There are 2 questions here to be answered. I am Writing a book and one of my characters will be diabetic, obviously I want it to be realistic especially for those who have been diabetics for a long time. She will use a pen to inject the insulin. If she was late in giving herself her injection, what symptoms are classically seen? lightheaded? throw up?, and from the moment you take the injection how quickly would you see a recovery? Thanks kindlyFriday, January 6, 2012
Diabetes Advice Needed?
There are 2 questions here to be answered. I am Writing a book and one of my characters will be diabetic, obviously I want it to be realistic especially for those who have been diabetics for a long time. She will use a pen to inject the insulin. If she was late in giving herself her injection, what symptoms are classically seen? lightheaded? throw up?, and from the moment you take the injection how quickly would you see a recovery? Thanks kindly
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Samantha - If a diabetic was late on injecting their insulin and became HYPERGLYCEMIC, which means high blood sugar they would develop a head ache, increased thirst, weakness, difficulty concentrating, and in severe cases they could develop seizures if their blood sugar was extremely high. The insulin lowers a diabetic's blood sugar, so when the insulin isn't taken, their blood sugar rises causing these symptoms. If a person was to take too much insulin the opposite would happen and they would become hypoglycemic, which is low blood sugar, and it would cause shakiness, sweating, nausea and vomiting, etc. After insulin is injected, depending on the type of insulin is how long it will take to affect the person. Rapid acting insulin will take anywhere from 3-7 minutes, intermediate acting, up to an hour, and long acting takes several hours but lasts for such a long time. The rapid acting insulin (which is the most common to be injected by a person) is called novolog or humolog. This would be the quick onset with just a few minutes. Hope this helped!
ReplyDeleteJohn W - You can't really be late with a bolus shot as it's just taken prior to a meal. You can miscalculate a bolus shot which will either result in hypoglycemia where you will sweat, get nervous, dizzy, and maybe pass out and die if you don't get some more sugar to balance out the excess insulin or you could be short on the calculation and be hyperglycemic which has fewer short term symptoms and more long term effects such as the amputations, loss of eyesight etc, short term effects being urination and thirst.
ReplyDeleteWith the basal shot it's a matter of which insulin you use. Lantus has a flat profile for about 20 to 24 hours so you just want to take the shot once every twenty four hours, taking it too soon as in 15 hours risks doubling up and having hypoglycemia, too late isn't much of a problem unless you've eaten, basically your cells will have to get their energy from fats and proteins for a while till the insulin is available again and it can do that for some time before poisoning the blood with ketones. Levelin is similar but has a slight pronounced peak rather than a completely flat profile. The NPH ramped up steadily to a peak 9 to 15 hours later and then ramps back down, the idea of injecting it every 12 hours is the ramps balance each other out to be more or less flat. Being late means a bit of a dip and being early means a bit of a peak. You can use this effect to counter the night time dawn effect but only by timing the shots accurately. The biggest problem is having too much insulin which would be injecting the basal too soon, hypoglycemia is the light headedness stuff. Injecting too late on basal isn't too bad as the ketones probably won't build up for hours but the higher glucose levels would lead to long term complications and they may feel nothing at all in the short term, if they're real late they will have to urinate and drink water.
Injections work fairly fast though NPH takes two hours to start ramping up. Some diabetics will feel an increase in energy immediately upon injection.
Jax - been diabetic for 14 years. In my case my doctor told me to take my shot after i eat so i know exactly how much to give i use a pen as welll. If idon'tt take it right after i get moody and short tempered sometimes get a head ache.
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