*Doesn’t count if it is so old you don’t know if it’ll work.
Have you used glucagon? Please share what kind of glucagon and the experience.
I was diagnosed in 1995 at age 8. The only time I’ve needed glucagon was at diabetes camp in like 1997 - I was asleep so don’t remember anything about it!
Since then my doctors have suggested I have it, and have written prescriptions for it. I think my parents kept it filled on and off when I was young, but I have not had any filled as an adult.
I’ve purchased a ton, never used it. It’s a waste. The injection type takes too much time and too much effort.
Haven’t tried the inhaled type, but really eating sugar is fastest and it doesn’t give you stomach issues like glucagon can.
The only time it would be useful is if I passed out and someone administered it while I’m out. In my case that is very unlikely.
38 years never needed that, and I’ve had a few scary lows.
You lost me at “fresh”. I have several of the old pellet kits, but they’re expired. I’m still sure they’d work, though. Maybe not as well as if they were still in date, but I’m sure they’d still be effective. I don’t have a lot of respect for expiration dates.
I did use one a year or 2 ago for the first time. Well, my husband used it on me when I went unresponsive. It was also old as heck. Was sick with a fever that wouldn’t quit and I couldn’t keep my sugar up for anything. It worked just fine, then I had the opposite problem and couldn’t get my sugar down for the next two days. I swear they have a lingering effect.
I keep a Baqsimi tube with me at each location I am at. One at home, one in my truck, one at camp. Simple nasal application and no needles.
I’ve never had glucagon. Had prescriptions, but never filled them. Never had a low I could not fix myself. Now I’m 84 and live alone. No one to use it on me. I also have had a pump for the last 20 years. My tandem wouldn’t let me get too low anyway. And I eat low carb so lows aren’t that extreme anyway.
Well, Gvoke, but yeah. Is it “fresh” (under exp date)? Yes, but I pretty much only get the stuff, which is expensive AF, when I switch to a new endo and they’re all about ticking the boxes. (Guess when I got a new endo? Last February.) Have I ever used it (or Glucagon)? Nope. Also have a script for Baqsimi, which is even more ludicrously expensive than G-Voke (or however you spell all that stuff).
Circa 2005 my wife couldn’t wake me up. Ambulance showed up, EMT’s gave me glucagon, took me to ER. Was super duper nauseous from glucagon for most of the next day. But I lived.
Contrast to my other ER trip for a hypo, circa 1989. They hooked me up to a dextrose drip and at least I didn’t have the nauseous spell as part of recovery.
BY THE WAY I wish I had some pics of my early 80’s Glucagon kits in wooden boxes with glass syringes and luer-lock needles.
I searched Medicare Part D plans for my zip code and found both Baqsimi and Gvoke autopens 2packs were between $140-250 depending on the plan. Is there a glucagon in Tier 1 or 2 on your plans formulary?
I found one that listed Baqsimi as not covered so $1300 per 2pack. Ludicrous is right. They’ve gone plaid.
I have Gvoke but it is expired. I think I used glucagon once in all of the years that I had it. I like having Gvoke on hand, but I doubt that I will ever use it. Certainly is easy to inject.
I have glucagon kits, expired of course but still fresh in the sense that they will work and glucagon doesn’t, so far as I know, break down any time @Eric2 (or one or other of them) may care to comment. Like expired insulin?
I have them because my endo routinely checks so I just get them.
I have twice become so unresponsive that it might have helped.
The first time was at the Reading rock festival in 1978, which I went to because patti smith was headlining. My father (bless him) came along because, I guess, I was a T1 and perhaps also because he had never been to a festival. No glucagon, I lost 3 days including the damn headline.
The second time was here, where I live now, when I was in a state of emotional turboil [sp: say it out loud then you will now what I’m trying to say]. I dropped over in the woods with the chainsaw (I was capable enough to engage the chain brake and stop the saw). No glucagon, no problem; my own glucagon response kicked in and helped me to my feet.
Now I always have a glucagon kit or two somewhere if someone can find it (who?) and, if it is my wife, it has a two hundred page set of instructions about what to do. I hope she will just stuff one of the tubes of glucose that are in the fridge down by throat but I’m sure she won’t do that. She will just feed me fruit, or, more likely, somewhat hot noodles.
Nice idea, poorly implemented.
John Bowler: jbowler at acm.org
I have used kits that are 10 years past expiration, and they worked.
Asl long as the dilution vial still has liquid (i.e.. it is not dried out), it seems to work fine.
Wait a sec… At a BG of 30 you are still able to do a finger stick or three, or ten?? You take a glucagon as treatment for a seriously low BG (and you are awake and functional) , and you equate it to 4 - 5 10oz servings of apple juice? (that’s what you typed originally before editing it) That is 36 Grams of carbs per 10oz (on average) times 4 or 5? That is 36 grams X let’s say 4 to be on the low side is what? 144 grams of sugar, PLUS the glucagon?
You then said “If my BS does not start to rise in 20-30 minutes I inject another dose” - No, you didn’t, and No, you don’t. Just stop. At 20 - 30 minutes at a BG of sub 30 and dropping you will likely not even be cognizant.
And what else did you say? Glucagon, if “expired” or “exposed to temps” does not work well? It literally cannot go bad unless you make it go bad, like on purpose by smashing it into the ground. As long as the liquid portion is still liquid, the powered portion will last forever. And the liquid portion can, in an emergency be replaced by distilled water or pretty much any clean / sterile source that can dilute it. .
As far as expiration dates, that is required to supply it to the public via prescription. If you need to self administer a glucagon a “couple times a year” then something is SEVERLY WRONG and you should reach out to your endo and CDE and work on a plan to take back control of your Diabetes.
You are putting out some seriously bad information, and some folks here will be reading and trusting that information. Just stop.
This post prompted me to go see if I have any glucagon. I do! Though…it expired about 2 years ago, so “fresh” is debatable. I usually do have some, but it really is kind of a waste because I have never used it. (Thankfully!). My dr gives me an rx every once in a while just so I have some on hand.
If I was ever in a position to need it, I’m not sure how useful it would be. I don’t know if my husband would know how to use it, or even think to use it since he never has in the past. I generally treat myself when I’m low, or will ask someone to get me something if it’s a bad low. Some sort of sugar will always be preferable to a glucagon shot if given the choice.
Dear Mr. Devildog. I am sorry if I upset you. I have since deleted the original post but in the post I described my exact experience. Maybe it was a bit much for publication. My Doctor knows how I treat my diabetes and he is quite happy with my treatment. I did not say that I use Glucagon AND 40 oz of apple juice, I said that the glucagon worked “like” drinking 40 oz of apple juice (for me). I simply keep a fresh supply of glucagon on hand, I carry one or two injectors with me (along with bolus insulin) most all the time and protect it from out of spec temp changes and expiration. I have been insulin dependent for about 20 years and have had many severe lows from working rotating shift work every seven days for decades. Severe lows were common so I changed jobs. I am definitely a delicate diabetic but for the most part lead a normal life. Glucagon has been GREAT for me. Every so often I still get the lows sometimes from stacking dosage, injection site reactions and excessive exercise. I have had an AC1 of 6.4 for the last couple of years since I got my first G4 and I usually run an in range time of 75 to 92%. No eye ulceration, no foot nerve damage, I watch my diet, get exercise daily and I consider myself lucky. My dear niece died from diabetes at a young age two years ago in her husbands arms while waiting for the ambulance and my grandfather died from it. I know about the disease and it’s ramifications and how it can kill.
DexCom proves how very slowly oral glucose sometimes works.Baqsimi when conscious is extremely painful. Gvoke is vital for me.
@dannonebr thank you for sharing your experience. We aren’t professional storytellers and no one should expect every post to be perfect. The important thing is no one needs glucagon until they do. Just like airbags in cars the goal is not to use them.
I also liked what you said about work, sure PwD can do anything but there are also choices that can make life easier like changing jobs. I’m curious, you said shift work, what industry?
I’ve got Baqsimi 'cause it is what is on the formulary. What’s the painful part? Squirting powder in my nose doesn’t sound bad.
I find that it hurts my nose really badly. The previous injectable glucagon kits and current Gvoke are just injections. We’re all used to those.