Last Updated on December 11, 2024
Diabetes is normally a manageable disease. Still, it comes with certain worries that can cause anxiety in some patients. For example, they commonly have anxiety about traveling because they must focus on monitoring insulin levels regularly and long-term health risks.
Although it is not a recognized mental health condition, travel anxiety can be severe enough to impact one’s life negatively. It can be caused by the strain of organizing a trip, riding in cramped vehicles like buses or trains, or visiting foreign, unfamiliar places. In the case of people with diabetes, they have even more things to worry about. As a result, they can refrain from visiting friends and family, vacationing, or traveling for work. So, in this post, let’s learn more about making your travel experience more pleasant and less stressful.
Quick Article Guide
Here’s what we’ll cover in this post:
Diabetes and Anxiety: Are They Interconnected?
Numerous factors can cause anxiety in people with diabetes. These include keeping an eye on their diet, weight, and blood sugar levels. They might be concerned about both long-term consequences and immediate health issues, such as hypoglycemia.
Diabetes and anxiety are interlinked. Diabetes increases the risk of developing certain health issues like heart disease, renal disease, and stroke. The knowledge of this can increase anxiety. On the other hand, anxiety and depression symptoms, according to one study, are the risk factors for type 2 diabetes.
But remember that knowledge may also be empowering if it results in therapies and preventative measures. Let’s review the most important ones next.
Specifics of Traveling With Diabetes
Beyond scheduling flights, reserving hotels, and organizing excursions, traveling involves additional planning for people with diabetes. However, the disease should not be a reason to avoid it. Whether you’re driving, flying, or taking a cruise, all you need is a detailed strategy to handle your medical requirements.
Changes in food, exercise level, time zone, and environment provide the most prevalent travel issues for diabetics. They can potentially impair blood glucose control and make patients less attentive while taking medications and preparing everything needed to manage diabetes. When getting ready for a trip, ensure you have ketone test strips, glucose tablets or liquid, insulin delivery devices, needles, blood glucose monitors, insulin, and other important medicines.
Tips for Reducing Anxiety During Traveling
To reduce anxiety before or during your next vacation, try these flight anxiety tips that can also be used if you travel by car, train, etc.
Things that cause an increase in your anxiety symptoms are known as triggers. Travel-related triggers may include making travel plans and boarding an airplane. Outside factors like stress, caffeine, thoughts about traveling with insulin, or low blood sugar may also contribute to feeling anxious. If you find it difficult to identify your triggers, consider consulting a psychotherapist.
- Getting a checkup with your doctor
To ensure you are well enough to travel, you must visit your doctor for a checkup. It’s also a good idea to discuss how your forthcoming activities can influence your diabetes and what you can do to avoid negative effects. Additionally, request a prescription for insulin or other diabetes drugs from your physician. The prescription could be useful in an emergency, but you should bring more than enough of your medication and syringes to last the entire trip.
- Packing food and medications
For the flight, bring your own food or place an order for a specific meal that fits your meal plan. Include healthy snacks like raw fruit, vegetables, and nuts. Request a low-sugar, low-fat, low-cholesterol individual meal at least 48 hours before your flight. If your dinner is delayed or your order needs to be corrected, always keep some food on hand. Wait to take your insulin shot until you see your food going down the aisle; if it is delayed, you risk experiencing low blood sugar.
- Learn more about how to travel with insulin
When traveling with insulin, it is preferable to keep it cool by putting it in a cool bag or the hotel refrigerator, if one is available (providing it does not freeze). There are numerous cool bags and storage options. Ensure that the insulin does not touch the frozen plastic containers if you’re using a cool bag with plastic ice blocks.
The insulin is less effective the longer it is exposed to temperatures that are too high or too low. Over time, this may lead to a loss of blood glucose control. So it’s recommended to keep insulin out of direct sunlight and heat. Moreover, if you plan to travel the arctic (or anywhere comparably cold), make sure to store insulin at room temperature or even in an inside pocket or pouch close to your body to guarantee it doesn’t freeze.
Also, if you are used to injecting air into an insulin bottle before drawing out some insulin, avoid doing so during flight because the pressure in the aircraft is different from the pressure on the ground, which could harm the bottle. Bring twice as much medication as you anticipate needing in addition. While traveling with insulin and carrying medications, prefer to store them in their original pharmacy bottles or ask your pharmacist to print additional labels to put on plastic bags.
- Monitor your blood glucose levels regularly
Although your blood sugar may initially be over or below your target range, after a few days, your body should adjust. As a result, you need to monitor your blood sugar regularly and manage highs and lows in accordance with your doctor’s or a diabetes educator’s instructions.
A major pleasure of most vacations is sampling the local cuisine, which can involve dining in hotels or on cruises. Instead of ordering from the extensive buffet, choose something from the standard menu, which has healthier selections. Pick from the low-carb menu or place a 24-hour room service order for excellent low-carb options that fit your diet. Choose diabetes-friendly foods such as fruit and vegetables, homemade granola bars, low-fat cheese, and whole-grain crackers.
- Use distraction techniques
You can manage your anxiety when flying with diabetes by using various distraction strategies. You may, for instance, bring a book or magazine to read, play a game on your phone, or listen to music or audiobooks. Choose a distraction that suits you and makes you feel relaxed. You can also ask a therapist for help finding coping techniques tailored to your anxieties and circumstances.
- Have a to-do list for traveling with diabetes
There are also other ways to prepare ahead of time, which will allow you to enjoy your trip more and be stress-free once you arrive at your destination. These include:
- Locate pharmacies and medical facilities close to your stay.
- Get an ID bracelet that lists your medical problems, including diabetes, on it.
- Purchase travel insurance in case you require medical attention or miss your plane.
- Bring twice as much medication as you anticipate needing during your trip.
- An insulin pump or continuous glucose monitor may be harmed when put through the X-ray machine at airports. Ask for a hand inspection rather than disconnecting from either instead.
- To avoid blood clots, get out of the car every hour or two and walk down the train aisle or plane.
- Focus on the positives
When you’re experiencing anxiety, it can be difficult to see past the drawbacks. But by focusing on the positive aspects of your journey, you might feel relieved. Consider focusing on the aspects of the trip that thrill you the most. Remember that experiencing nervousness when traveling does not preclude you from having a fun trip.
The Final Word
If you experience travel anxiety, you might not be able to enjoy your travels. But conscious planning before a trip will help lessen unfavorable feelings. Then, during the journey, you can use several methods for lowering travel anxiety, including mindfulness, diversions, and more.
Most anxiety disorders, including travel anxiety, can also be effectively treated with psychotherapy and medication. Get in touch with a mental health expert to get anxiety medication online and get completely ready for a journey.
