Living Abroad Options

[K's Travels ...]

Hey everyone,
This July I am leaving the U.S. and going to live in Zambia for 1 year. My problem is I have no idea how to get ready for this trip. I don't know if there will be a way for my doctor to get me all my supplies at once or what. I studied abroad in 2008 for a semester in England and didn't have any problems with my supplies but I was using the insulin pens at the time. Now that I'm on the pump, the supplies are larger. I know it's a little ways off but it sure seems like time is flying and I want to figure this out as soon as possible. I have an appointment with my endo in about a week and I'm not sure how he's going to feel about this.
By the way I am a 23 year old female. I will be graduating from college in May. Any information about traveling for an extended time would be greatly appreciated. I will keep everyone updated on my findings.

[JohnG]

Hey everyone,
This July I am leaving the U.S. and going to live in Zambia for 1 year. My problem is I have no idea how to get ready for this trip. I don't know if there will be a way for my doctor to get me all my supplies at once or what. I studied abroad in 2008 for a semester in England and didn't have any problems with my supplies but I was using the insulin pens at the time. Now that I'm on the pump, the supplies are larger. I know it's a little ways off but it sure seems like time is flying and I want to figure this out as soon as possible. I have an appointment with my endo in about a week and I'm not sure how he's going to feel about this.
By the way I am a 23 year old female. I will be graduating from college in May. Any information about traveling for an extended time would be greatly appreciated. I will keep everyone updated on my findings.

Hi....K
What are you going to do in South Africa for a year. Yes Zambia will be like going to Mars when compared to a semester in England.

Who will be sponsoring this little adventure?

Are you going to move around or stay in one place for a year?

The simple solution is to just carry your supply's in when you go, it will all fit in a small suitcase...

I'm sure you can buy infusion sets and reservoirs somewhere in South Africa...but they will not be cheep.

Also you will need a insulin supplier...you need to set all of this up before you go.

This post has been edited by JohnG: Feb 12 2012, 10:50 AM

[Mrs O]

You are very wise to start planning now.

I lived in China/Hong Kong for 2 years and took everything I needed. I did though have the luxury of coming home every 6 months.
Even with my husbands company medical insurance it would have no way covered all my needs, we used it once and our quota was gone even though they assured us it would cover everything!!!

My GP here though would somehow manage to do 6 month prescriptions at a time so long as I came home to go to diabetic clinic, which I duly did. I also started to hoard well before going, just to save myself and my GP some work and stress.

I made many enquiries with my blood test meter and test strip supplier and both insulin suppliers. I was assured by all that all the products I was currently using were available in both China and HK. What a mistake, I could get nothing in either country!! That is a slight exaggeration, the insulins were available but only in cartridge format, I use the disposable pens and every kind of test strip was available apart from the ones I used.

I had to buy a new meter and test strips, it cost a fortune!!! Luckily though I had enough insulins plus lots extra so it was not a massive problem. Of course I had no pen holder things for the cartridges and that would have been more expense.

My advice is plan like you have never planned before, once you have planned scrap it all and start again with every odd, weird, strange circumstance you can find then x 10!!!
If you can find someone you know there that could do some leg work for you, it would most helpful.

These are circumstances that most people going to live abroad for 1 year or 10 years don't even have to think about.
I was glad I did my homework because frankly I would have been screwed if I hadn't.

[Moraletta]

Zambia is not in South Africa. The only companies that supplies insulin pumps and their consumables in Africa are Roche and Medtronic. So you either have to take enough consumables with you or go back on shots, since you're using the One Touch Ping. Even if you go back on shots make sure the insulin you are using is available where you are going to be in Zambia, because the "older" insulins like Actrapid etc. are a lot more common in that part of Africa, "newer" insulins like Lantus and Novolog might not be available.