found out that one of the biggest obstacles in being able to bolus correctly for my meals has been my shyness: asking for the ingredients of an unknown dish, or, even worse, for the doses, in order to be able to estimate the nutritional facts (remember that, nowadays, Google provides the nutritional values of nearly every food known to mankind!) , was unimaginable for me! Then, I've realized that these are questions which are made to waiters and reastaurant owners on a daily basis: the simple fact of having a reference to make my calculations on has exponentially improved my ability to manage new meals. Whenever, for many reasons, this turns out as impossible, don't be afraid: a reasonable food choice (if you find yourself on the "rollercoaster", maybe an Oreo Milkshake as a snack can wait!), combined with the awareness of what you will be doing after your meal, will most likely turn out in a more than sufficiently precise bolus calculation! 

Last but not least, if you don't have a CGM, or, in general, a sensor which provides you BG alarms, setting up a mid-night alarm to check your glycaemia is something I strongly recommend to stay as safe as possible through new situations, especially if you have dinner late or if you drank a bit more than usual. It surely is annoying, but trust me: an 8-hour hyper or a deep hypo which, if you are lucky, will wake you up sweaty and weary, are way worse. 

At the end of the day, we have to remember that, after all, even though T1D never goes on holiday, these periods of time are a well-deseved treat for our hard work, and that they should primarily be used to relax: a slightly laxer control on our disease won't erase all our hard-earned progresses. Don't worry (or maybe yes): the return to our routine, alongside with the motivation and discipline to push ourselves to our best even in diabetes management, will always be there to wait us! ;) Thank you for your time. If you want to know more about tactics to face every situation you find yourself in serenely, you're in the right place: all you have to do is to keep reading my website!