Horseback riding at altitude with pump over 10K?

Hi there!

My son, 14, has been visiting the Andes for the last week or so, usually at 8-9K feet. His BG is doing great, really no issues with it or the T:Slim he's wearing. Tandem said that the pump isn't rated for over 10K, and will alarm. He was planning to horseback ride up to a volcano which would be slightly over 11K feet. My husband is with him and is planning to have a ton of supplies for the four hour trip. Tandem said it might be better to leave the pump at the hotel and just reconnect when they return, but I'm not sure how to do that, given no lantus over that period of time.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Allison
Mom to Matthew, T1D, ADHD, diagnosed 11/3/2007

 

All you have to do is bolus the basal that he would get each hour via pump by syringe. We dose the amount each hour, but for activities like swimming, we only bolus 1/2 of normal basal. We've bolused basal for pump failure until the new pump arrived,, though I did two hours at a time rather than one during the night hours in the interest of sleep. It was much easier than messing with guessing a Lantus dose and then having to wait for the Lantus to wear off. Does he wear a cgm? I adjusted the amount based on how high she was each hour. Her basals were .60/hour, so I gave .5 each time with a correction if needed, erroring on the side of safety from lows.

The trip sounds fabulous!

 

Thanks! My husband thought he should do a half Lantus dose in the morning and just take him off the pump all together for the day. Now he's telling me (ah, yes, texting about T1D over thousands of miles) that the trip is 10 am to 3:00 pm, and he's thinking he won't have the easy ability to inject every hour.

 

" Tandem said that the pump isn't rated for over 10K, and will alarm."

Does this Tandem rep know this for a fact, or just guessing, because it isn't rated for over 10K?

We went to Peru over Christmas, and did the 4 day Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu. We spent a week in high altitude, with Cusco at 11K, and the Inca Trail the summit at almost 14K. We did not have problems with our Omni pod pump, dexcom, or meters etc.

I also called Omni pod and Dexcom before the trip, they also said that their devices were not tested to that high of an altitude, so they didn't know if their devices will work, but they all worked fine.

 

I climbed Killimanjaro (19k) with a tslim without issues 2 summers ago. I have had it alarm for heat but never for altitude.

I would bring syringes just in case though. Have fun!

ETA: It does have an altitude alarm though and if it goes off it will stop delivery. So it could theoretically be an issue.