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Permalink Reply by smileandnod on January 11, 2012 at 1:31pm

Just talked to my endo. He of course said that we'll probably never know exactly what happened. The first question he asked was about the possibility of mixing up the two insulins but I'm certain on that one. The second thing he said was that if you contaminate the lantus with humalog by even inserting a syringe used with humalog into the lantus vial, then the lantus begins to act like short acting insulin. I don't think I did this but who knows...I keep a separate supply of syringes with each vial because I know not to mix them but sometimes life gets distracting so never say never. Good thing is that I discarded that vial. Another good lesson here too for not reusing syringes.

He also said it may not have had anything to do with the Lantus dose itself but the timing. He said that I could have been heading into a low anyway and the Lantus dose taken at that time just sped it up basically. This is possible because I'm sort of between 2 Lantus doses thanks to syringe 1/2 units - a little high with one dose but drifting slightly on lower side all day with next higher dose. Yesterday I was drifting down all day but controlling it with a few jelly beans. When I got home I ate a few more jelly beans then took my Lantus dose but had not eaten dinner yet. Not the smart thing to do I guess.

Bottom line is he told me to back off on my I:C ratio for lunch at least for a few days and cut my Lantus dose back by 2 units for a few days and to eat dinner before I take my Lantus for a few days. Eat carbs and let it run a lttle higher for a few days. Then proceed with the OmniPod! Basically everything the smart people here advised before he got around to calling me! :) Thanks guys, you're all awesome.

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Permalink Reply by angelic 1 on January 11, 2012 at 1:48pm

glad you made it through. I've never used the glucagon kit yet on my son but went through a similar thing with my dad. He didnt have the kit for emergencys but used glucos gel. Took 5 hours to get him up and stead kept going down. Seems there is so many varieables with each person that can play into the up and down sugars. My son is on Lantus to and hasn't wanted to take it at night but I've been incouraging him to because he was in DKA in Sept and has had alot of problems since so I'm trying to help him get rid of the keytones. The world of diabetes seems to be growing. Scary. Glad you are ok now and I hope you dont go through that again. Have a blessed day.

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Permalink Reply by smileandnod on January 11, 2012 at 1:56pm

Thank you angelic1. Best wishes to your son as well. And you are an angel for encouraging him to take care of himself.

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Permalink Reply by Sue59 on January 11, 2012 at 5:26pm

You're lucky you weren't sleeping when this happened. I took my Lantus shot of 20 units one night, or so I thought, got very tired and lay down on the couch and fell asleep. I woke up in the ER at the hospital. When I fell off the couch I woke my husband, who was upstairs sleeping in the bedroom. When he came downstairs to see what was happening, I stopped breathing and gave him a good scare. He called 911. When I came to the nurse told me I was lucky to be alive. I came to the conclusion that I must have taken 20 units of Humalog. After that I made sure I put the two insulins in separate areas in the kitchen.

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Permalink Reply by smileandnod on January 12, 2012 at 7:49am

You're so right Sue, I've had that thought about being asleep. It's a good thing your poor husband woke up! How frightening to wake up in the ER or with paramedics over you. I'm glad you made it through ok!

Right before it happened I had just eaten several jelly beans because I was trending on the low side slowly and I was really tired and sleepy and thought about laying down for a minute. Thankfully I didn't. I ended up staying up until about 1 a.m. that night just to make sure I was going to make it through the rest of the night.

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Permalink Reply by flightconn on January 12, 2012 at 7:55am

I once took my Novalog thinking it was my Lantus (late at night, just didn't pay attention -will never happen again). My experience was similar to yours except I was taking about 50 units of Lantus so I took that much Novalog and woke up to the paramedics. Any chance you took the wrong insulin?

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Permalink Reply by smileandnod on January 12, 2012 at 8:03am

Hi flightconn, wow 50 units! I used to take 50 and am now down to 29 due to hormones changing. If I had taken 50 I would have been down for the count. I am positive that I did not take the wrong insulin only because this dose was the end of a vial so I took the empty vial and set it on the counter to remember to replace it. I really think I either hit a blood vessel or it was bad timing to take Lantus while trending low (and maybe heading into a mild hypo) and delaying dinner. Hindsight I should have eaten dinner since I was trending low already and then taken the Lantus. It's a shame we all have to learn such lessons the really scary way :)

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Permalink Reply by angelic 1 on February 29, 2012 at 9:35am

The story's are scary. Was with John yesterday and on the computer didn't pay attention to much to what my son was doing and his wife. I remember hearing john ask his wife to get the Novolog. Didn't think much of it. Got ready to leave about 3o minutes after that for doctors. I asked john did he have his diabetes stuff together to leave he said yah and was short tempered with me. I asked if he has his insulin and he said yah I took some of Lantus because I'm not eating much. I about freaked. He took both within 30 minutes of each other. We had to chase the sugar the rest of the day/evening. One thing I would like to have people aware of is when a Diabetic has a sudden mood swing and may have a BIG Attitude! Don't leave them alone there is more to it. Its not that they just want to be Mean or argue. I find with john it is always a sugar drop. I even get frustrated but I try to get him to check his number and help him fix the issue. Trying to teach his lovely Wife April this. They are young and only married 6 months so this can be tough.Keeping the Faith even in hard times.

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Permalink Reply by Zoe on February 29, 2012 at 11:16am

Both April and John might want to come on here, angelic. John can learn more about his diabetes management and April will be able to relate to other Type 1 family members and understand more about John's blood sugar and how to support him.

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Permalink Reply by Amy on February 29, 2012 at 1:59pm

Angelic, thanks for posting that. When I was a teenager I was really grumpy with my mom. Told her to F off and that's something I never ever did. Was yelling at her and she just gave me some juice and a cookie. Later when I was feeling better I apologized for yelling and swearing at her and she understood that it was the low - not me.

As an adult now I can understand it would be difficult for parents of teens - they are moody on a regular basis.

Now that I'm married my husband can see when I'm getting low. He says I get really pale. Don't worry about April - she will figure it out. Hopefully she understands diabetes a little bit.

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