What diabetic supplies do you carry with you?

[MissMarplesNiece]

I'm an insulin dependent diabetic. I need to inject a bolus dose before I eat anything containing carbohydrates. I occasionally get hypos - usually if if misjudged how much insulin to take or if I do something energetic - a long walk or even vigorous hoovering - so I carry a carton of orange juice with me. I'm a driver so the DVLA says I must carry finger prick device & monitor with me on car journeys, not rely on my Libre 2.

What do you use to carry all your stuff around with you? I feel like I have a bag full of stuff with me before I even start to put shopping, book, umbrella etc in my bag.

@mondaytosunday Having to eat dog biscuits is a grim way to try and get your BG back up - but needs must 😬.

I just carry my insulin pen, spare needle and a cartridge of insulin, and glucose tablets. Blood testing monitor if out all day or overnight, but more often than not its forgotten. I have a Libre, so use that.

No need for extra bag, rucksack, etc. Been type 1 46 years. Once you have been doing this almost your whole life you realise you really don't need very much at all.

I am a bit of a catastrophiser and to try & calm my anxiety I tend to over prepare. Also have only been diabetic for 3 years since having large part of my pancreas removed so I'm still finding my way and find some aspects of being diabetic puzzling and unpredictable.

For example, I went to cinema one evening last week. Turned my phone off & hence no longer had Libre reading available. I'd had pasta for dinner so injected a bit more insulin to take into account extra carbs. Sitting in the cinema I had the persistent thought that maybe I'd had too much insulin or that the cheesy sauce would slow down my carb digestion and that any minute I might go hypo, and I hadn't taken a bag so had no glucose tablets. So this thought builds up in my head - might go hypo, got to get out of cinema, might collapse before I can get my phone switched back on, where am I going to get fast acting carbs and so on. Ridiculous when I write it down but a very real feeling at the time.

Sounds tough MissMarplesNiece. One thing I have learned is to never, and I do mean never go ANYWHERE without a pack of glucose tablets. I buy them in bulk off Amazon and have them everywhere. All bags, coat pockets, car, bedside table, there is a half pack on the coffee table next to me right now! At work they are in my locker, classroom cupboard x 2 (I am school based). Literally everywhere. Good luck with it all x

No Need to turn your phone off in the cinema. Set up a focus mode that allows libre notifications on vibrate but no other alerts and switch it onto that mode.

@Silverstar2 I definitely need to get more packets of glucose tablets to keep round and about. @PotatoFan I didn't realise I could do that with my phone & Libre - I'll find out how to do it and get it set up.

Right. Well I now know what the dvla current guidelines are. Talk about behind the times. Very poor.

To be honest @Oblomov25 I don't take much notice of rules which are so conspicuously out of date as that. Just like I don't take much notice of a GP's take on T1. After almost 50 years of it myself plus a further 20+ x 2 with two of my DCs, i reckon I know how my body reacts to pretty much any situation. And on the very rare occasion I don't, then I have access to a specialist.

That said, like @Silverstar2 we have bottles of glocotabs all over the house, the car, our workplaces, bags, jackets, purses. Everywhere. Its all the emergency supplies I've ever needed.

My son takes his novo rapid pen,spare needles phone ,he has a Dexcom ,finger prick testing kit and jelly babies everywhere.

You will.type 3c then?
My son though treated as type one had acute necrotizing, pancreatitis,two years ago and has virtually no pancreas left he's type 3c he also takes creon.

Yes @x2boys I'm 3c after having part of my pancreas removed and I take Creon. As you and your son appreciate, it's an extra layer of complexity - not enough Creon and my carb digestion is affected which kickback on whether I've judged my basal insulin correctly.

I don't know how you've been getting on with the recent Creon shortage but there were times when I couldn't get any so I was rationing my supply. I went hypo a few times when I wouldn't normally have. The alternative was taking less insulin & risking going hyper.

Yes it was a nightmare he never ran out but I did have to phone several pharmacy,s at times to get some ,he's only 18 and he had a terrible time on diagnosis he was in DKA and admitted to critical care so I am.a bit overprotective of him,he also had a problem with his long lasting Tresiba ,it was in a pen like his novo rapid but apparently tthere was a production problem so he had to be prescribed cartridges instead

Going into DKA must have been very frightening for you and your son @x2boys . I'm not surprised it's left you vigilant and protective. Its never happened to me, thank goodness. It's worse than going hypo, I think, because we can usually sort that out ourselves reasonably quickly, but DKA is a&e plus.

It was an awful experience but that said he's been very resilient and manages his diabetes very well.

Everywhere I go I have my hypo kit :
glucose meter
Strips
lancets
mini sharps container
gluco tablets
gf biscuits.
info of how to treat a hypo / emergency contact info

in addition to my injections etc …

I wear a cgm and a medic alert all the time

my hypo kit packs into a little case - just chuck it in my bag - but I have it incase I need it and am so glad if it.