Took novorapid when should have taken levimir!

Louwalker71

Active Member
Messages
25
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Has anyone else done this! Without thinking a couple of months ago I took my nighttime levimer (25 units) only to realise almost immediately that it was actually novorapid!

On s***! I thought. I therefore, drank lucozade, ate biscuits and set my alarm for an hour later to check my sugars and an hour after that too!

I took only 15 units of levimir to help and instead of my 10 in the morning I took 15, therefore just 5 less over the 24 hour period!

Has anyone else done this? Did I deal with it correctly?
:shock:
 

Felly

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
When I was on injections I did something very similar. I put novorapid in instead of glargine and whilst halfway down the plunger realised what I had done. Pulled it out and did no glargine that day. took a load of dextrose and ate 2 cereal bars. went a little bit low and then spent the rest of the day running at about 20-25.

Everyone does stupid things like this at some point, it sounds as though you did the right thing.
 

hawalkden

Member
Messages
12
Ooops I've had the same thing :\.. my levimir was 24 and after a lets say a merry night i came home and usually i just have my levimir next to my bed but some reason my novorapid was there too..
it was my b/f who stopped me but by time i'd taken the needle out i'd had the full 24 units..
he made me eat nearly half a loaf or toast with jam on followed by a wash down of orange juice..
When i got up the next day my bloods were between 20-25. Diabetic nurse was okay(ish) with the whole thing and she knew i honestly didnt mean to do it and just one of them that diabetics live with!!!
Good & Bad Days ;)
 

HLW

Well-Known Member
Messages
723
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I've done that in the past, I didn't notice at the time so just went to bed as normal, woke up a bit later feeling terrible with very low blood sugar. It was lucky I woke up when I did really.

So noticing before you go to sleep is very helpful! It sounds like you treated the hypo in a sensible way.
 

Margi

Well-Known Member
Messages
132
I did it with Humalog instead of Lantus once. I wondered why the pen seemed so far screwed out but just put the stuff in anyway. It was an awful lot of humalog and I ended up using glugagen to deal with the hypo because I couldn't eat fast enough. Horrible thing to do, but at least it was morning dose so I didn't go to sleep all unaware. I didn't get to work that day. :shock:
 

moonstone

Well-Known Member
Messages
205
I keep nearly doing it - it's happened so often recently that I'm thinking of pulling the time of it back to the middle of the day, when I'm more 'with it'. It's frightening.
 

squeeze321

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Messages
68
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Hypos
I once did something really stupid!
I lad a low blood sugar few months ago it was low but not too low 3.0 mmol and like an idiot I accidently gave myself 60 (yes sixty) units of Novorapid.

I ate boiled sweets, toast, sugary drinks and still remained in a hypo all day! I callapsed in my bathroom, fell on my arm and ended up with a 5" by 4" bruise which took about 4 days to come out!!

Ever since, when ever I have gone low or hypo I have remembered that day and I am careful not to 'go there again' !!!
 
Messages
13
I did this a few years ago, not sure what insulin I was on back then, but I took my quick-acting insulin at night time instead of my long-lasting insulin. I realised after taking the whole dose, which was about 30units. Normally I'd take about 12units for a large carby evening meal, so as expected I went very hypo and needed a lot of sugar to get back to normal.

I would say that if it ever happened again, still take your long-lasting insulin, even though it will add the the initial low; without it you will be high all the next day.

Also, my boyfriend at the time had a great idea which prevented it from occuring again. As I never needed to use more that about 15 units of quick acting insulin in one go, we used a black marker pen and blacked out all the unit numbers over 15 (if i did need to use over that amount I'd have to do it in two doses). This means that if I ever picked up the pen and wound to 30, thinking it was my long lasting, I'd notice straight away I had the wrong pen.

Of course this idea would only work for people who have considerably more long-lasting insulin per dose than quick acting.
 

Margi

Well-Known Member
Messages
132
I keep my Lantus completely separate from my Humalog nowadays. My humalog stays in my handbag and goes everywhere with me, while the Lantus sits in the cubby hole in my bedside table and is the first thing I reach for when I wake up, then it goes back in the cubby hole and can't get muddled up. In the evening I have to go fetch it because I try to keep the two doses about twelve hours apart, and so it is still separate. I very rarely have the lantus at the same time as a meal, so I won't be reaching into my bag for the humalog at the same time.

I've been very careful since that nasty incident. It's not foolproof, but at least it makes it harder to mess up.
 
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7
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I don't like onions or spiders. Nor hot foods! Sorry spice lovers!
I did this, 48 novo instead! Now I have different colour pens now, haha!

I had a 300ml bottle of coca cola, two slices of toast, and was fine!
 

schwexyeyes

Member
Messages
9
ive done this once on a sunday mornin just over a year ago id had 24 units of novo rapid id had the pen set for 34 units of levimere lol i just had a few bowls of weetabix and drank lots of tea with sugars in and i was fine with that as id paniced once id done it i called nhs direct nad they said for me to do what i had done so was good, my pens are now a blue and yellow for my novorapid and a red novo pen so i cant get them mixed up too much any more im not sure bout the missing your background dose though id of still had it lukcily i guess the fast acting insulinds ie novorapid only stays in your system for bout 5 hours give or take so at least you know after tha amountf of time you wont have to worry so much because it will be out your system, at least if you have people who live near you and not alone where noone really knows you (like me lol id moved into a new property and didnt really know the neighoburs) that you can always call for help if unsure as long as they now your diabetic and know what to do, thats why i always tell people that im diabetic and give them the warnig signs for hypo's/hyper sessions should i go into either and always make sure i have lucozade in my bag if not redbull so if i do need it i have it, i also where possible let people know how to use my blood metre so they thmeselves are able to check my bloods to see what my bloods are if im unable to
 

duranie

Well-Known Member
Messages
64
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
Winter!
Wish I'd seen this earlier - I did this in September. Took my morning levemire of 15 units - except is was novorapid. I only live 5 minutes away from my local hospital & was advised by the out of hours gp to get into A & E which I did - I ended up spending most of the day in there as they couldn't get my readings to go above 5 & stay there.. :?
 

joelcam

Well-Known Member
Messages
167
I tend to keep my Levimir in my top drawer in my bedroom with it's own needles so it's completely separate from my novorapid. I then have my night-time shower and inject in my bedroom so never make that mistake. (Otherwise I'd probably do it all the time!!).
 

steveinblackpool

Active Member
Messages
28
Im with joeicam

I keep my Levimur in drawer by my bed in a separate pen from my Novorapid which I never take upstairs.

I keep both insulin in fridge but keep 1 box of Levimur and some needles upstairs; its worked for me for nearly 40 years and on the occasion when ive had a couple of drinks there is no chance of getting things mixed up ;-)
 

steveinblackpool

Active Member
Messages
28
PS:- Dont forget you can ring NHS Direct 08 45 46 47

You can ring them 24/7 if you have any concerns, they are very helpful if only to calm you down; but do give some very good advice in any emergency ;-)