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

Type 1 Too much insulin

michaela2015

Well-Known Member
Messages
45
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
This morning while taking what i thought was my long acting insulin, i realised it wss my fast acting, i had both out as my BG was high, fortunately i had only taken 8 units (needed 7 to adjust) but it made me think what would i have had to do if i had taken the full 32 units before i had realised.
Has anyone done this and what did you do
 
Test, Test, Test and eat...
 
Yes definitely done this. Injected the full amount as well only realising when I was taking my next insulin.
Totally agree with @Diakat.
On occasion I've made mistake I end up having two breakfasts ( only do it when half asleep) followed by mid mid morning snack and then an early lunch.:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:.
 
i guess it would depend on the amount. a large error would need medical help. a small error or wrong type food/ glucose.
 
I think that is why my team like me to be equal amounts of basal and bolus? Maybe.

I use 69units of basal and 60units of bolus per day.

If I took 69units of novarapid by accident, I'd need medical help, for sure!! And a double check thereafter going forward.
If I wasn't on Toujeo300 basal I'd have to inject more levermir or lantus to the extent of just under 2/3rds more. Approx. 190units of lantus or levermir per day.
So accidently injecting 190units of novarapid would be beyond medical help. For sure!! For me.
Gulp!!! Very very scary?
 
agree with @Diakat
lots of testing , glucose and longer acting carbs both close at hand !!
 
Been there. I accidentally took 32 units of NovoRapid instead of Levemir just before bed Oppps. I could barely eat enough sugar to soak up the insulin. Finally got to sleep around 3am.
 
probably best to not even think about those type of mistakes.
Thanks @paulus1 . I'm very very careful. Insulin is a heavy med. Nothing about it should be taken lightly. For sure.

Human error happens. I think this is a brilliant thread to help all insulin takers. Not so easy to make that mistake with sulfonylureas.
I saw in diabetes news that tablet form insulin is trying to be perfected.
 
I have my novorapid in coloured (red/blue) pens and my Levimer in silver pens and only silver pens. That way I don't mix them up.
 
I have taken my Novorapid twice for the same meal before. Once before lunch, then again later when I forgot I had already done it! o_O
 
I have also carefully carb counted and taken a shot based on the per 100g values. Not twigging that the snack its self was only 24g...........
 
I did it the other way around (long time ago). Took large amount of Lantus instead of Humalog for my evening meal. I ended up setting an alarm to wake me up every hour so I could test through the night. Drank a lot of warm milk that night. Did not enjoy the experience and have been very careful not to make that mistake again.
 
I think probably most type 1s have at some point confused basal and bolus and accidentally taken the wrong amount of the wrong one, it's very easily done, and it's easily monitored to correct.

If you take basal when you thought it was bolus, then take your bolus and correct through the night to check if you need to eat to avoid hypos.

If you take bolus when you thought it was basal then set alarms to test through the night and warn your partner/ family of the need to test through the night and want to do if you go hypo and make sure you have a decent amount (and more) of hypo treatment available and you have eaten lots of complex carbs to try to stave off the drop.

Usually if lots of carbs are eaten, up to the level of what you have over bolused by (use you your I:C ratio to do this: if you use I:C of 1:10 and have taken 32 units then you need to eat 320g of carbs- ie 14 slices of bread) before the insulin starts working, which is a probably not exactly what you are feeling like if you've eaten dinner and then brushed your teeth and gone to bed, but you need to eat before the bolus insulin you've just taken by mistake starts working (about 30min), then there is no need to panic and require medical assistance.

It is probably best to try and avoid the mistake by making sure pens are differently colours, or kept in different places, if you can.
 
I did exactly that, but only once! It was easy for the next 3 hours I ate, starting off with white bread and some sugar tested 15min later and kept doing that then finished off with a multigrain sandwich. I did take my lantus in the middle of that chaos. I now keep my Novorapid well away from my Lantus . The reason why I did it was I was very tired and was not paying attention. It was fun while it lasted, but I don't want to try it again.
 
Glucagon wud help .. its the hormone thts the exact opposite of insulin.. its avlb in pre filled pens but not as easily avlbl ... best to seek medical help ..
 
Best to keep long acting in a totally different place .. for my son who is 5 , i use different sites ... long acting one on the thigh and short acting on the abdomen .. this helps a lot
 
Back
Top