Schoolies: What Lucy had to say

Be prepared

When you’re at Schoolies, something always goes wrong. This also applies to diabetes. Schoolies for me was a fantastic experience, but it wasn’t without planning, and it paid off.

I did have one incident (a low) that needed my parents to intervene and speak with my friends.

Luckily for me, my friends are all super cool about my diabetes and they know that if I am low, I need jellybeans or juice and when I am high, I need insulin.

Importantly, they also know to stay clear of my hypo food and drink.

The planning

A few weeks before heading off for schoolies my parents sat me down to go through their thoughts on what they wanted to put in place to keep me safe and to plan together how it was all going to work.

Some things I was happy with others less so, but if I wanted to go, making it work was a priority. I also understood that they needed to feel confident in sending me off without them for more than a week.

My parents have tracking on my phone for emergencies, but they have always promised it would only be used if needed. They also have my friend’s contact details which it turns out was needed when I had a more serious hypo and wasn’t responding to the alarms or my parents calling me.

We agreed I was not to turn off or silence any of the alarms on my CGM which can be super annoying. But that was a non-negotiable for them. They figured it would call others to action with the loud noise. I got it, they were worried and were a long way from where we were staying.

To be honest it meant that I paid a bit more attention to my glucose levels, so I didn’t alarm too much.

It did alarm obviously, because we ate when and what we wanted, and of course there was alcohol involved as well.

Speaking of alcohol

I already knew that alcohol affects my glucose levels, and I am at risk of lows even 6 hours after drinking so I knew I needed to eat long-acting carbs along the way and check my levels before heading to sleep and likely eat a pre-bed snack.

I also sat all my friends down and told them exactly what to do if my alarms went off and I didn’t wake up. I gave all of them my parents’ phone number as a backup and told them to feed me with sugar once they’d call my parents.

One of the nights where we drank heavily, they did have to wake me up and give me juice.

Thankfully, all the other alarms I was able to respond to and my friends seemed to be able to mostly ignore them once they knew I was onto it and managing the situation.

It’s important to make your friends understand what is at stake and reassure them that they have permission and ability to help.

The other conditions

There were a few other conditions like calling each day and of course taking extra supplies of everything as well as back-ups for the back-ups. But hey, it made my parents happy and really didn’t affect me.

One of the reasons I was ok with all the planning and discussion with my parents was because my dad has a story about when he went away skiing when he was in his early 20s. He also has type 1, and his friends didn’t understand what it meant to have diabetes. My Dad had a massive low where he was fitting and shaking and unconscious. His friends didn’t know what to do - they thought he had epilepsy. Thankfully he got through it and came around with people shoving sugar in his mouth.

It could have ended so differently.

I never want to be in that situation, hence the planning with my parents and the education of my friends.

Overall, my diabetes ended up being only a very small issue in a fantastic week, and the planning was absolutely worth it.

If you’re like me, living with type 1 and about to head out for Schoolies, I hope you have a great time and remember, if something can go wrong it will go wrong, so be prepared.

What Lucy's parents had to say

It's important to have a balanced view so, of course, we asked Lucy's parents all about the experience from their point of view. Read Schoolies from a parent's perspective here.

Detailed checklist

Diabetes Supplies

Insulin
Insulin pen/s and needles
CGM sensors
BG checking strips and meter, spare battery
Ketone strips
Lancet device and spare
IPCs (insulin pump consumables)
Extras of everything

Hypo treatments (labelled)

Juice boxes
Jelly beans or other lollies
Glucose gel packs
Glucagon (maybe, for ambulance use)

Contact details

FindMy phone App (turned on)
Of each friend and vice versa
Of friends’ parents and vice versa

Conversation about agreements

Daily contact
Taking insulin every day without fail
Alcohol
“Sex, drugs and rock & roll”
Honesty

Schoolies: What Lucy had to say

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