• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Glucagon emergency kit

I asked my GP about having a kit at home, because sometimes I take quite a long time to come out of a hypo, and I had three shots of glucagon while in hospital recently, and it seemed to do the trick when I was struggling to get my numbers up. Anyway, my GP is lovely, but I may as well have asked for pink elephants on prescription, with the reaction I got. He said he had never prescribed it, or heard of it being prescribed. He is going to do some digging for me though, and if he gets nowhere, then I will ask the consultant when I speak to her in May.
 
was prescribed it when first diagnosed, but haven't got around to getting another one, but with these very erratic bloods lately and having hypo's a lot lately i'd better get another one for peace of mind.
 
My Endocrinologist prescribed one about 3 months after my initial diagnosis - more as a piece of mind measure. Thankfully i’ve never been close to needing it. *touch wood*
 
MrsDiabetic said:
Hi,

Does being insulin dependent mean I need to have a glucagon emergency kit at home?

Or do I need to experience severe hypo before my gp prescribe it?

I only have been diagnosed a month ago hence asking.
Click to expand...
Hi. I'm T1 from my 16th, and now I'm 78, so I have a long time experience on this.... ;)
I had many severe hypos in these years, mainly when there was nothing except sugar to fight them, but finally Glucagon became available, and this helped a lot, but not definitely.
About 12 years ago I had a very bad hypo, I was alone at home, and tried to make my Glucagen injection, invane. I was so confused that I didn't succeed in preparing the syringe, so I folt in coma.
Fortunately my wife returned home shortly later, understood the situation, made me the Glucagen, and I quickly woke up from coma without problems.
All this to explain that sometimes Glucagen or Glucagon or as you call it, can be not enough because it needs preparation, and when we are close to coma the operation may be too difficult to be performed.
Fortunately, now we have a new weapon, Baqsimi, that is a nose spray ready for the use, like a colds nasal spray, and moreover it can stay at ambient temperature, so can be taken in our pocket or purse, ready to be used wherever and whenever .
It is costly, alas, and I don't know if it is freely available in your country, but I think you should contact your Endo abour this.
I have used it recently, when I was alone at home, and without any problem.
Andrea :)
 
You should always have an emergency kit in your house. This is a must for everyone because sometimes there might be no time to go to a pharmacy, and you will have to suffer from pains or fever until someone gets you the pills.
 
Lapitosa said:
You should always have an emergency kit in your house. This is a must for everyone because sometimes there might be no time to go to a pharmacy, and you will have to suffer from pains or fever until someone gets you the pills.
Click to expand...
Hi @Lapitosa , welcome to the forum!
While I agree it's a good idea to have an emergency kit at home, this thread deals with glucagon emergency kits.
Do you have diabetes?
 
You should get the kit no problem I’ve used one in the past after having a hypo taking lucozade etc then being immediately sick so I took the glucagon injection I can say it works really quick
 
Back
Top