An unintentional insulin overdose requires fast action.
— Read on www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/what-to-do-when-you-take-too-much-insulin-705641/
This popped into my emails earlier and it was just the weirdest timing. This actually happened to me this morning.
A quick recap for readers who don’t know – I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes 10 years ago. Initially getting fit and taking medication worked. Eventually I was struggling to manage my glucose levels and was on 3 different medications. A review of my HbA1c revealed my levels were climbing. It was agreed I’d start using insulin. I have to say these glucose levels would be extremely high for a few days and then they’d crash and I’d have a hypo. It was happening so much and it was quite scary. My husband has found me collapsed and barely conscious on a number of occasions.
Last year I started on insulin. It was a huge relief to find my glucose levels were stable. I felt great too. At the end of March I became unwell and it was believed I’d had covid – I had the symptoms but tests were always negative. Blood glucose was all over the place again. Eventually I got that stabilised but then the heatwave conditions arrived, followed closely by another illness, this time it was 100% confirmed covid. That was the first week in August. My blood glucose didn’t spike this time, but I was quite unwell.
Recently my glucose levels have been good. I’ve been decreasing my insulin intake – as instructed by my Diabetes Nurse. This morning I was distracted, my blood glucose was slightly higher and I absentmindedly injected my dose. I realised more or less straight away that I’d probably taken too much, but given the elevated glucose level this morning I figured it would be ok.
Only it wasn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t anything major, but I’d gone swimming and started to feel unwell. I almost vomited and was dizzy and nauseous. Yep, that extra insulin was making itself known to me! A can of coke in the car once dressed brought things back under control and I had lunch when I got home.
I have to admit, it was a relief to read that this is a common occurrence and I don’t feel as foolish now.
Not your average crone 