Blood sugar high at high altitude

Mlgwin

I'm a type 1 diabetic on the Minimed insulin pump. Last year I took a group of young women camping in the mountains at altitude of 9,000 ft, about 6,000 ft higher than where we live. After the first day at camp my blood sugar was running 300+ and stayed high for the 3 days of the camp. Eating and activity levels were close to normal, and I could not explain the high blood sugar. Wondering if the altitude effects the performance of the pump, or effect of the insulin. Any suggestions would be appreciated since I'm preparing to make the camping trip again this summer.

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MountainMAD

Hi there,

You should also check out Mountains for Active Diabetics at www.mountain-mad.org. we are a practical based forum whose members have a lot of advice and experience of mountains and altitude and outdoor pursuits with type 1 diabetes.

Regards,

Nikki Wallis (UK)

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Jaxigirl

I am a Type I diabetic also. I have also noticed that when going up in an airplane my sugar tends to skyrocket. As soon as we land, I usually plummet to 40 or 50. It definitely has an effect on my sugar levels.

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JDRF-VOL-SG

There is an excellent article that discusses studies done on the effects of high altitude on diabetic control and even on the effectiveness on pumps and on glucometers at the following website. Maybe this will give you some useful information:
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/28/10/2563

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