Diabetic at Glastonbury

[O'Doyle Rules]

Hi,

I managed to secure a ticket for my friend in the resale.

However, he is Type 1 Diabetic and quite worried about managing it throughout the festival (insulin, lucozade supply etc)

Is anyone diabetic? How do you handle it?

Any advice would be great!

Best,

[Lucy92]

https://diabeticshambles.com/2015/07/02/the-diabetic-guide-to-festivals/

found that online that may help  

[Divein]

I have absolutely no knowledge of diabetes but I swear I read something stating that the medical tents or somewhere can store your meds in the fridge for you 

[marathonsteve]

There are First class medical facilities at Glastonbury . Ask at any Info point or steward  for your nearest one and go and have a chat with them

[joy114]

I'm type 1 and this will be my 5th year, and to be honest I've not had any major problems (probably because I'm an old git and don't get up to too much naughtiness).  I've got an insulin pump and I've never bothered with storing my meds, most modern insulin is ok for 30 days out of the fridge.  Testing is the biggie especially if you are moving about loads, I've found that at Glastonbury I can drink cider while walking round and it has no effect on my sugar level, he might even find he needs to decrease his insuling dosing.  Certainly avoid the tempation to think I'm going to be drinking/eating loads of stuff that will put my levels up so I'd better increase my insulin, and as its going to be sunny this year remember that can also lower your sugar level.   Lucozade is a bit heavy to carry round so I take jelly beans or glucotabs, only been caught out with a hypo once and that was last year wading through the mud, and luckily was close to a sweet stall.

General rule of thumb, I would rather run a bit high than risk a hypo, and as his mate make sure you are aware of signs of a hypo and know what his preferred treatment is. This is purely my thoughts as a fellow diabetic etc, etc, more than  happy to chat via message if I can help with anything else.

[joy114]

1 hour ago, Lucy92 said:

https://diabeticshambles.com/2015/07/02/the-diabetic-guide-to-festivals/

found that online that may help  

This is excellent, will be camping in Spring Ground this year, but that's for my daughter, I've managed fine.  My husband has just reminded me of the night he had to force feed me chips, but that was a tequlia related incident.

[prestonmike]

Im also type 1, as Joy mentioned, reduce the amount of insulin you'd normally take and your mate will be fine, better to be a little high for a few days than risk having a hypo, the only time ive been close to having a hypo was wading through the mud from the car park to setting up camp on the Wednesday last year, had to stop and have something to eat then continued the trek

i usually carry a few haribo with me rather than lucozade (its lighter and tastes much better!). Also, test regularly, as you'll be walking around and standing quite a lot you'll probably notice your levels will be lower than usual

in the past ive taken a spare insulin pen and stored it at the medical tents but didn't bother last year

[Crazyfool01]

im type 1 and have done 13 festivals ,  4 as a type 1, I take a spare pen and test kit and leave it in the lockups , be  aware of the effect of alcohol on your blood sugars , mine tend to rise and fall with the sugar and then the alcohol taking effect , I have a frio wallet to keep my insulin cool , make sure people around you are aware of the signs to look out for of a hypo and like previously stated run your levels higher than you would normally 

 

any more tips /advice give me a pm , 4 years ago was my first one with type 1 so a little daunting ... but now its second nature and not a hypo yet touch wood !! 

[Crazyfool01]

I'm going to bump this thread to the top because I need to raise a very important point about type 1 diabetes and health issues at festivals in General , Im a type 1 diabetic and the symptoms of low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia )  can be very easily mistaken for drunkenness , a bit of an issue at Glastonbury !! so please if you happen to spot someone that might be having difficulties please speak to a steward / summon help . A type 1 diabetic should !! carry something sweet with them to help when they go low but symptoms are often hard to recognise especially with the distractions of Glastonbury . look out for medical bracelets and please look out for fellow festival goers 

 

Thanks All (you might save a life ) 

[Porkins]

I'm type one diabetic and this will be my fourth Glastonbury. Carry a pack of lucozade sweets in case of hypos, and get him to tell you the symptoms to watch for, in general, it's dizziness/confusion/bad temper/lethargy but it can vary from person to person.

Bring spare supplies just in case, and as @crazyfool1 said, frio wallets are great for keeping insulin cool. I don't worry too much about achieving perfect levels, with the alcohol, exercise and irregular eating times it's just not going to happen. I use an insulin puump which makes things so much easier, but you could still manage fine with injections.

The only time I've had a scare was walking back from Shangri-La in the early hours of the morning, felt a hypo creeping up and realised I had no sweets on me. Foolishly tried to get back to my tent rather than telling my mate. About halfway back my legs turned to jelly and my friend had to enlist the help of a lovely stall owner who stuffed me full of chocolate brownies.Now I make sure to let my friends know as soon as I feel one coming on, it's much better to miss 15 minutes of a band or whatever getting your sugars back to normal than collapsing in the mud.

[MsPacman]

I know with all the walking/heat/drinking going low is a bigger worry but have a look on Amazon for Frio insulin wallets. They keep your pens cool for a few days and then you just reactivate it with water. I bought one to take on holiday after my insulin spolied in some hand luggage but do use Glastonbury.

[Bubblecup]

I'm another type 1 on a pump and touch wood never had too many issues (this will be my 8th) factor in the walking and the weather, have some snacks and if all else fails cider makes a good hypo cure.  I always have to reduce my basal.  I have a libre which is worth it's weight in gold especially with sticky, not so clean fingers but resembles a rollercoaster, hopefully cgm this year.  I keep a small bag in the lock-up with spares just in case.  

Edited April 29, 2017 by Bubblecup

[prestonmike]

hoping any other type 1's out there might be able to help, with the heat we're expecting, it'll be essential to try and keep insulin cool, however i've searched the whole house and can't find my frio wallet anywhere! anyone know of any high street shops/supermarkets where i might be able to pick one up? think i may have left it a little late to order one online

[robin]

They have them on Amazon so if you have Prime you should be able to get one for tomorrow.

Otherwise try a Boots as your best bet to potentially get something similar.
 

[scatteredscreens]

15 hours ago, prestonmike said:

hoping any other type 1's out there might be able to help, with the heat we're expecting, it'll be essential to try and keep insulin cool, however i've searched the whole house and can't find my frio wallet anywhere! anyone know of any high street shops/supermarkets where i might be able to pick one up? think i may have left it a little late to order one online

Can you not take it to the medical tent? That's what I'm doing

[robin]

Major pain in the neck to be trecking up to the medical tent just to fetch your insulin. Would try to avoid that if you can. They are awesome up there and have helped me out a couple of times after all my kit was nicked a couple of time years ago, but I'd be trying to keep unnecessary trips up there to a minimum if I could.

Get enough reminders through day to day life that I'm diabetic, don't need to have the buzz killed by needing to make trips to medical when it's avoidable.

[Crazyfool01]

16 hours ago, prestonmike said:

hoping any other type 1's out there might be able to help, with the heat we're expecting, it'll be essential to try and keep insulin cool, however i've searched the whole house and can't find my frio wallet anywhere! anyone know of any high street shops/supermarkets where i might be able to pick one up? think i may have left it a little late to order one online

If you struggle I have a spare frio wallet which I will take to the festival as I couldn't find mine and ordered another !! ... will be camped near the jp should you want to borrow it ... pm me if you have no luck with amazon prime .,.. no way its possible to trek to medical tent 4x daily !!

[prestonmike]

1 hour ago, crazyfool1 said:

If you struggle I have a spare frio wallet which I will take to the festival as I couldn't find mine and ordered another !! ... will be camped near the jp should you want to borrow it ... pm me if you have no luck with amazon prime .,.. no way its possible to trek to medical tent 4x daily !!

thanks for the offer, however after searching the house again, i have found both my frio wallets, will keep one of them under my tent to stay cool, the medical tent if too much of a trek to be doing in this weather