A first

[FM001]

Decided to make tea last night and took my lantus at the usual time of 6pm. By 6.30 I started to feel the typical warning signs of a hypo so ate a sweet biscuit to stop it in its tracks, normally feel this way when in the low 4's. 15 minutes later felt awful and was sweating buckets, poured a glass of fresh orange and swallowed straight away, felt so tired I sat down whilst sweat was pouring down my face, decided to eat 2 more sweet biscuits and continued to serve up tea assisted by my wife.

Decided not to inject and proceeded to eat my tea but still felt awful, after finishing I tested again and the meter reading was 3.9 so had two more biscuits, after 30 minutes tested again and was 7.3 so went for an hours sleep.

I couldn't nod off as my mind was racing on why I had such a severe hypo, as a rule I catch them early in the low 4's and very occasionally the high 3's, only thing I could think of was I'd mistakenly injected novo instead of lantus. Since changing to basal and bolus this has never happened so dismissed this theory and nodded off, after a while I woke and was 16.3, injected 6 units of novo and got up. Throughout a sleepless night I did 3 correction doses as my bg refused to budge from around 16, eventually fell asleep and woke to 9.9 which was a relief.

Injected a 1 unit correction with breakfast and was 13.9 two hours after, this was the final straw and the realisation that I'd definitely injected novo instead of lantus finally hit home, so injected half of my 20 unit dose. Just before dinner bloods are back down to 5.7 which I'd expect around this time.

Never done this before and feel so stupid, injecting 20 units of novo is a massive dose to me as my usual evening dose is 7 units, thankfully I didn't come to any harm but it's sure frightened the life out of me and have no desire to repeat this episode again

 

[Monica]

Oh my goodness, what a fright!

Carol has done this too, but luckily I noticed while she was still injecting (she had a RED pen for rapid and a silver for levemir).

I'm glad you managed this "episode" well.

 

[novorapidboi26]

scary stuff..............it happens to us all............

i use the disposable flex pens so they are clearly colour coded which is fortunate, otherwise I would be doing the same more often......🙂

 

[Caroline]

Sounds horrible, I hope you feel better.

I'm not sure about using biscuits to treat a hypo thoe, they have fat in them which slows absorpton down. I know los of people use jelly babies or fruit juice as ithe sugars are absorbed more quickly and treatthe hypo more efficiently.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Yikes! Sounds horrible Toby. Hope your half dose smooths BGs for the rest of the day.

 

[mcdonagh47]

Never done this before and feel so stupid, injecting 20 units of novo is a massive dose to me as my usual evening dose is 7 units, thankfully I didn't come to any harm but it's sure frightened the life out of me and have no desire to repeat this episode again

Hi Toby,
I've never actually injected the wrong insulin but I have found myself several times holding an Orange Novo pen and screwing a needle on to it at 11.30 p.m. and thinking hang on this should be a green Levemir pen. Just have to hope the fail-safe mechanism kicks in every time.
A bugbear is the morning injection - even ten or twenty minutes after it I can be left wondering, did I inject or not ?

 

[FM001]

Thanks everyone for the best wishes, finally got those numbers down and was 5.7 before lunch and 7.2 two hours after, just checked again and it's down to 6 so not bad considering.

I wasn't going to post this due to feeling such a fool but I thought better of it, I'm happy if not slightly embarrassed to share the good and the bad times to prove that no matter how long you have diabetes mistakes do happen, going to keep the two insulin pens well away from each other in future.

 

[imtrying]

oh god Toby...that must have been a nightmare to manage before you knew what was happening. And you are lucky with the amount of fast acting you injected, if all you are normally used to was 7.

I've not done this, but I have injected my 32 units of lantus TWICE by mistake before!!! 😱

Hope you're feeling much better now.

 

[Marc]

Sorry but LOL atleast you didn't do it like me during a live character radio show. I swore on air holding the apidra pen minus 26 units of fast acting insulin now in me. Back then that equated to a massive 17 cp worth of carbs. So quickly injected the lanctus and rang the station manager to arrange cover which came after 20 min and several cups of sugary water I had no other carbs. Ate the marathon of carbs including 3 mars bars and other chocolate bars and finally a plate of beans on toast. I woke up in the morning at 7. something so I think in that great battle of Man verses Insulin. Man won!

Sorry to laugh but I find humour makes things better.

BTW had my lates HbA1c and it was 6.3%. Running away and hiding!

Marc

 

[FM001]

Sorry but LOL atleast you didn't do it like me during a live character radio show. I swore on air holding the apidra pen minus 26 units of fast acting insulin now in me. Back then that equated to a massive 17 cp worth of carbs. So quickly injected the lanctus and rang the station manager to arrange cover which came after 20 min and several cups of sugary water I had no other carbs. Ate the marathon of carbs including 3 mars bars and other chocolate bars and finally a plate of beans on toast. I woke up in the morning at 7. something so I think in that great battle of Man verses Insulin. Man won!

Sorry to laugh but I find humour makes things better.

BTW had my lates HbA1c and it was 6.3%. Running away and hiding!

Marc

What a nightmare Marc and on live radio too😱 makes me feel a lot better🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

A bugbear is the morning injection - even ten or twenty minutes after it I can be left wondering, did I inject or not ?

Have you picked up threads about 'Timesulin' McD? Due for launch soon, it's a replacement pen cap that shows the time since that pen last delivered an injection. Not sure if it would fit your pens, but seems to have some Novo compatible ones.

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=20891

 

[FM001]

Have you picked up threads about 'Timesulin' McD? Due for launch soon, it's a replacement pen cap that shows the time since that pen last delivered an injection. Not sure if it would fit your pens, but seems to have some Novo compatible ones.

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=20891

Just what I could do with, often have doubts in my mind if I injected before eating so this would fit the bill perfectly, are these available on prescription?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Just what I could do with, often have doubts in my mind if I injected before eating so this would fit the bill perfectly, are these available on prescription?

Unfortunately not. I think the cost is likely to be approx ?30 for a pair of replacement caps. The batteries should last 2-3 years I think. (Robster asked the question in that other thread and someone from the company gave details)

 

[Unicornz]

What a scare Toby glad you got through it okay! I've done this once before as well (and also have done double injections before when I wasn't sure I'd already had them) so you're definitely not alone!

 

[Marc]

Someone on my carb counting course who was busy at his work. Used to have his pen in his shirt pocket and would fit a needle to it and when he had taken his lunch injection would take the needle off. This is damagerous because the insulin can crystalise in the needle and cause problems according to our DSN.

Marc

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Someone on my carb counting course who was busy at his work. Used to have his pen in his shirt pocket and would fit a needle to it and when he had taken his lunch injection would take the needle off. This is damagerous because the insulin can crystalise in the needle and cause problems according to our DSN.

Marc

Slightly confused by that Marc? Do you mean your DSN says you must *always* remove the needle from the pen and not add the next until immediately before injection?

I have seen people reporting finding 'blocked' needles when they airshot, in which case (if that's down to crystallisation) you would identify the problem then and resolve it wouldn't you?

Personally, I've been leaving needles on / reusing them since diagnosis (20 odd years), and have not yet had a blocked needleas far as I can recall 😱 Not a recommendation of 'best practice', just an observation 🙂

 

[FM001]

Unfortunately not. I think the cost is likely to be approx ?30 for a pair of replacement caps. The batteries should last 2-3 years I think. (Robster asked the question in that other thread and someone from the company gave details)

A lot of money considering I've just lost my job, I suppose for the pair it's not badly priced and will take away that element of doubt. Thanks for the replies everyone🙂

 

[Northerner]

A lot of money considering I've just lost my job, I suppose for the pair it's not badly priced and will take away that element of doubt. Thanks for the replies everyone🙂

Very sorry to hear about the job Toby, hope you can find another one soon 🙂

 

[FM001]

Very sorry to hear about the job Toby, hope you can find another one soon 🙂

Appreciate that Northerner, I'm always optimistic so hope it won't be long before I'm back in employment.

 

[Blythespirit]

Sorry to hear about your scare Toby, and that you've lost your job. I hope the former doesn't happen again and that you find a suitable job soon. XXXXX