Who has a glucagon kit at home?

[Northerner]

I've never even seen one, but keep wondering if I ought to have one in the house.

 

[HERE TINTIN]

I had one when I was pregnant which was 20+ years ago, I didnt get any warning of hypo, just straight into unconsciousness. Now all these years later I rarely know I am hypo. But not sure if kit would be of any help as alone much of the time, I now have a community alarm, but again still not sure that would help if I didnt recognise a hypo.

 

[delb t]

Do you mean the Glucagen Hypokit 1mg - if so yes we do- we have 2 never used it though... they last about 18 months.and live in the fridge.

 

[delb t]

TBH they are quite fidley you have to mix the solution with the powder slowly -a ready made solution would be easier!

 

[Hanmillmum]

We have a couple, thankfully never needed, but may have been close when little one has had severe vomiting with gastro-enteritis and BG would not come up after several hypo treatments. Ragnar Harris book has section in about using this in mini doses for such occasions though I'm not sure I would be confident doing this :/ ( we have 4th ed and it's on pg 36)

Anyhow I think you should have some in for emergencies and let someone know where they could find it in any event. There is a step by step guide in the kit on how to administer, I had a practise mixing with an out of date kit.

 

[Sally71]

Yes we have one, thank goodness haven't needed it yet! My mum also has never needed hers in 46 years of being diabetic. It's the sort of thing you hope you never need but don't want to be without it because it might be a life saver one day!

I don't know if it would be worth getting one if you live alone, if you needed it you wouldn't be capable of administering it yourself. If an ambulance had to be called for you they would carry one anyway. Do you perhaps have a nice neighbour or any family who visit regularly who could be shown how to use it? Might save a bit of panic and an ambulance call if the worst did happen!

By the way in case anyone is wondering, the reason these kits are so fiddly is because glucagon in liquid form is extremely unstable, it would deteriorate so quickly that it would become useless within hours. So a ready mixed one is not possible at the moment, I don't know if any research is going on to try to fix this problem!

 

[AlisonM]

I was offered one, but refused as I'm on my own a lot of the time and know when I'm hypo I'd be too uncoordinated to cope with mixing the stuff.

 

[Redkite]

Yes we have one in the fridge, one in our travel kit, and one at school.

 

[Copepod]

I reckon it's only worth having one in house, if (a) you are prone to becoming unconscious through hypoglycaemia and (b) there is usually someone in house who could administer glucagon at right time. As you live alone, Northerner, it's probably better to concentrate on having easily accessible sources of rapid absoption sugar (eg drinks with seal broken, sweets, fruit puree sachets etc in every room, so eg you can grab one without getting out of bed / leaving sofa / moving to another room, and particularly without negotiating stairs.

Otherwise, it's just a waste of money, as most glucagon kits are not used before they reach their expiry dates. BNF states GlucaGen HypoKit costs £11.52. Good value if it's used, of course, but no value if not used.

Please note, this answer applies to an adult with type 1 diabetes, living alone, NOT a child with type 1 diabetes.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

No I haven't got one as the instructions say not to be used if adrenal impaired.
I did have one years many years ago and I did have to use it once as knew I was in big trouble. So yes worth having if you can manage to use it yourself.

 

[AlisonF]

I have one. Hubby used it on me once years ago when I fitted in the night and was unconscious. It made me sick and gave me a terrible headache but worked a treat. My parents used it when I was a child too.

We always take one on holiday with us as we can often be in the middle of nowhere and I wouldn't want him to be stuck with an unconscious wife and no way of treating me.

 

[spiritfree]

I have one in the fridge, for emergencies.

 

[novorapidboi26]

same as others, have ways had one, never used it.....🙂

 

[Northerner]

By the way in case anyone is wondering, the reason these kits are so fiddly is because glucagon in liquid form is extremely unstable, it would deteriorate so quickly that it would become useless within hours. So a ready mixed one is not possible at the moment, I don't know if any research is going on to try to fix this problem!

I didn't know that, thank you 🙂 I wonder how things work in the artificial pancreas then? As I understand it, not only do they use insulin to bring down highs, but they also use glucagon to counter lows.

 

[Sally71]

I didn't know that, thank you 🙂 I wonder how things work in the artificial pancreas then? As I understand it, not only do they use insulin to bring down highs, but they also use glucagon to counter lows.

It's one of the major problems that they need to resolve for the artificial pancreas, at the moment you would have to replace the glucagon every day!