Urgent!!! I've Just Done Something REALLY Stupid!!!

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Snowdog1971

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi, my first post!

I've just done something REALLY stupid, as the title says.

I've been Diabetic for 46 years now and I'm on Lantus Solostar and Novorapid Flexpen.

25 units of Lantus in the morning and I've just started to take 12 units at lunch to see me through the rest of the day.

And before each meal 2 x the units for every portion (10g carbohydrate).

Have been doing this the last couple of days but just now I've given myself the morning dose of Lantus!!! So just over twice as much as I should!!!

No idea what to do now, I've just panicked and eaten a pack of jelly babies lol

Should I call an ambulance? Or should I just eat some slow acting carbs like pasta?

Haven't done a blood test yet but it's probably as high as a kite after those jelly babies anyway.
 
Snowdog1971 said:
No idea what to do now, I've just panicked and eaten a pack of jelly babies lol
Click to expand...
That wasn't what I was going to suggest! Lantus is slow acting, so I'd expect its effects to be over the next day or so. So being a bit more generous in portions while you're eating (and lowering the Novorapid doses) would seem to me to make more sense. But yes, be worried about hypos especially tonight. I think I'd be planning to go to sleep a bit higher than normal, and maybe setting an alarm or two to wake up and test overnight.

And by all means call 111 and ask what they suggest. I wouldn't call an ambulance because whatever's going to happen isn't likely to happen suddenly.

I'd have thought 25 units in the morning and another 12 units at lunchtime would be an odd regime for an insulin that's supposed to act over 24-36 hours. I wonder if that just means there's something else that could be adjusted (most of us find we need different ratios of bolus insulin at different times of the day, for example)?

But then I've got Libre 2, with alarms when I start to go low. Do you not have that?
 
Bruce Stephens said:
That wasn't what I was going to suggest! Lantus is slow acting, so I'd expect its effects to be over the next day or so. So being a bit more generous in portions while you're eating (and lowering the Novorapid doses) would seem to me to make more sense. But yes, be worried about hypos especially tonight. I think I'd be planning to go to sleep a bit higher than normal, and maybe setting an alarm or two to wake up and test overnight.

And by all means call 111 and ask what they suggest. I wouldn't call an ambulance because whatever's going to happen isn't likely to happen suddenly.

I'd have thought 25 units in the morning and another 12 units at lunchtime would be an odd regime for an insulin that's supposed to act over 24-36 hours. I wonder if that just means there's something else that could be adjusted (most of us find we need different ratios of bolus insulin at different times of the day, for example)?

But then I've got Libre 2, with alarms when I start to go low. Do you not have that?
Click to expand...

Not got a Libre 2 yet, am waiting for one.

I changed my insulin because I was having hypos at 3-4pm and 3-4am every day.

Hospital suggested lowering the Lantus but it didn't make any difference until I lowered it to 25. But then it got too high later on during the day.

So I tried a little at lunchtime and 12 hit the spot.

I'm going to get the hospital to change it to something else. I did originally tell them that the Lantus was the problem but they didn't listen

My control hasn't been great since Welcome stopped making Insulatard and Velosulin years and years ago.

But since I started with 25 and 12 of Lantus everything has been spot on
 
I wouldn’t do anything other than keep an eye on my blood sugar and reduce mealtime insulin or have extra carbs if I seemed to be heading low. Certainly wouldn’t call an ambulance without even testing blood sugar - what treatment would you expect paramedics to give you if your bg is high anyway?
 
Lucyr said:
I wouldn’t do anything other than keep an eye on my blood sugar and reduce mealtime insulin or have extra carbs if I seemed to be heading low. Certainly wouldn’t call an ambulance without even testing blood sugar - what treatment would you expect paramedics to give you if your bg is high anyway?
Click to expand...

No idea lol

I just started panicking, have calmed down a bit now. I have issues with severe depression and anxiety so this stupid mistake sent me a little crazy
 
Tip: use the post title to explain what the post is about so that you attract people who might be able to help. Your current post title could be about having reversed over your wheelbarrow.
 
Transistor said:
Tip: use the post title to explain what the post is about so that you attract people who might be able to help. Your current post title could be about having reversed over your wheelbarrow.
Click to expand...
I think we are used to people messing up their doses, so a title like the one above usually signals that it's going to be an Insulin dose problem, and attracts the members on insulin (who have probably messed up in their time).
 
I’d probably skip/reduce my boluses to ‘soak up’ some of the excess Lantus. I’d also go to bed higher than usual and set one or more alarms to test during the night. Keep an extra eye on things. You’re not the first person to do this. It’s easily done.
 
I did it the other way around last year and injected 24 units of mealtime insulin instead of 24 units of basal. That was a bit of a race against time to get fast acting carbs into me to soak it up and I too was in a panic as I usually follow a low carb way of eating, so trying to scran that many carbs in short order made me feel horribly sick.... but I couldn't afford to start throwing up. With an overdose of basal insulin you have plenty of time to just slowly keep feeding some carbs into your system every now and then to keep soaking it up as it releases. I imagine the sugar rush and high BG from the packet of JBs made the feeling of panic worse. As others have said, reduce or probably don't bolus at all for your evening meal and I would perhaps opt for a meal that is slow release like pizza or pasta in a creamy sauce or a high fibre meal like lentils. I find peanuts are really good for giving me slow release carbs right through the night, so perhaps get some of those and have them at bedtime and as others have said, set an alarm for through the night to wake up and check your levels and do lots of testing this afternoon/evening......

.... and chase up getting Libre 2 prescribed next week. Everyone with Type 1 who wants it should have it by now. If health care professionals are being difficult about it, email Prof Partha Kar and he will advocate on your behalf.
 
Does anyone know how much a bag of jelly would increase your levels?
M the bags I buy are 200g which is standard in most shops
 
Jimmy2202 said:
Does anyone know how much a bag of jelly would increase your levels?
M the bags I buy are 200g which is standard in most shops
Click to expand...
Depends on body weight, I think, but Google produced a link to this PDF which says 10g increases it by 2-3 mmol/L;

So 200g would raise it by 40-60 (presuming that range and presuming you mean jelly babies and that they're 100% glucose (which they're not, but they're close)). (Which is a lot, obviously, so don't try this at home!)
 
Snowdog1971 said:
I'm going to get the hospital to change it to something else. I did originally tell them that the Lantus was the problem but they didn't listen
Click to expand...
Consider switching to reusable pens while you're at it. The cartridges take up less space in the fridge and (at least the Novonordisk ones) feel nicer to use (they're mostly metal so feel nice and solid) and can show the last dose (how much and when); the LibreLink software can also scan them so you get dose information recorded alongside the Libre 2 data. (Some other software can also read them.)

(I don't know about pens for Lantus.)
 
I like the juniorstar pen which you can use for lantus though I only use it for apidra and use a disposable for lantus. It’s a half unit pen up to 30u (I take more lantus than that which is why I use disposable). It is a nice feeling pen but no memory. There is a whole unit reusable pen for lantus and apidra, but I wasn’t keen on it.
 
rebrascora said:
I did it the other way around last year and injected 24 units of mealtime insulin instead of 24 units of basal. That was a bit of a race against time to get fast acting carbs into me to soak it up and I too was in a panic as I usually follow a low carb way of eating, so trying to scran that many carbs in short order made me feel horribly sick.... but I couldn't afford to start throwing up. With an overdose of basal insulin you have plenty of time to just slowly keep feeding some carbs into your system every now and then to keep soaking it up as it releases. I imagine the sugar rush and high BG from the packet of JBs made the feeling of panic worse. As others have said, reduce or probably don't bolus at all for your evening meal and I would perhaps opt for a meal that is slow release like pizza or pasta in a creamy sauce or a high fibre meal like lentils. I find peanuts are really good for giving me slow release carbs right through the night, so perhaps get some of those and have them at bedtime and as others have said, set an alarm for through the night to wake up and check your levels and do lots of testing this afternoon/evening......

.... and chase up getting Libre 2 prescribed next week. Everyone with Type 1 who wants it should have it by now. If health care professionals are being difficult about it, email Prof Partha Kar and he will advocate on your behalf.
Click to expand...

I emailed my consultant quoting current guidelines and saying I was keen to avoid further complications, in particular retaining my remaining leg. Approval virtually by return post! A number of Trusts have been pulled up for withholding Libre from insulin dependant diabetics! Good luck!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top