These are also on Amazon.ca for $40. It looks like they only work with pre-filled pens, though, so if you use pens with refillable cartridges (which I think are more common here in Canada), you’d have to switch over.
I did something kind of dumb the other night! My husband and I went out to dinner, and I didn’t realize until after I was ordering and about to dose that my pen only had a few units left – about half of what I was planning to use! So I took what was left, ate dinner, and decided to take the rest of the dose later. Well, either I miscalculated the dose in the first place or just half a dose was enough, because I woke up at about 1am with a low of 40! oops.
Since taking the wrong insulin is so easy to do (a number of people have mentioned it here, myself included), it’s probably worth mentioning my own personal OCD trick for not mixing them up.
I use vials and syringes, not pens. I keep the open vials in their original little boxes, in the fridge. I take a vial out when I’m actually going to use it, and then put it right back in the box. Since each box is a distinct size and shape unlike the others, it’s harder to pick up the wrong one. And when it does happen, the extra time required to remove the vial from the box means it takes longer and there’s more time to think about what’s happening. I’ve injected the wrong insulin perhaps twice in the past three years.
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My variant on this was that at some point I switched to using vials for Lantus while I stuck with pens for Novolog. Since you have to take the Novolog multiple times a day the pen is a great convenience, which wasn’t a factor with the Lantus and it was cheaper in vial form. Not to mention this made it much harder to make the “D’oh!–wrong insulin!” mistake (which I did make on one memorable occasion before the switch).
That’s a good way to avoid mixups. Pretty hard to mistake a vial for a pen, or vice versa. I suppose I could do it if I were drunk enough . . . .
I have put rubber bands on vials to help me make sure I was getting the right one. Never used pens, but wonder if that would work on them.
Thank you!
Just ONE of my dumb diabetes moments -
Going away for the weekend, everything packed like extra infusion sets, CGM sensors, syringes, my back-up pump, extra reservoirs, glucose tabs - you know, the works, right?
My girlfriend (now wife), was steaming a bit because I had been delayed packing and we were leaving later than our plan.
Thirty minutes in, my pump starts alarming. I check and suddenly remember that last night @ 9 PM, I received a low cartridge alarm (20 units remaining), and now I am out! Oh, and the one thing I didn’t pack? You guessed it - INSULIN!!!
“Ummm, Honey? We need to go back home … now!”
I also get leg cramps. But I never heard anyone else getting them due to high blood glucose so I was never sure that was the cause. Thanks for reaffirming my suspicions but, of course, I’m sorry for the terrible cramps you, too, endure!
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Gosh, so many dumb diabetes moments I’ve experienced, including most of those already mentioned. One scary time, in the very early days, was when I went walking along Lake Michigan, a very secluded area, without anything to eat, only to begin going low. That taught me a hard lesson!
I woke up high this morning and decided to do an IM injection so I wouldn’t feel crappy at work. I also ate 16carbs for breakfast. I rolled the correction and bolus together in the IM injection. Oops, went a little low since the food hadn’t caught up yet, then went a little high from the hypo treat and the normal breakfast kicking in. Note to self, only do correction IMs.
That’s my policy–corrections only.
I’m Type 1 myself but this story is about when my son was first diagnosed (right before Christmas). My husband and I were in between conversations about a gift for our son with my husbands parents. Because we were so involved, we forgot to give my son his dinner shot. We figured it out later that night. We’ll never make that mistake again!! Now no one is allowed to pick up a phone or be on the computer from 4-after dinner. This way we’re sure it gets done. YIKES! Talk about feeling like a horrible parent and I’m diabetic (and have been for 33 years)!!!
That was the plan, however at 5 in the morning my brain doesn’t think quite right!
I’m type 1, diagnosed about 1 1/2 years ago. I have to heartily agree about not taking your shots when distracted. I have mixed up my Lantus and Humalog more than once. The last time happened a few weeks ago. I have a broken foot right now and I was rushing around getting ready for my ride to work. Once I finished injecting I looked down and realized I had both bottles out of their boxes in front of me which I do not normally do (so I don’t make this mistake!). I continued getting ready and started testing every 15 minutes. This quickly revealed I had taken the wrong insulin. So then I’m scooting down stairs on my butt so I don’t pass out on crutches and working my way to my stash of juice boxes. While I’m downing the juice boxes I’m trying not to throw up because they are so sweet it is making me sick. It took six juice boxes to do the trick. As I sat there in the middle of the kitchen floor, juice boxes strewn all around. I thought to myself, this is ridiculous.
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Because the great thing about T1 is the way it can take a mere inconvenience and turn it into a major life crisis. It’s just how we roll–or butt crawl.
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Truer words were never said. 
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Nothing quite like a type 1 to see all these crazy events as sort of just another day.
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