24hrs
Laura - that is amazing how you handle your daughters BG’s! I’ll bet my Mum wished she’d known about this when I was little (I was only 7 when I was diagnosed) - as it would have made her life easier when I was having one of those wacko lows (I used to race away from her as I was so scared of her for some reason - silly memory isn’t it?). Oh, I still love my Mummy tho’ - it was tough for her as she was have thryroid probs (hyper) during the time I was diagnosed, and she went undiagnosed herself for seven years due to doctors saying she had post partum depression (doctors in the 50’s-60’s - sigh).
Yeah Melissa - I’m the same as you - my parents had it(they used it once on me I think) - but once I left home at 18 - I never thought of getting it - and my GP’s never said I should have it at home.
Hey Marsha - the numbers they use in the US are mg/dl (we use mmol/l). When you see a reading of 50 mg/dl - just divide it by 18 - and you’ll get the figure in mmol/l that we’re used to - which would be 2.7 mmol/dl
Hope that makes sense (I was always bad at arthmetic!).
I was home alone a couple years ago and my blood sugar was dropping very fast (on the dexcom), I tested my blood sugar somewhere under 50, and treated with some GU (25g carb, acts very fast), still going down 10 min later, take another GU, still going down another 10min later. At this point I felt like I was about to pass out so I grabbed my glucagon and injected it into my stomach. Shortly I started feeling better as my blood sugar came back to the mid 100’s and stayed around there. I did not have side effects of high blood sugars later.
I’m very glad I had the glucagon.
We have found that we can keep a diluted vial of glucagon in the fridge for about 30 days. Yes! 30 days. I do notice at around days 25-30 it isn’t quite as potent. The vial i used the other night (that i posted above) was dated 1/21/10 and still working great.
Thank you…it has been a long road. There is still so much more we could do to manage her but I am determined that diabetes will not control our life. Of course, I’d like to get her A1C as low as we safely can, but this age is very tough. What works one night, does not work the next. We are hoping to get a sensor - not for her to wear full time, but just to help us understand her needs better and fine tune her pump.
This is the perfect situation for using it, though for an adult it would probably take 20-30 units (using an insulin syringe). You could try 10-15 and see if it raises you “just enough”.
I actually am an Emergency Room RN - and a pump-wearing diabetic as well as a mom to a diabetic. I think this is an unfortunate and dangerous situation. I would encourage you to contact the manager of the ER as well as the hospital’s risk management dept.
Our doctor gives us a prescription for anti-emetics to have on hand. I’d suggest Zofran. It does not make you sleepy or altered and is a pill that melts on your tongue. Used in Oncology (Cancer), it’s a great anti-emetic with few side effects.
Other physicians like to prescribe phenergan suppositories, but they will make you sleepy.
Here is a good write up on alcohol use when diabetic.
http://www.myfreestyle.com/fs/d/en_US/50.120:120/the-effect-of-alcohol-on-blood-glucose
Hi…we use an insulin syringe and dose the glucagon in “units.” For a seizure, our 4 year old would get 20 units initially (and repeat as needed). For mini-dosing, she gets 4-5 units (1 unit per year of life).
True, glucagon might not work while alcohol is on board.
Here is a good article on that topic: http://www.myfreestyle.com/fs/d/en_US/50.120:120/the-effect-of-alcohol-on-blood-glucose
we have to give mini-dose glucagon a few times a week during the night to our 4 year old daughter. She doesn’t wake up for either the testing or the glucagon injection. She seems normal the next day, plays and is active, eats, etc. I haven’t seen any bad effects in her.
wow, you’re brave. we don’t leave home without it.
mm thats weird. In Australia all ambulances have to carry Glucagon now… I think it has saved a couple of lifes
I had a friend that was a T2, he was put on Byetta. The second day he used it his pyloric sphincter closed up and stayed that way all night. He had eaten a large dinner and was bloated and miserable. He couldn’t sleep and he said he thought he was going to die. He never took another shot of Byetta. So it’s easy for me to believe that all those glucose tabs could remain in your stomach where absorption would be too slow to bring you up.
A 20 oz BOTTLE of soda in your car always. Cake icing tubes work nicely too, but with the soda you can see something disappearing, the icing, not so visable.
We are on the third glucagon kit since David was diagnosed in 2003 and never actually used one yet, thank God.
We spend the $115 when one kit expires to buy a new one so that we do have it, in case of emergency. I have heard of a few incidents that might not have become what they became if a glucagon kit had been on hand, and David does carry his glucagon in his daily emergency kit.
Interesting to hear all of the feedback, low BG with alchohol considering we are parenting a T1 17 year old. He has told me that on more than one occassion that the endo has discussed drinking and that he should not bolus if he decides to have a drink as the after effect could be a devastating low. Maybe she should leap into these discussions when we are together, and not as part of the patient/endo only visit, as I had no idea that glucagon would be ineffective in this area as a low treatment. What else don’t I know that might or might not save the life my soon to be independant teen.
Cheryl
$115!!! Thats a outrage… We are lucky to have our government in Australia to subsidize all our medications and diabetes supplies… Ours costs around $30 AU which is much better then the $115 US
David will drink a juice, with a straw, even though only half a wake. Some kids will. But you are right, there needs to be something better for those who won’t.
We have a glucose gel that David will not eat, just like he won’t eat glucose tabs to treat a low. We keep them on hand anyway and it is similar to cake gel. If your child can wake i.e. not unconscious, but is not prone to do so, heavy sleeper, you can spread a glucose gel or cake icing gel on their gums. The gums work very well to absorb sugar and check again in 15 minutes for the desired increase in BG to be able to go back to bed yourself.
Cheryl