A Condensed Guide to Controlling Diabetes at College

Diabetes is probably one of the most prevalent, serious and life threatening diseases globally today. Controlling your diabetes at college is a relevant concern due to a change in familiar environment and being away from established support structures.

This article will attempt to highlight the essential steps you, the diabetic, need to follow to ensure successful controlling of diabetes at college.

Before enrollment meet with your family doctor to discuss their upcoming move to college. Doctors will have a very good idea of what impact moving away from the care and support of family, friends and an established health care relationship will be and many other pertinent facts regarding controlling diabetes at college.

Your doctor will be able to give advice on what to take along initially, any changes that need to be made to existing medication and who to see at the college regarding their condition.

The family doctor will also be able to provide all the necessary documents outlining history and pertinent information regarding your case. The family doctor will probably be one of the your best sources of information and advice about managing your diabetes while at college.

The maintenance of a sound diabetic treatment regimen can be very expensive in general. It often places you outside of the existing financial or insurance cover situation. So care should be taken prior to leaving for college to consult relevant health care insurance carriers to check on all details regarding you coverage, exclusions and any out-of-area cover issues.

This is especially important for students covered by HMO's. Financial difficulties can be a major stumbling block in successfully controlling diabetes at college. Upon entering college, diabetic students should try to do a number of things fairly early on that greatly aid in keeping your diabetes under control while in school.

1. Arrange a meeting with the staff of the college health care facility.

You can introduce yourself, share your medical history to the facility staff and inform them of emergency contact details, including your family doctor. Make them aware of your medication schedule and special needs.

The facility will also be able to supply you with important information regarding any specific support offered for diabetics such as special meal choices at cafeterias, emergency procedures on campus and laboratory services. This info will greatly aid the student in controlling diabetes in collage.

2. Talk to your roommates.

One essential point in controlling diabetes at college is to inform your roommates or hall advisors of your condition and what the basic procedures are should you become disorientated or go into hypoglycemic shock.

Once you have has spent a little more time at college, the support system that existed at home will start to re-form at college. As you become more familiar with your immediate and extended environment and the people close to you become more comfortable with and knowledgeable about your condition, the support structure strengthens and controlling your diabetes at college becomes easier.

Maintaining your diabetes at school is, essentially, not much different from doing so when you're at home. The same principles of self discipline, personal and situational awareness, preparedness and the education of those around you remain the same.

The biggest problem in controlling diabetes in any new environment for that matter, is to get those systems set up before any complications arise. Although it is difficult to cover all eventualities and contingencies here, a short list may help you prepare.

Apart from the obvious insulin, syringes, alcohol wipes, monitoring strips and pump don't forget:

Sharps container

Urine ketone test strips

Ready supply of glucose i.e. juice, glucose tabs.

Glucose gel

Medic Alert ID

Copy of your sick-day plan

Medical case history

Emergency contact numbers

Insurance card

Basic medical kit

Supply of approved over the counter meds such as sugar free cough medication.

In short, controlling diabetes in college need not be stressful. As mentioned earlier, the same basic principles apply. There are also many sources of information and support along the way to ease the transition. Fortunately, the very fact that diabetes is such a widespread medical phenomenon also makes it a well understood and supported.