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Mum Told To Stop Taking Her Day Time Injections

Joydi

Joydi

Member
Messages
6
I need some advice, my mum is in her 87th year and suffering from mild dementia. Her GP is concerned that she may overdose. She has told me to stop her novo rapid during the day, and just use the levemir at night. My concern is that she will be reducing her intake of insulin by more than half, she was taking 14 units of novo rapid three times per day and 32 units of Levemir at night. Her sugars were well controlled as I was monitoring 4 times per day and responsible for the administration. 18 months ago she was rushed to hospital with excessively high glucose reading of 48, hence my rigorous testing which has seen a significant improvement in her health. Is it normal for her health care provider to alter the dose in this way? I am very worried that her sugars will become high and she will damage her organs. Has anyone had a similar experience they can share? The doctor has also told me I'm over testing, however I thought this was a good thing given my mums poor health.
 
Hi @Joydi

I can understand the concern about an overdose if your mum should forget she'd done her injection, but that could happen with the Levemir in theory too. Are you saying its you that administers the insulin anyway?

You say your mum has mild dementia, is she receiving any support for that (apart from you)? If so, could they give advice.

How many times a day are you testing her blood sugar? I'm on insulin and I test 7-10+ times a day as needed. As long as you're testing sensibly and for a purpose, then that should be ok.
 
I administer in the morning before going to work, a nurse supervises my mum self injecting at lunch and I return home (early from work) and do her evening and night time injections. My daughter helps out too. She is 20 and when home from uni provides support. I test her her at meal times and before she goes to bed, so max 4 times per days. Her GP says I'm obsessed with testing and wants to reduce the amount of test strips she is provided. (I use two bottles per month). If I am halving her insulin dose surely her sugars will rise throughout the day. If the GP is that worried why can't I buy a locked fridge.
 
Hmm, in that case I don't understand the concern. It's quite right that insulin misused can be dangerous, but if your mum's having other people administer it then, as you say, keeping it safe would seem more sensible.

People on insulin need to test, and many would consider 4 times a day the minimum.

Did your mum see a consultant while in hospital? Could you speak to them?
 
Yes she did, but only briefly about 18 months ago. Wasn't a great experience, her sugar was 48 on admission, they put her on a drip and locked her insulin away. There were no diabetic nurses on the ward she was initially allocated to. Her sugars went down to 30 and they gave her a meal and dessert! I asked for the insulin pen and they said that it had to be signed out by a doctor. It took 2 hours before I could get the pen back!
 
Mum sugar was at 7.4 before breakfast, I gave her two weetabix and no injection, as instructed by the GP, 3 hours later her blood glucose reading is at 16.9. Do I act as instructed and give her dinner and evening meal without an injection and wait until she retires to bed to provide Levemir?
 
Joydi said:
Mum sugar was at 7.4 before breakfast, I gave her two weetabix and no injection, as instructed by the GP, 3 hours later her blood glucose reading is at 16.9. Do I act as instructed and give her dinner and evening meal without an injection and wait until she retires to bed to provide Levemir?
Click to expand...

No one here can give advice about meds. All I can say is that if it was my mother, I'd be asking for a second opinion...

I don't understand why she can't be given the Novorapid (stored safely)

If her blood sugar gets too high, she may become unwell.

Could you insist on speaking to a diabetes consultant? Your mum's age shouldn't affect her treatment. That would be discrimination.
 
Appreciate you can't give advice. And yes I think that this is the way forward. Albeit the GP has discussed with a diabetic nurse, I still don't feel comfortable with this new arrangement without a contingency plan in place. The GP is one of the senior GP's, however just recently she has become a bit absent minded. Forgetting that my mother has fluid on her lungs. And prescribing drugs that are incompatible with each other. She didn't pick up on my mother's heart failure, but instead suggested she had cancer. We went through a number of tests which thankfully were negative , but she neglected to established the real route cause, which I had to highlight to her. All very worrying!
 
When your mum's BG was 16.9, did you test for ketones?
I presume she's eaten another meal by now, so what was her BG before and after that one?

As there always seems to be supervision, I see no reason for all this worry about high results - just resume the Novorapid before meals, and ask for a referral to a hospital diabetic clinic.

I know it's easy for me to say, but if your mum was supervised and wasn't suffering hypos, there seems no reason to stop her bolus insulin.
 
Her BG was 16.9 just prior to her eating the next meal. I gave the novo rapid as could not risk it going any higher. I don't have a machine to test for ketones. The last time she suffered a hypo was in October 15. The nurse came earlier than expected 11am instead of 12.30, and my mums was waiting for me to arrive home to eat her next meal at 18.30. I subsequently reduced the insulin dose in the morning (in case she arrives early) and am now home by 16.30, so unlikely to happen again.
 
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