So I hate to even admit this, but I am at my ropes end. For the 3rd time since Ashlynn (age 2) was diagnosed my husband gave her the wrong insulin last night. We do a small snack a bedtime - less than 10 carbs, and then she gets her 3 units of Lantus. Well, he gave her Novolog again! The first time, we panicked, then called the Endo who told us to keep her up for the next 4 hours giving her food to compensate, and checking her BG every 30-60 minutes. We also skip her Lantus until morning and then only give her 1/2 a unit. The first time we did okay and she was high the next day but not awful and she didn’t have any Ketones. The second time we did even better and the next day she was “barely” high and we survived. This time somewhere we WAY over compensated and she was SUPER high! Lunch time today she was down to 320 which was a blessing at that point. Good news is she still didn’t run any Ketones. (She really has only ran trace amounts and that was at the time of dx when she was over 1100, so I guess we get lucky there for now). The worst part of this is for the second time since dx we forgot to treat her dinner last night with the Novolog for over an hour. I did remember and treat her, but it was and hour later when my husband gave her the wrong insulin. So she went way high, then way low, then way high again is less than 12 hours. I honestly feel like we are the worst parents ever. We caused it, we made our little girl feel awful.
My husband is very involved in her care, and it isn’t like he isn’t a responsible person or parent for that matter. I hate to admit it but he does more around the house than I do when it comes to mundane task like dishes, and cleaning. (I do the laundry and keep the kids in line, clean, and take care of all appointments.) We are a busy family with 5 year old Nathan, our dear Ashlynn is 2, and we have Daniel who is 13 months old. Snack time and Bed time can be hectic. Ashlynn has all her diabetes meds, Nathan has Asthma and Allergy meds, and Daniel for now has nothing (thank goodness).
How in the heck do I keep this from happening again? Should I store the Lantus that we are using in the med cabinet and not the refrigerator? The butter shelf with lid the where we keep the insulin, b/c it is the only shelf safe from the 2 younger ones. Do I decorate the bottle? Do I put it in something to make it different? My husband claims that it isn’t that he doesn’t see the difference, it is that all day long we grab the Novolog and he just doesn’t think to grab the other. The only reason we have caught this mistake everytime is b/c my husband leaves the insulin on the counter and at some point I always walk in the kitchen and put it away - along with shut all the cabinet doors that he leaves open, and put away other stuff (men.).
HELP! And please don’t chastise me it was very difficult for me to post this and tell all of you our mistakes. Thank you!
Could you get a pen for her Lantus - then you could dial the dose in the morning -
Or perhaps draw her insulin units earlier in the day so that you get in the habit of reaching for a syringe rather than a vial??
I certainly don’t think anyone would chastise you - it’s so much to manage and keep track of…
I once ‘corrected’ for my daugher, who was sleeping (she’s a teen) and gave her too much insulin - she went down to 26 and I thought we were going to have to use the glucagon or call the EMT’s. Fortunately that wasn’t the case but I know how terrible it feels to cause your child to suffer because you miscalculated or did something wrong.
Good luck - I better folks who had/have kids your kids age will have better suggestions.
Dana
My step son has had the pump for almost two years now and after 3 years of two different pens he loves it! He is 10 now. I do remember though his Dad giving him the wrong one at bedtime and realized it right after and we spent the night in the emerg basically doing all you were told to do. Fed him everything under the sun and checked him steady. That’s all they did at the hospital as well. Try different things…something that will make you think twice when you grab it. Make it look stupid… a BIG piece of paper tied to it or something… but for goodness sake… never ever think you’re the worst parents for doing this a few times… NEVER… we’re all still learning this and always will be…everyone knows its not intentional… its a mistake…please don’t feel down on yourself…it gets easier… trust me…
My advice to you would be to use a pen for one and a vial for the other. This way there would be no way of getting the two confused. It is a little more expensive that way, but it is much easier to keep track of.
Like everyone else has said, all parents have made one mistake or another with their children. It makes us human. Don’t get upset with yourself or your spouse because it just makes the situation even more difficult.
Ursela
That has got to be very stressful for the entire family.
Many adults on this site have admitted injecting the wrong insulin at one point or another. It seems you are using vials and syringes, so using a pen for one insulin only might not be a viable option. If that is the case, I would suggest making a little sleeve for both vials. Use different colors and put a clear label on one meals only and the other bed only. I remember life pre-pump with two colored pens and always being worried about making a mistake.
Cheryl
You’re not the only person to make this mistake, or go on vacation and leave supplies at home, or wear a pump into a lake only to have it fall off and sink to the murky bottom, or a whole host of other OOPS both large and small. There is a lot of “carp” as we call it at our house to keep up with, and you need to do whatever you can to make the process as goof-proof as possible.
We keep our supplies in plastic drawers, which you can see in this picture.
http://www.tudiabetes.org/photo/our-supply-cabinet?context=user
Each drawer is labeled, and (pre-pumping) we kept the different insulins in different drawers labeled NIGHTIME and DAYTIME. We did not store either insulin in the fridge once the bottle had been tapped.
I suggest you decorate your bottle, pen, etc. Or at least wrap a big piece of tape around it that you can write “Night” on or something like that. I would put a big note inside my refrigerator that says, “Do you have the right insulin?” Hang it where you have to flap it up to reach the medications.
Another idea is one we used to use (again, pre-pump): we never gave an injection without the another person checking it. We did have the advantage that our D child is old enough to be that person, but sometimes it was the other adult.
Good luck.
Probably the easiest way to do this IS to mark the vials “day” and “night”. Or just mark the one vial of lantus “Nighttime Only”. Or mark the Novolog “Daytime Only”.
The ideas folks have come up with are great! You might have a note somewhere - on the fridge, on whatever your daughter has for a bedtime snack, on the jub of milk for example, or on your daughter’s BG meter that says “Lantus at Bedtime” or some such thing. You could also do the “2 person check” before insulin delivery thing if you’re both home at bedtime or there is an older sibling in the family.
cheers,
Karen
When we were on MDI, I always kept my daughters Apidra in the meter case and the Lantus was kept in the kitchen cabinet. That worked for us, but if you don’t think it will work for your family, there are cozies that they sell to protect the vials in case of dropping them. Maybe if you put a cozi on the Lantus vial, you would be able to tell if you have the correct vial. I have included three links showing different variations and they aren’t pricey… Not sure what shipping is though.
http://www.amazon.com/Ambimedinc-Insul-cap/dp/B000IGCCFM/ref=pd_sim_bt_3
http://www.amazon.com/Square-Insucozi-designed-designated-Insulin/dp/B001DQR42C
It’s all about getting into your own grove as a family unit. Suggestions… keep the long acting in a different part of the fridge, have just one of you that is mainly resposable for bed time injections, or look into your pumping options (my son started on a pump @ age 2)
Above all know that you are great loving parents who are doing the best they can! we are all only human and can all (and do) make mistakes!!!
my heart goes out to you and your hubby, I have one child and if I had more i could only imagine the chaos that could occure on a daily basis let alone throw carb counting and blood sugars for a 2 yr old in the mix!
Hang in find what works best and run with it!
Color Code the insulin containers and put a corresponding color coded chart on the outside of her door that the caregiver of the insulin has to update. Make the weekly chart replacement something both of you do together. Or maybe for a while you both need to be present for the doses so there are two pairs of eyes - a check and balance.
I’ve been T1 for a while now and make my own mistakes, thank-you very much! I’m saying that no matter who the caregiver is, mistakes will happen. I’ve given my husband extra cumadin (blood thinner) by mistake and waited (holding my breath) for the inevitable stroke to occur. You are good parents with an extra dollop of worry. The important thing is to learn from the error. But I assure you, this will not be the only mistake in your daughter’s care that’s likely to happen. Take a deep breath, shake it off…by the way, this is a great thread. I’m looking at some of the posted suggestions and am going to try a few of them myself.
I want to thank all of you for your wonderful suggestions. They are great. We have taken red elec tape to the bottle of Lantus. We have also started to have the other adult check the out the medicine before treatment. You all help so much with your suggestions, in addition to just letting me vent you have reminded me that we are only human. Thank you.
Ellen