Re: Faulty insulin injector - Thanks Heidi

[Guest guest]

Hey Heidi...Wow! I have to tell you, your story really scared &

worried me more & more as I read on!!!! And since I am a new

diabetic, I just wanted to let you know that your story has taught

me a really important lesson that I will keep with me for the rest

of my life! If I hadn't read this then I think I would have never

had a clue what to do! Now I know better. Of course, right now, I'm

not on insulin, but I'm afraid I will be someday, and now I have the

information about what to do if it ever does happen!! So, any-who,

I just wanted to tell you thanks for sharing your story with us!

And I'm so glad that you are ok! What a scary night you had! I

hope you are doing well now!.

Lots of Hugs,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" Heidi " wrote:

Hi guys!

The reason I'm still up at this late hour is because of a problem I

had this evening with my Humalog pen insulin injector. I've NEVER

had anything happen like this before, and wonder if anyone else that

uses the Humalog pen ever has, because this incident could have been

fatal if I hadn't been as attentive as I was.

Right before dinner with my family, I injected 15 units of Humalog

to cover for the meal we were going to have. The injector didn't

make the usual " click " sound that it usually does when I shot

myself, but I wasn't overly concerned because it doesn't " always "

make that

sound. I also didn't feel any sting from the insulin, but I don't

always feel it sting, either.....so at that point everything seemed

okay. My after dinner BG test showed 384!!! Alarm bells go off in

my head, and I realized that the insulin must not have been released

from the cylinder. So now I have to inject again to cover the

horrible BG,

which normally would have been in the 90-110 range. So I dial up 14

units of Humalog in the pen, and as a precaution, read the cylinder

on the side to see how much insulin still remains in the tube. It

looks like there's about 136-138 units left. So I shoot my 14

units,then check the amount remaining in the cylinder....and it's

gone down to 120 units!!! That's 29 units of insulin injected,

meaning that

somehow the insulin from the first, nonfunctioning injection

remained stuck in side there somehow and was then forced out with

the second, later injection. I absolutely freaked, knowing that if

that was

what really happened, that I was set up for what could be a fatal

overdose.

In less than an hour, my BG had dropped 200 units, so we knew that

what we feared had happened,

actually DID. I started checking every 15 minutes, because my sugar

was dropping fast, going from 150 to 70 in less than 20 minutes. At

70, I started sipping on orange juice. Fifteen minutes later it was

down to 54, I drank 8 ounces of Mountain Dew, and within 15 minutes

it was down at 52. So I drank another 6 ounces of orange juice,

then it was 56. One more glass of orange juice, and the next check

was 70, thank goodness.

and wouldn't go to bed until I'd done another check

15 minutes later to make sure it was going up, and it had gone to

74. I assured them that I'd get some more to bring it up a good bit

over 100, since mine always drops during the night....well, morning,

now....to cover that drop. If I go to bed with it around 130, it

will be down around 90 when I wake in the morning.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi