Oops I’ve gone and done it - wrong insulin

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mitchsi

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Type 1
Damn, I knew I’d do it at some point and todays the day, I’ve gone and taken 17u of novarapid instead of levemir.
I blame both pens being blue although I’ve marked the dial end with red nail varnish but still it can’t be my fault either way 🙂

So I have the burden of eating custard creams with my coffee and extra portion of oats. It’s going to be an interesting experience - 17u would be max 170g but less than 2 hrs in I’ve almost consumed well over half that with biscuits and still around 4. Shortly after that near the insulin peak I’ve had oats, cheap sugar OJ, more biscuits so I’m at about 240g of carbs and near 5.
Dog walk has been delayed an hour but now going out with pockets full of treats and not just dog treats.
As Del boy would say - what a plonka 🙂
 
This happens occasionally, so I wouldn't worry excessively!
It may help to put the two different insulin pens in separate locations?

However, the NovoPen 6 (and also the NovoPen Echo Plus) come in two colours!
I use the silver-coloured Novopen 6 for Levemir and the blue-coloured Novopen 6 for NovoRapid. If you have these pens, you will know about the mechanism at one end which can tell you how long since your last injection, and how many units you injected. (This was also available on the predecessor NovoPen 5.)

I suggest that you ask your doctor to prescribe two silver NovoPen 6s to add to your current two blue Novopen 6s, so you can have a backup for each, and organise the insulins accordingly.
 
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I don't always look at my pen, if I am injecting in the dark at night or in the morning whilst still in bed, so whilst I have a red NovoPen Echo for my Fiasp and a blue one for my Levemir, I also have specific locations in my pen case for each one (red Fiasp near the fold and blue Levemir on the outside) but I also put some tape on my Levemir so it feels different.

If you are judging your carb intake by your Libre readings you will likely have overcooked it maybe by as much as half an hour..... or more precisely how many carbs you ate in that last half hour, but maybe the dog walk will work that off.

Sounds like you have kept really calm though (I had a bit of a panic but then took the logical approach and started eating and logging my carbs as I went) and at least, like me, you noticed that you had done it straight away. Assume you also injected your correct basal dose when you realized your mistake.
 
I assumed I grabbed the right pen, usually they are kept together so I deliberatly have to check - was an odd error.
Anyhow I had to eat custard creams (shame 🙂 ) while walking on Dartmoor with the dogs, all worked out fine but I knew I’d end up doing this something.
In the end I ate the bag of custards creams, oats, banana, Kit Kat so about 380g of carbs for what should have been normally 170g, I’m sure walking had an effect. Was an interesting ‘experiment’!
The graph for fun… (switched to levemir so I know I need to reduce the evening dose it now)
 

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Inka said:
I think the colours have different codes @mitchsi It looks like they’re just copying the first code and not looking further.
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Yeah that could be it but they seem to not care too much even though I explained why I needed another colour.
I’ll be making the novorapid pen more obvious now.
 
Not sure whether this is still the case as I am using my original pens from 16 years ago. I have children’s pens which came in two different colours, and even include stickers for sunny daytime and the moon for nighttime dose. I still managed to put the wrong vial in and two pens of Levemir which gave some very odd results until I realised.
So easily done and you won’t be the first.
 
@SB2015 thanks, yeah I’m sure I’ll do it again. It’s just so annoying that they keep giving out blue pens.
Seems it’s easily done, I assumed the one upstairs by my bed was Levemir, brought it down, was in front of me for ages but was chatting to my son.
Kinda feeling shattered tonight, not sure if it’s related to the sugar consumption today
 
If I have to take quantities of sugar to stop a hypo, it plays havoc with my digestive system for a a couple of days.

The silver NovoPen 6s have a different PIP code to the blue ones. You might have more luck searching for these than I have had!
 
Ok that’s reassuring about you experiencing digestive issues, I’ve been very gassy this afternoon to the humour of my son and the annoyance of my wife plus wiped out.

I don’t feel I can ask for new pens when have 2 spare blue ones. Normally it’s not an issue but I might have got too relaxed, I’m going to add red tape to the rapid pen.
 
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Sorry to hear about this @mitchsi

There are a lot of us who have made similar errors. So you aren’t the first, and you sure won’t be the last!

Glad you managed to work your way through it with the benefit of your Libre trace.
 
@everydayupsanddowns thanks, it was fine actually, initial shock then realization it was a perfect excuse for certain foods. I’m glad it happened on a relaxed Sunday morning and not at night or travelling
 
I've done that more then once with the different colours pens(I've also adceidenty dialed the wrong dose then injected then realized afterwards);so yeah we've all done it.
 
mitchsi said:
Ok that’s reassuring about you experiencing digestive issues, I’ve been very gassy this afternoon to the humour of my son and the annoyance of my wife plus wiped out.

I don’t feel I can ask for newborns when have 2 spare blue ones. Normally it’s not an issue but I might have got too relaxed, I’m going to add red tape to the rapid pen.
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@mitchsi Yeah, the NHS aren’t keen on randomly handing out newborns. Their parents get a bit miffed! Damn hard to do an injection with too :rofl:
 
RBZ5416 said:
Or maybe start another thread & see if someone here has another colour & wants to swap.

Assuming that would be OK @everydayupsanddowns?
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Officially I don’t think prescription items are supposed to be passed to another person. And as I understand it they certainly aren’t allowed to be sold!
 
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