My 17 yr old daughter is type 1 diabetic and generally manages it well testing up to 9 times a day and giving herself injections whenever she eats anything. She normally carries her insulin pens (Lantus and NovaLog) in her pack and we had never thought this could be a real problem until this year.
A couple weeks ago on vacation, she began saying her insulin wasn't working and her blood sugars were going waaay up. We rushed into town and bought two new pens (seriously expensive as our health plan initially would not cover it) and discussed it with the pharmacist who told us they could not guarantee efficacy of Insulin that went over about 85 degrees for any length of time. YIKES. I'll bet the temp of her pack rarely goes below 85.
She is really into wilderness packing so this is an issue. On a long sailing trip where I rarely have ice it would be an issue.
So...............
We make a pouch of closed cell neoprene to hold the pens. It has an insert pocket to hold a tiny bag into which one pours some dry crystals and then some water. This causes cooling for a couple of hours enough to keep the temp below 85. The crystals can be either regenerated by heating or disposed of as they are truly harmless and cheap. The weight of enough crystals for several days is very low.
Thoughts?
A couple weeks ago on vacation, she began saying her insulin wasn't working and her blood sugars were going waaay up. We rushed into town and bought two new pens (seriously expensive as our health plan initially would not cover it) and discussed it with the pharmacist who told us they could not guarantee efficacy of Insulin that went over about 85 degrees for any length of time. YIKES. I'll bet the temp of her pack rarely goes below 85.
She is really into wilderness packing so this is an issue. On a long sailing trip where I rarely have ice it would be an issue.
So...............
We make a pouch of closed cell neoprene to hold the pens. It has an insert pocket to hold a tiny bag into which one pours some dry crystals and then some water. This causes cooling for a couple of hours enough to keep the temp below 85. The crystals can be either regenerated by heating or disposed of as they are truly harmless and cheap. The weight of enough crystals for several days is very low.
Thoughts?