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

Taking wrong insulin

Jonathan CB

Well-Known Member
Messages
46
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Haven't done it myself but just wondering if anyones accidentally took the wrong insulin like taking for example Novorapid instead of Lantus?
 
hi ther i have acidently done this i used 40 units of nova rapid when ment to use levmir . simmiler to lantus had to drink lots of lucasade an test sugers every 5 minits for first few hours but after that every half hour to hour as is fast acting tends to level back out after few hours then use smaller dose of levimer to last the rest of day . . extremly worrying tho
 
This is why you should use different colored poems for each insulin.
 
I use completely different pens.. A Novo pen for the rapid. & a Clikstar for the Lantus.
There is absolutly no chance of putting the wrong cartridge in the wrong pen either due to the differing Novo & Lantus cartridge cap design.

Though I've never mixed em up. I would go for longer acting carbs if an OD on lantus. maybe a Cornish pasty fest.? Digestive biscuit snacking & just keep the Lucozade as back up. Testing regularly of course..

That would be my contingency plan.. Lol
 
Not taken the wrong insulins but did once take my lantus dose twice in one evening, and to cap it all I was working night's at the time
 
I took my Lantus after breakfast one Sunday morning - I didn't take the 3 units I should have taken for Novorapid but the 8 I take at night time! No idea why!!

I got a bit flustered, called NHS 24 and they said a doc would phone me back. While waiting I called the Novorapid helpline and they were great, told me not to worry, test every hour or two, reduce Novorapid and not do any exercise that would normally cause my BG levels to drop. Sorted.

I then completely forgot about NHS 24 and took the dog out with the family. A police car pulled up and asked if I was such and such and I shat myself, thinking "what have I done?". Turns out NHS 24 tried phoning me back and thought I'd collapsed or something!! Fortunately, a neighbour saw me a leave the house so the paramedics and police didn't kick the door in. I still feel bad about that!
 


Wow.............close call Scardoc, but all praise to the NHS Direct and the quick actions of the Police (and your neighbour of course).
 
I once took double to dose of Lantus by accident. I took 1 dose, 30 minutes later I panicked because I thought I'd forgotten it so took another dose. I remembered after that I'd already taken my dose. It didn't really affect my blood sugars at all though
 
I take 32 units of Lantus 24 hourly around 10pm at night. 1 day i felt super worn out and did it around 8pm and crashed out. I woke up at 12.30 and instantly did it again it ! Moments later i realised i had already injected it earlier ! This did send me into a panic as this was the first time id done this. But i had asked this question plenty of times at the hospital just in case id ever manage to do it.

I ate a sandwich with a few sips of lucazade. I tested my blood when i woke up around 8am, it was 13.2. Ate a biscuit but didn't take any Humalog. i did this on purpose as the Lantus was still working. It wasn't until midday i started feeling a hypo coming on. After dealing with that and carrying on the day, i had an evening meal and corrected at that meal. later in the evening did my Lantus again as normal and all was fine.

I've managed to inject Lantus twice in 1 day on a few occasions, on every occasion midday after I've had a hypo.



On the flip side i managed to crush and break all my Lantus cartridges in an accident leaving me with non at all one night. I had to inject Humalog every 2-4 hours all through the next 24 hours. Wasted a day doing this tho as i didnt get much sleep.
 
Jonathan CB said:
@JRW good job i put this up hahahaa
Click to expand...

It is! I moved my Levemir from lunchtime to evening because I usually go to the gym in the evening, and exercising just before my Levemir means i hardly, or don't need to fuel the exercise with additional carbs. I'm struggling to adjust though, doing it at lunchtime with lunch at work meant it was regulated, but dinner varies much more and I'm finding I'm much more likely to forget. I'm often the chef in my house so with everything going on the insulin is an afterthought. My bad, but so be it.
 
I've done this before taking novorapid instead of my long lasting insulin approx 18 units novo. No panic....I just the equivalent of carbs and still took my long lasting insulin....No Problems. Problem with drinking bottles of sugary stuff is you'll end up HIGH.
 
Yes but I took 2 injections of lantus before reaching for the Nova Rapid. I realised quite soon and rang the GP who to my amazement paid me a home visit to make sure I was OK. He explained how potentially dangerous to OD on Lantus could be and advised me to take extra carbs and to keep testing my sugars. I was under the weather for a couple of hours but everything returned to normal eventually.
 
Dow just did it for first time jabbed lantus then had supper and jabbed lantus again instead of quick acting, bummer is I use 1/2 unit pen on quick so dialled up 8 units on lantus so took 14 instead of 6. Was jabbing for toast etc anyway so half bowl of coco pops on top just in case job should be good one. Take juice to bed just in case. Bound to happen one day. Just don't panic.
 
Nowt happened jabbed a few quick during the night because blood was 20 odd lowest it got was 5.5 at 6.30 and woke on 8.4 at 9am.
 
I've done humalog instead of my evening dose of lantus twice.
The first time I was on a "road trip" with my husband and daughter, getting her enough hours on her Learner's driving license (in Australia you have to get 120 hours in your log book before you can take a driving test). We were staying in a campsite, it was 11pm at night, and though I had glucose I didn't have it in the quantities for a day's worth of quick acting insulin. My husband went to check the car for carbohydrate (were there any glucose tablets down the back seat?), I ate a packet and started testing every 5-10 minutes. My blood sugar went down to 2 before it started to go back up and eventually it went high enough so that I could go to bed...
I promised myself I'd never do it again but 5 years later I injected late at night,in low light, and only worked out that I'd used the wrong pen when I woke in the middle of the night with a massive hypo....
 
Jonathan CB said:
Haven't done it myself but just wondering if anyones accidentally took the wrong insulin like taking for example Novorapid instead of Lantus?
Click to expand...

When I was first diagnosed I took a dose of abasaglar with my evening meal instead of apidra. Called 111 who advised an alarm set for 2am to check my bloods. They were a little low but all was fine
 
Yip. I've done that was so tired one morning and grabbed the wrong pen I was that tired. (Yes I was using 2 different types of pens with very different cases). Took my Lantus in the morning normal dose. I had breakfast but no Novorapid and phoned the diabetic clinic. Was advised to monitor bloods and half my insulin at meals and was called several times in the day to check I was still alive
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…