Around the World with Diabetes( ALEXANDRIA Va. April 16 -- Leigh...),Health

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Leighton Rockafellow, a 26-year-old from Tucson, is backpacking around South America, Asia, and Europe this year. He's traveling with his fiancee - but also with type 1 diabetes. How does he do it? The May 2008 issue of Diabetes Forecast, the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) consumer magazine, features a step-by-step guide to the tricky business of traveling with diabetes, with advice from Rockafellow and a slew of medical experts about what to pack, how to eat, and what to do in an emergency.

Whether you're circling the globe this summer or just visiting relatives a few hours away, traveling can be stressful - particularly if you have diabetes. The experts advise starting early - as much as a month and a half before your scheduled departure - by telling your health care team about your travel plans. They can assist you in compiling the paperwork necessary for customs if you'll be leaving the United States. (And don't forget to take their emergency telephone number, just in case.) Davida F. Kruger, author of The Diabetes Travel Guide (American Diabetes Association, 2006), recommends researching the types of food available at your destination to estimate how these foods may affect your diabetes management. You'll also want to write down your medication dosages and pump settings and pack extra testing supplies, snacks, and medications with their prescription labels.

For Rockafellow, all of this planning is a small price to pay for the extraordinary experiences he's had traveling. "I feel proud to know that I have not let diabetes keep me from doing the things I love," he tells Diabetes Forecast, "such as hiking the Inca Trail in Peru or sailing through the fjords and glaciers of Patagonia."

Also in the May 2008 issue:

Time to get ready for camp! While most kids worry about scary stories around the campfire and mosquito bites at summer camp, children with diabetes (and
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