Unsure if missed doze

[Elizabethe]

Been diagnosed LADA one week, and trying really hard to get to grip with not only the equipment but the emotional impact. This morning I was positive that I had injected my 4 units of my Basel insulin, the one that is in the background and lasts 24 hours. I took this at 8am and ticked if off my notebook. At 9am I got a message on my Libre 2 saying I had not taken it. I called the clinic in a panic, they advised me to closely monitor my BS which so far today have been good.
Looking for reassurance and advice as feel incredibly stressed.
thanks in anticipation

Elizabeth

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Looking for reassurance and advice as feel incredibly stressed.

Occasionally not being sure whether you've taken a dose happens to all of us (well, those of us not using a pump). Managing diabetes is a long term thing, so messing up now and again is normal and inevitable.

 

[Kaylz]

Sorry I'm not sure what you mean? The Libre doesn't tell you whether you have taken it or not, what did the message say?

 

[rebrascora]

I agree with both the above comments. It is something that will happen occasionally or we accidentally inject quick acting insulin instead of basal... which does cause a bit of a panic.

Like @Kaylz though I am not sure what the Libre message could have been. Libre doesn't know if you have or haven't injected your insulin. Was it perhaps an alarm reminding you to take your insulin? I know my Libre 1 somehow seems to manage to generate these reminders almost by itself. I do set alarms on it occasionally for some things but it has recently taken it upon itself to remind me to take insulin at 5pm which I never do. I am guessing that I have accidentally selected some setting when I have been setting an alarm for something else. I am sure I could sort it if I could be bothered but I just ignore it. That is the only thing I could imagine would remotely equate to what you experienced.

 

[SB2015]

Hi @Elizabethe

Try not to panic. As others have said we all made mistakes, but I can understand your concern, especially as you are so new to it all. if you get worried about things like this just keep an eye on your BG and it will soon show you what has happened. That is perhaps what you meant by the alarm on your Libre. Did it alarm because you were going high?

From some companies there are pens that have a bit in the end which tells you how long ago you did your last injection with that pen. When I was using pens I attached a thing called a Timesulin to the end and it registered when I had last done an injection (and yes there were times when I couldn’t remember. I have also used the wrong pen, and put the different insulin’s in the wrong pens!!! We are only human)

it is great to hear that you are in touch with your team and as you will find there is plenty of help to tap into on here.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear you’ve had a stressful day @Elizabethe

Hopefully your levels have been playing fair today, and have reassured you that you did remember your dose.

Would be interested to hear if you get a similar alert or alarm again. I can’t see a missed insulin alarm on my app - as others have wondered, was it a high glucose alert?

 

[Elizabethe]

Sorry I'm not sure what you mean? The Libre doesn't tell you whether you have taken it or not, what did the message say?

I am unsure now, maybe after reading the posts I misread it and it was a reminder, I cannot retrieve the message. Maybe I need to calm down Elizabeth

 

[Elizabethe]

Sorry to hear you’ve had a stressful day @Elizabethe

Hopefully your levels have been playing fair today, and have reassured you that you did remember your dose.

Would be interested to hear if you get a similar alert or alarm again. I can’t see a missed insulin alarm on my app - as others have wondered, was it a high glucose alert?

My levels have been great all day, from 5 to 10 and steady , maybe I just panicked, cannot remember the exact wording thank you for your response
Elizabeth

 

[Elizabethe]

Thank you all, it is just such a worry this diabetes, a whole new world right now fraught with dangers. However, I will become more confident and familiar with how to manage this as well as live.
Elizabeth

 

[rebrascora]

Thank you all, it is just such a worry this diabetes, a whole new world right now fraught with dangers. However, I will become more confident and familiar with how to manage this as well as live.
Elizabeth

You will gain confidence with experience it just all takes a bit of getting used to in these early days so go easy on yourself and try not to panic! Definitely better to forget to take your insulin than to panic and inject some more and then realise you had injected it in the first place and now have double on board and end up hypo.

As regards the message you got, if you press the button to start up your reader and then press it again, you will see a bell icon in the bottom left hand corner of the display (assuming it is the same as the Libre 1). If you touch that bell, it will come up with whatever alarms you have set. I would imagine one of them may be 9am. If you touch that it may say "Take insulin" along side it and that is likely the message you got this morning. I think this may actually be a default alarm setting as I can't remember ever setting it for 9am as I take mine at 7am. If you touch to select, you have the option to delete or you could change it to 8am by touching the time it is currently set for. if that is when you normally take your basal. Hope that helps.

 

[Elizabethe]

You will gain confidence with experience it just all takes a bit of getting used to in these early days so go easy on yourself and try not to panic! Definitely better to forget to take your insulin than to panic and inject some more and then realise you had injected it in the first place and now have double on board and end up hypo.

As regards the message you got, if you press the button to start up your reader and then press it again, you will see a bell icon in the bottom left hand corner of the display (assuming it is the same as the Libre 1). If you touch that bell, it will come up with whatever alarms you have set. I would imagine one of them may be 9am. If you touch that it may say "Take insulin" along side it and that is likely the message you got this morning. I think this may actually be a default alarm setting as I can't remember ever setting it for 9am as I take mine at 7am. If you touch to select, you have the option to delete or you could change it to 8am by touching the time it is currently set for. if that is when you normally take your basal. Hope that helps.

That is exactly what happened, in the 5 days using it no alarm. Then Friday morning the alarm went off saying take insulin. Absolutely fine today no alarm. I scrolled through the reader an the alarm is not set. Must have been a blip. Thank you.

 

[Elizabethe]

That is exactly what happened. I have used the Libre for 5 days no alarm. Then on Friday morning a message saying take insulin. I have scrolled down and all the alarm settings are off. No alarm this morning, must have been a blip thank you.

 

[Steve_H]

Like others have said , we have all forgotten to take our insulin, at some point. Don't beat yourselves up, just put it down to life as a diabetic and carry move on.

 

[Elizabethe]

Sorry for the duplication I thought the first reply hadn’t posted x

 

[Fagor]

I have Novapens 5, which give time and units last taken - but only if done injection. Can still miss jab if I don't follow my routine. I also count out my needles for the day before breakfast as an extra check. If I find one the next morning, something has gone wrong...last time BGs rose through the night to 17+. At least then I have a reason for horrible BGs.
So don't panic, it may take several meals to get back to normal. Try not to get BGs down in too quickly just in case you go too low.

 

[Elizabethe]

That’s a great tip about the needles, I sorted out a drawer with all my medication. Will now put four needles a day into a Tupperware container. Thank you.