Road trips are THE BEST! Blasting music, windows down, great conversations.. And just because you have diabetes doesn’t mean you can’t have the perfect road trip, you just need a little extra planning. Here’s my tips based on my experiences road trippin’:
Blood sugar monitoring
If you’re driving, it’s super important to know what your blood sugar is. Never drive with a low blood sugar. You don’t want something awful to happen to you or someone else, when you could have prevented it by pulling over or leaving a little bit later. Test your blood sugar before you leave for your trip and whenever you stop for gas or bathroom breaks. If you have a CGM, it makes it so much easier when you’re driving. You may want to set your alerts a little bit higher than normal while you’re driving to get earlier warnings about a dropping blood sugar so you can have a snack and prevent yourself from going low. And if you start to feel low or your blood sugar is dropping, just pull over.
Snacks!
Okay, this is an obvious one. Even for those of you who don’t have diabetes. But seriously, good snacks can make a road trip awesome. And if you bring enough food, you can skip the fast food and the heavy belly in the car. (Unless you really need a greasy fast food meal, which sometimes, you do 😉 )
Here’s some of my go-to car snacks:
- Beef jerky/turkey jerky
- popcorn
- trail mix
- sunflower seeds
- gum
- Pack a small cooler to bring snacks like: fruit, veggies with hummus, chips and salsa (if you’re brave)
Low treatments
On the note of snacks, make sure you have easy, handy low treatments available, especially if you’re driving. My favorites are glucose tabs, fruit snacks and other gummy candies because they are easy to grab if I’m driving and my blood sugar is dropping.
Don’t forget the beverages!
Always bring lots of water, powerade/gatorade and your caffeine drink of choice. A lot of times you forget to drink water (or don’t drink a lot if you don’t want to stop at the bathroom all of the time), but your body will thank you when you get to your destination if you keep hydrated in the car.
Bathroom breaks– Word of advice: always pay attention to those signs that say things like “No services for 43 miles.” Especially if you have a high blood sugar and will need to use the bathroom. Otherwise, you might get to a point where the next bathroom is forever away and you have to turn around. *hypothetically*
Medical alerts- It’s also always a good idea to have some sort of medic alert identification. I think your best option is a medic alert bracelet or tattoo, but other options would be to have a window or bumper sticker or wallet card. Hopefully nothing bad will ever happen, but it’s something that’s not a bad idea to have when you’re driving.
Give yourself extra time
My favorite part of road trips is stopping to check out cool random things. Give yourself extra time before you have to be where you’re going, so if you decide you want to stop at the Ostridge
As long as you plan ahead, you should have a fabulous, diabetes hassle-free time. Don’t forget your sunnies and some fun tunes! 🙂
