glucogen

[bev]

Hi all!

I am trying to sort out a care plan for Alex moving to Secondary School and was wondering how often any of you have had to have the Glucogen needle?
At the moment his school doesnt have one there as they are not trained how to use it (myself included) - but his new school is bigger and has a bigger intake of children with disabilities - so i think they may be ok to have one there. If you have any advice on this subject i would appreciate it. Thanks. Bev

 

[diagonall]

My attitude bev is, it's better to be safe than sorry.
So have one for him and then be thankful if it gets thrown out after it goes past the use by date.

Personally I dont have one, this is due to another autoimmune problem which means it's ineffective for me.

 

[bev]

Thanks Sue,

Goodness me you do have a lot of things to think about dont you? I just have to have an idea of how often Alex is likely to have to have it - but so far he hasnt needed it - but i suppose its better to be safe and have one at school! Thanks. Bev

 

[Copepod]

Glucogen is prescribed for individual children, not for a school. There's no point having glucogen if you don't have someone who can use it. And you only need glucogen if you haven't noticed hypoglycaemia progressing - usually, you can prevent the need for glucogen by eating some sugary food first. So, next stage should be talking to his diabetes team to seek their advice about whether he needs glucogen to hand and talking to Alex's new school to see if anyone is already trained or willing to become trained to use glucogen.

 

[angel30eyes]

Pens

My son is at high school, he is 12 and though he is not diabetic he is allergic to milk, wheat, soya, eggs and nuts which requires an epipen or anapen, he has thank the heavens never had to use it and they run out of date after a few months but it is better to be safe than sorry, and as your son has diabetes the school are required by LAW to have someone on site who is trained to administer the injection should it be needed and this would be drawn up in a care plan which involves the school and local authority nurse, hope this helps

 

[sofaraway]

How often he will have to have it? hopefully never, i'm sure there are plenty of people who don't ever need it. I have never had a glucogen prescription, I haven't ever felt the need for it. I've never been too low to eat/drink, and have good warning signs (diabetes for 9 years).
If I was in that situation I think I would rather someone call 999.

If the school already has people trained to give it then there is no harm

 

[AJL]

I have to agree I would be very nervous about someone giving any type of injection unless they are very well trained. Once when I was a child my mum had to stop a doctor from injecting insulin into me - she knew that my sugar was low whilst he thought that I needed more insulin (this was before the days of finger prick blood tests). I think my mum saved my life that day.

Would it not be better for Alex to have hypostop with him if he should need help with a hypo that he can't treat himself? Accompanied by somebody calling an ambulance/paramedic just to be on the safe side. Although hopefully he won't ever need this help as long as he knows how to identify his own low sugars and to deal with them effectively.

I know this is a while now but when I was at school I used to have a little tub with sugar lumps in it and people knew that I was to have those if my sugar went low.

 

[Adrienne]

Hi Bev

Absolutely definitely this is a must. With children you cannot always predict a hypo, they can happen without warning and sometimes there are no symptoms at all and a fit can happen. This is a fact and has happened. It's happened to my daughter for a start. I have used the glucagon once. I was never trained. In the NICE guidelines it quotes that anyone, family member, friend, carer can administer the glucagon injection.

It was purely designed to be used by non professionals. In the Royal College of Nursing 'handbook' it states that 'anyone can give a life saving injection'.

Lots of DSNs say no to it in schools, this is disgusting you cannot always rely on an ambulance getting there quick enough. Ask on the email group about glucagon, you will get hundreds of emails about it and all, without fail, say it is a necessity to be in schools. You don't need your DSN to train the school if the DSN refuses. Any medical person can do the training, so if you know a nurse then she/he can do the training in school.

My daughter is completely asymptomatic and I know a few others who are. Some children sometimes know they are hypo and at other times they don't know. My daughter can be 1.4 and show nothing at all. She is fine but at 1.4 we know she's not. She fitted at 2.7 when glucagon had to be given, she has been so much lower than that and not fitted.

Ok I'll come down of my soap box now, as you can probably tell this is a favourite topic of mine and my one big pet hate.

 

[Adrienne]

Would it not be better for Alex to have hypostop with him if he should need help with a hypo that he can't treat himself?

Unfortuantely Glucogel (was hypostop) does not always work for some people. I used to use it for my daughter but after a while it did nothing. I can give her three tubes and nothing, still hypo for ages and ages, so I end up having to give coke and the Glucogel still has no effect. No idea why but others have found the same. Same for Glucotabs, dextrose tablets and lucozade tablets, very odd.

Also you can't give Glucogel to an unconscious person, only Glucagon injection would do in that instance and I wouldn't want to wait for an ambulance just in case it didn't get there for whatever reason.

Anyway that's my views, I know they won't be shared by everyone.

 

[aymes]

I have to agree adrienne, you definately don't want to ever use it but it's always best to be on the safe side. My housemates and work colleagues are well versed on how to give me glucagon should I need it, which has never happened yet. Only those who I trust know how to use it and when so I'd expect anyone else would just call an ambulance, but I'd prefer if possible to have the glucagon quickly and hopefully avoid the drama and expense of an ambulance. It's never been needed so far and I have good warning signs so I think it unlikely I'll need it but you just never know.