Diabetes and travel!

cyberhippie

Hi guys my wife has recently been diagnosed with Diabetes type 2, I was wondering if any people here on IM have the same thing and how it impacts on your travel experience.
Is the typical Indian diet easy going on diabetics, or do you have be real picky in what you eat, is it easy to check blood sugar levels whilst there or is getting a test kit a better idea? Can I buy the test kit in India??
We still have a few months before we go, so from absolute greehorns in this, we will have a regime up and running before we go, is it easy to maintain this whilst in India?
Our first priority is weight loss and dietary changes but is there anything aruvedic that could perhaps supplement this!!

Thanks guys. this has all come as a bit of a shock so any input would be warmly recieved

sego

Judging from my travel in India you have to be careful with a lot high glycemic types of food i.e rice, bread, patato, sweet chai, candy. Better carry your personal test kits from home but getting one in India should not be hard as India has the one of the highest amount of Diabetes cases in the world. Indian loves their sweet stuff so be careful and read up on glycemic types of foods on the net. Hope you and your wife have a good trip. Safe travels.

crvlvr

take a blood sugar test kit with you. i've heard that the ones in india are not that good. you also get the urine test strips there. a lot of indian have diabetes, so restaurants may be aware of compromising their recipies to meet a diabetics need. .. also, once you get there, you could stop by a doctors office and get some tips on hoe the indians handle it.

TREKorDIE

I will suggest you to buy a "Glucometer" here in India. The price is now as low as Rs.2000 only and a pack of Strips(25pcs.) will cost you about Rs.550 to 600. Before coming here, you should consult with your doctor and discuss in detail with a dietician about "Food Exchanging".
Don't panic, knowing your diet properly is the key of glycemic control.
Have a nice journey

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Wanderer22

Good that you're not letting this slow you up Mrs. Cyber. I was worried what Indian diet would do to Crohns disease and primary sclerosing cholangitis that are in remission. Fortunately my worries were for naught. The south Indian vegetarian fare was easy on the gut and tasty on the tongue.
Hope you have as few problems as I did. Have FUN.

Wanderer22

Shikari

Karela or Bitter Gourd is believed to lower blood sugar but I don't think it can entirely replace medication. Better check the authenticity of this yourself.

rangss

I am not sure what Type 2 means but my mom is diabetic with sugar counts going up as high as 300. She has a restricted diet at home but has occasionally normal diet when she travels. Never had any bad experience on her travels till date as she consciously avoids anything sugary. It is true that most Indian food is glycemic but then you have a good range of food to avoid glycemic food. As crvlvr points out, Indian restaurants understand dieabetes and if you are lucky you may even find restaurants having special meals for diabetics! So ask for it in any restaurant you visit. My suggstion is to avoid rice and heavy breads like nan or paratha. But light breads like 'Phulka' (available all over North India) are OK. Test kits are available in India and are generally good, though my mom uses an imported one. So I suggest you get the test kit from home. What kind of medication does your wife use? Insulin is available at a cheaper cost here.

I am not sure of the exact auyrvedic treatment but yes, auyrveda has good options for controlling blood sugar.

Lastly...no worry at all...India is easy on diabetics despite everything. My colleague at workplace was a diabetci since his teens. He is 36 now and takes his insulin shots everyday. Despite this he still enjoys eating out. Walk a lot...that is what my mom's doctor says. So if you are on a tour, make sure you have a lot of walking to do...that will take care of weight loss.

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rangss

Good suggestion...it is authentic. Bitter Gourd or bitter melon is a sugar killer.

Also consider the diet of barley, chickpeas, white pumpkin,green vegetables, black gram, soy, fish etc. Cardamom, fenugreek, or coriander, mixed with honey is a good diet too.

Store water in a copper vessel at night, and drink it in the morning

wonderwomanusa

Cyberhippie,

Sorry to hear that Mrs. C has joined "the club" -- I wish her the best of luck in managing her blood sugar, especially in India.

I had a great deal of trouble keeping my blood sugar low while travelling there a couple of years ago, and ended up on the beach, eating tuna and potatos and craving salad! Your basic Indian food is pretty high in carbohydrates... too high for most of us Type 2s, who are relying on tablets of one sort or another to help us along. It would probably be easier with insulin...

A good place for Mrs C to learn more might be

http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ws-diabetes&nav=messages

At one time I had a link to a website that showed exchanges for various sorts of Indian foods, and I took printouts with me, but I seldom saw those foods on menus, so it was difficult! I'll look for it and see what I can find and pass it on.

machadinha

Sorry to hear this CH. I feel more than a little stupid saying this to you but have you tried a search on diabetes or insulin on this forum? I think the subject thas been brought up a couple of times in the time that I've been here.

Good luck with it, I'm sure that it's one of those things that gets easier on you if you've never known anything else, i.e. being suddenly diagnosed with it must be a b*tch.

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crvlvr

BTW, I dont know how long you plan to be in india. but, i vaguely remember that the potency of insulin available in india is lower than that available abroad. which means you may need a larger syringe for the same dose of indian insulin.

While the remedies suggested by rangss are common in india. however, IMHO, nothing can compensate for a bad diet. you will just have to cut out the sugars and carbs -- especially the ones with a high glycemic index.

Indojingai

CH: Most of the men in my family (far and near) have type 2. As much as you know Indian people... they dont give a *hit about it. They just take that small tablet of 'Dianil' once a day and then forget about it. Sometimes the women folk have to remind them that they're forgetting it...
This makes me only a little worried because sooner or later I'll be in their club.

So tell your wife that all is well. But take all suggestions for travel you deem fit, cos we say in Hindi 'Jaan hai to jahan hai'. (Have life (meaning to be in good health), will see world.)

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Indojingai

rangss: Type 2 is one where you need to just 'suppliment' the body in producing insulin. The other type needs all of it supplied from outside.

And just for the record, I read somewhere that India has the worlds most number fo Diabetic people. I blame the 'ganney ka juice' and our 'meethe chai'. :-)

Shikari

There has been some misleading advice about Type II diabetes given on this forum. I'm sure Cyberhippie knows all of this allready but for anyone else reading, one cannot take a half-hearted approach to control of blood glucose if one is to avoid the unpleasant complications of diabetes. It is important to check blood glucose levels regularly and to learn which foods to eat and which to avoid.

cyberhippie

Thanks very much guys, I'm gradually getting to grips with it all and your info has beem gratefully recieved and noted for future use.
Mrs cyberhippie is still in a bit of daze about all this but she's a smart lass and will eventually take it all in her stride.
Again thanks for all the wonderful info