Just wanted to say that I tried this for the first time today and it worked excellently. I had been very low during the night and also with some kind of stomach bug, so was vomiting. I had kind of leveled out around 40 and stayed there for several hours.
I am 30 years old, 135 lbs. I diluted the glucagon as per instructions and then used a U-100 syringe to take 15 units. This raised my BG to the 130-140 range, where it remained constant for an hour (maybe 90 mins?) before dropping again.
Of course, I lowered my basal and tried other things after that, but the glucagon was enough to really get me out of the horrible low and stabilized long enough to figure out what to do.
It did not spike my blood sugar higher than 130/140.
I did vomit violently for a while after taking it, but I was also vomiting before taking it, so I have no idea whether the glucagon was a contributing factor in that.
The fear of having to use Glucagon is one I know well. My mother goes into seizures often at night and I remember the first time I had to use in on her, not fun then neither was having to break her bedroom door. Thankfully her dog woke me up. First of at least 5 doors that I broke down because she is OCD about locked doors even when my father was out of town and I was sleeping on the other side of the house.
I too had to use my glucagon pen on Friday. I was 40 for hours even after glucose tablets, soda, etc. I turned down my basal, but that takes 2 hours ish to really help. I finally used the pen since I was alone and after 1 hr finally went to 100. It was very strange. I don’t have CGM and don’t plan on getting one any time soon. I was nauseated at 40 but was fine once I finally came up.
I find glucose tablets way too slow if I’m very low. By far the best thing I know to get your BS up fast is Lucozade. It’s a good idea to keep some in the car. Some supermarkets do their own brand of glucose drinks which are much cheaper.
I never knew the glucagon-alcohol interaction! Very interesting.
This is sort of a ‘hand-waving’ explanation, but the way it was explained to me is that after consuming alcohol, the liver is sort of “preoccupied” with processing the alcohol and does not have the capacity to convert stored glycogen into glucose. The idea was kind of “Your liver can only do so many things at once and dealing with alcohol takes priority over converting glycogen into glucose.” I believe that the same thing happens with alcoholics and can cause alcoholics who are not diabetic to occasionally suffer hypoglycemia.
I am so glad to have this explained to me; thanks! Weirdly enough, I have glucagon in my house mainly as a back up source of glucose in case I have a couple glasses of wine with dinner, have a low blood sugar and feel too sick to eat or drink. I’ve never used it, but that was the idea I had in the back of my mind for keeping it on hand (along with complete passed-out style emergencies). Good thing I never needed it! Sounds like it may not have been that effective.
This is what I would do in such a situation where I was <50 and couldn’t get it up. You don’t need much of the glucagon to raise you and it acts fast. Some of the artificial pancreases in development are bihormonal, so they deliver minute doses of glucagon as you would insulin. The side effects for a small dose would be much less severe than the whole dose, possibly none if you use a very small amount. I’m hopeful that a more stable glucagon will come on the market so we can have more control than just insulin. Some companies are working on it, but that doesn’t seem to mean much these days…
Good to know!
would this work on adults?- mini dosing with regular syringe that is.
WHAT? You’ve never been incapacitated or gone to hospital? Are you sure you’re diabetic???