Travelling with Diabetes in India

Travel is where diabetes routines tend to fall apart, and most of the failures are logistical rather than medical.

Carry more medicine than the trip needs — at least a few extra days' worth — and split it between two bags. Bags go missing and pharmacies close. Keep medicines in your hand luggage, never only in checked baggage.

Heat is the specific Indian problem. Test strips are sensitive to heat and humidity, so do not leave your meter and strips in a parked car, in direct sun, or against a train window for hours. If you use insulin, it needs to be kept cool — a cool pouch is worth buying, and a hotel fridge should be checked rather than assumed.

Carry your glucose meter, and something to treat a low, in a bag you can reach without standing up. Long journeys with delayed meals are exactly when lows happen if your medicines can cause them.

Keep a written list of your medicines and doses, and your doctor's number, on paper as well as your phone. Phones run out of battery in precisely the situations where you need that list.

Then expect the food to be different, eat what is available with the proportions in mind, and pick the routine back up when you get home.