Forgot to take my insulin!

What insulin regime are you on? Twice daily, MDI, etc and what insulin do you use? As long as your bg levels remain safe, then there is little to worry about.

@AnneShirley, which insulin is it you missed, is it a basal insulin such as lantus/levemir?

AnneShirley said:

Hi Yes it's Lantus, I take 38 at night.....just took dog for a walk and drinking lots of water!!

AnneShirley

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There's some flexibility with lantus, provided you leave 24 hours between injections you can move the timing forward or backwards.

Shirley, for reference, if I forget to take my basal insulin, I usually take it when I remember and change the dose to match the amount of time i have left until my next shot.

I currently use Levemir but did the same thing with Lantus.

The example is I normally take two shots 12 hours apart, so if I forget my morning one, I would take however many hours remain, divide it by 12 and then multiply the number by my morning units.

E.g. Three hours late leaves nine hours. 9/12 = 0.75 I take 16u in the morning, so I would take 12u three hours late.

Hi and welcome to the forum. It's quite common for people to forget the occasional dose of insulin. I forget my pills every now and then, even though I have been on daily pills for nearly 20 years, lol.

Just curious, what are your blood sugars like day to day?

AnneShirley said:

Hi I forgot to take my insulin last night, didn't realise until this morning ....felt sick with worry, as it's Saturday no doctors for advice so went to Boots and spoke to our local guy there, who calmed me down and told me to check sugar levels through out the day. Also to take my insulin a little earlier than normal this evening...going out for a meal tonight...wouldn't you just guess that! Feel happier than I was, drinking more water as well...anything else?

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Please do not worry about forgetting your insulin. I do quite frequently. Just remember nothing about having a high blood sugar reading will kill you. You may be a bit sensitive to it but one high reading or missed insulin doesn't matter at all. You have to remmed er the effects of high sugar are a long term thing and there are no firm and hard facts, just probabilities. It is also your long term HBA1C or whatever they call it these days is the one that really counts. You are just, supposedly better off with a constant level or sugar rather than having highs and lows. Also remember that Insulin for type 2's is about being insulin resistant and you need it to lower your sugar. You cannot have a hypo from not taking your insulin. Good Luck

AnneShirley said:

Hi I forgot to take my insulin last night, didn't realise until this morning ....felt sick with worry, as it's Saturday no doctors for advice so went to Boots and spoke to our local guy there, who calmed me down and told me to check sugar levels through out the day. Also to take my insulin a little earlier than normal this evening...going out for a meal tonight...wouldn't you just guess that! Feel happier than I was, drinking more water as well...anything else?

Click to expand...

AnneShirley said:

Hi I forgot to take my insulin last night, didn't realise until this morning ....felt sick with worry, as it's Saturday no doctors for advice so went to Boots and spoke to our local guy there, who calmed me down and told me to check sugar levels through out the day. Also to take my insulin a little earlier than normal this evening...going out for a meal tonight...wouldn't you just guess that! Feel happier than I was, drinking more water as well...anything else?

Click to expand...

Hi, I forgot to take my insulin once, just after breakfast when I should have taken it before breakfast and I panicked. I went to the Diabetes UK site and asked what to do. Somebody replied back to me and told me to keep calm and that I could take it straight after at the same dose. However the later you leave it you should take a smaller dose of insulin and if you are near to taking another dose just up that dose it a little. Obviously keep checking your blood glucose levels throughout. If in any doubt though ring a specialist.

Just to let you know that yesterday (Sunday) I ran out of needles for my Insulin pen (I thought I had another box). I panicked because it was a Sunday so couldn't get a prescription. Luckily my local Sainsbury's pharmacy knew me and I was able to buy some. I had to pay though (£17+) because I had no prescription. So a little tip: DO NOT RUN LOW ON NEEDLES FOR YOUR INSULIN PEN!!!!

Sandy xx

I was going to add that if you are on bolus insulin as well you could increase the dosage... but I'm not sure if you are on this? I'm on lantus too, but also on apidra for bolus injections with meals.