How long can a type 1 diabetic go without insulin?
I will be given an MRI this week that is an hour and 30 minutes long and cannot wear my insulin pump. I am not wanting to take insulin before as I cannot stop the test in the event of a low blood sugar.
How long have you taken your insulin pump off for?
Would taking it off for this period of time and then putting it back on put me at risk or just a high blood sugar?
HELP!
You’ll be fine. If your blood Gluccose levels are a bit elevated after the test, correct accordingly. Put it in perspective; type 1 diabetics survived for a long, long time long before home testing was even possible and much longer than that before insulin pumps were even imagined
It would probably take a few days before you become deathly ill. A few hours before you become real high and start feeling sick. An hour or two may cause your blood sugar to rise, but it should be easy enough to correct after the test.
You can go without insulin for an hour and a half. For me, if I could, I would eat just before (taking insulin with it). This would probably make you go a bit high, but high is better than low short-term. The only insulin you'll be missing is your basal.
I went without insulin for about 4 or 5 hours once when I had a persistent low. My thought was, "If I've got too much insulin (and am going low) the last thing I need is my pump.
I had an MRI about a year ago. Removed my Omnipod. I went slightly high and was easily able to correct it afterwards. It should be fine.
There is no real answer to this question, it's so very individual. But I do not take insulin before I disconnect for MRI or x-ray, unless the bg is high of course. My experience with MRI or imaging has never been more than an hour. The techs can hear you and if your bg goes low and you are in distress all you need to do is tell them and they will stop the process and get you out. I have not taken my pump off for more than an hour in all my years of pumping. Except when it broke - that was worse than an MRI!! Best wishes on results of your image test Lil Mama!
It all depends on the trend going into the test. Ideally, you'll be trending sideways. Missing insulin for 60-90 minutes, I would expect the BG to rise. Then you can calculate the missed basal and deliver that with any correction needed. Should not be a big issue.
I did a one hour MRI a few years ago and don't even remember my BG being an issue.
If I skip a meal, I often find I get flat BGs. Maybe consider going light on the meal before the MRI and you won't risk dealing with post-meal BG trends.
God luck with the test.
Pt safety comes first always. Have your supplies close by or as close as you can have them. If in a hospital, they should prepare for you and ease your fears.
Pump wise, the insulin is in your system for 3-4 hours anyhow, so your basal is still going to be running there in the background (just not getting more) over the hour and a half, so a small increase before, or correction after would be all that would be needed depending on if you would prefer to handle a drop during possibly due to the increase or a bit higher later needing correction.
As for the how long can we go without it's a kind of big load of random depending on what you are doing and not doing and eating or not eating and so forth. Never gone completely without any form of insulin, but used to stop taking Lantus two days before events when I was on MDI so I could flush it from me, that did need increases in my NovoRapid though to compensate for it. Longest I've had the pump turned off in suspend though or disconnected is about 3 hours though with a correction needed for the high after it went back on. Was taking no food during that time though.
Since you're on a pump you may go up more quickly during the test without a long acting basal. You can try taking a little extra fast acting before with a snack so you don't go too high or go hypo-maybe whatever your dose is normally for an hour.
For my recent colonoscopy I let myself run high, corrected after and I was fine but I'm on mdi and I reduced my basal for the whole thing. so I didn't have to worry about going super high most likely.
They absolutely can and will stop your mri if you have any problems.If you go hypo, just tell them, they give you a little thing to beep and you can talk to them. You can treat yourself and then resume the test. I have had to stop mri for various reasons in the middle, one being I am very claustrophobic. I now only have open /stand up mri but even then, they give you a beeper and they are in constant communication if you need help for whatever reason.
The problem with taking the dose of fast-acting you normally take in an hour is that taken at once, it might make you go low, while taking it over the hour--in little tiny drips--would not.
In "The Story of Insulin", they share the story of Elizabeth Hughes who lasted about 4 years!
I haven't had an MRI but I'd test beforehand and maybe have a small bolus. I usually do about .3U for showering, etc. in the AM so I'd probably do that, unless I was low.
I'm a major organ transplant recipient, and go through a battery of scans every three months.They put me in a paper or cloth suit and all of my personal belongings are locked in a locker I give the locker key to the MRI Tech along with my pump which I detach at the last moment before climbing into the machine, (place in a zip-lock bag and hand to the operator). They do a full chest and abdominal scan with and without contrast, it takes no more than 45min. I make up my basal before or after the procedure depending on my BG. It's just depending on if it's trending up or down. Taking my pump off for one hour adds no real drama to my life, my BG goes up and down all the time and I doubt if I could distinguish when my pump was removed or replaced....just another little bobble in my BG......
All the varied responses should prove to you that your diabetes may vary!
Heretic -lol-
Yes it could, she would have to decide what dose to take, if any, depending on what her bg is before the test and how she thinks she may respond bg wise... having a snack would help stop a hypo or maybe just the fact that she isn't stopping eating for the test- so the normal dose may only just keep her level. But if she goes a little high for the test, as JohnG said it isn't a big deal, that happens anyway, even on a pump or mdi. I decided staying higher for my colonoscopy was better since I was being sedated and had no food in me and I didn't want to go hypo during that.
People disconnect from their pumps for an hour or two for exercise all the time and usually don't run into problems other than going a bit high.
I don't run into any serious problems (ketones, etc.) until I'm disconnected for three or more hours. If disconnected an hour or two my blood sugar would rise, but that's it.
Thanks so so much for all of the wonderful feedback!
Usually, if they are told ahead of time that you have a pump, they’ll do a CAT scan instead. Same at airports, I don’t remove my pump at all, I just forgo the metal detector and have them use the “stick” detector.
I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to wear your pump for a CAT scan, either. At least I haven't when I've had one done.