Moving from chilly Chicago to the southern heat. Tips?

We are on a family adventure. Closing up a 9 year chapter of our lives up north in Chicago and moving down south to Florida. I love the heat, but insulin does not! Can anyone give me some tips about what I need to watch for with pumping in the long, hot summers? I'm thinking a lot about Carson who will be doing marching band camp, drum line, all stuff outside in July/August. Will insulin go bad in these situations? What do you do?

 

Hey Brenda - we're in Hawaii now, so also a long way from cold Massachusetts. The weather here probably isn't as volatile as Florida, nor as humid, but so far we haven't had much trouble with insulin. Ian just carries his pump in his shorts pockets these days and I think that's just enough protection from the heat and sun.

Anyway - enjoy the heck out of your adventure!

 

Here in California we get plenty of 90-105 degree heat in July, August and September. No problems at all with insulin. I fill the reservoirs all the way, it goes 9-10 before I change it out. Over 4 years pumping with zero problems with bad insulin. I do leave the vial in the fridge but don't know if it really matters.

 

In Atlanta here and we do not run into any insulin temp issues. If however, the pump is off (beach or pool) I make sure to put in a shady spot so it isn't baking in the sun. We change sites every two days so we have "new insulin" every 48 hours. The blood sugar meters do hate heat, a few times ours wouldn't work because they were left on the table in the sun. Just keep stuff in the shade!

 

We live in Central Florida. I ordered the Frio Cooling Case. www.frioinsulincoolingcase.com
Easy to use and long lasting. We used it last week to Sea World and Universal. Doesn't make the insulin cold just keeps it from overheating which I heard affects the insulin.
Welcome to Florida!

 

Thanks for all of the info. It does make me feel a little better to not have to worry so much about the heat and insulin. House hunting next week!

 

Another endorsement here for Frio products to keep your insulin from becoming overheated. Just be mindful of not letting the inner pouch become too dry, and make sure you keep the entire Frio unit where it can "breathe" (i.e. not in a closed container) because the process of evaporation is what prevents (or significantly slows) the rise in temperature. And remember that a Frio wallet or pouch doesn't lower the temperature of the insulin; it just slows or prevents it from heating up as gkwzcohen noted above.

 

'We moved from Reno ( high desert getting to 100's for days and freezing in winter) I have to say that doing a long acting shot probably did more for us and Han anything else. Besides knowing that the basal insulin is not frying in the heat, it lets you more easily remove pu,p and store away for bolus only on activity days.

Yes we have had bad sites, but never running ketones above 0. 9 without sickness..

 

We live in New Orleans so the summers are brutal. I haven't found too much of a problem. I do have a Frio pouch for times when we may be away from home in the heat. I also put a bit less insulin in the cartridge during the hot months to make sure it hasn't heated up too much; where as in the winter, I fill it all the way. What you might find is that once you start getting acclimated to the warmer weather overall, that cold temps affect your kid's blood sugar more. We have much more of an issue with lows in cold weather than the heat.