Whose your back up for giving injections

Catcount · #1 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007, 12:02 AM

Some diabetic people have a phobia about giving themselves injections. Now my wife has a needle phobia and she wont give me an injection in any emergency situation. I have had to teach my 11 year old daughter how to conduct the injection process, of course with her mother supervising, if she does't freak out. After that its call a friend

Do you need or have a backup?

Catcount

By the way these are the type of questions I get asked at our diabetic advisory sessions.

DeusXM · #2 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007, 12:41 AM

I guess I don't really have one, but then again there aren't many emergency situations where you'd need an injection to solve the problem. Obviously there's severe hypos that can be treated with glucagon injections but you'll probably need a visit to A+E anyway so my advice to anyone has always been that if they find me out cold, just call an ambulance because there's not really a lot they can do otherwise anyway.

I'll be honest though, I really don't see any point in training anyone else to give you insulin injections, simply because there isn't any kind of emergency caused by lack of insulin that will incapacitate you before you can solve the problem yourself.

liz32 · #3 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007, 01:49 AM

my hubby won't do them either but Im sure in a real emergancy he would. Both my kids know what to do and would love to give me my needles (I use a pen so it's no big deal) and actually when I was pregnant with my 2nd child, my daughter who was 2.5 gave me needles on a regular basis....she thaught it was fun.
liz

MBelt8402 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007, 06:45 AM

I have a 12 year old daughter that loves to give me my injections. She begs to do it. Sometimes she scares me..........

JediSurfer · #5 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007, 07:44 AM

Quite a few of my freinds and work mates have given me injections. People can be very curious. And some seem to enjoy the experiance.
I do remember showing my Nan what to do when I was about 6 years old. This was before I started doing it myself.

I have trained freinds and collegues to test my BG incase I pass out. that was done by letting them test themselves. And the info gathered was great as a guideline for my own BG levels.

Penny · #6 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007, 08:05 AM

My husband closes his eyes and says "EW!", anytime he sees me doing an injection. He says if he had to have injections, I would have to do it for him. I have never been in the position to need someone else to give them to me. My granddaughter asked to be taught, like Mbelt's daughter, she is kind of fascinated by the whole thing. Hubby is always watching me for lows, though. He is always trying to make me eat or drink something sweet, because he thinks I am low.....usually he is right, but I insist on testing.

sofaraway · #7 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007, 09:16 AM

nobody actually, I'm with Deus on this one, i can't see a situation where I would need this. If it was a bad hypo I would rather someone call 999 than try to handle to situation themselves. I don't have a glucagon kit.

peej07 · #8 (**permalink**) 10-05-2007, 09:45 AM

I always told my wife to just close your eyes and stab away.

shabbie6247 · #9 (**permalink**) 10-05-2007, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sofaraway

nobody actually, I'm with Deus on this one, i can't see a situation where I would need this. If it was a bad hypo I would rather someone call 999 than try to handle to situation themselves. I don't have a glucagon kit.

............................

Dervish · #10 (**permalink**) 10-05-2007, 03:11 PM

No backup here, either. On the contrary, I'm of the opinion that nobody else is allowed to even think about injecting insulin into me (with an exception for trained medical personnel, of course) because, if I'm not able to do it myself, it would most likely be due to a severe hypo - and if I'm incapacitated by a low, then more insulin is the last thing I need.

cat_collector · #11 (**permalink**) 10-05-2007, 03:25 PM

No one is trained to give me a shot either , My husband did do my first one because I freaked out and couldnt do it but he knows never to give me shot of insulin if im passed out . You would be surprised how many people think you need a shot when your low .
Its better to train those around you to reconise a low and help you with treating that .
Tracy

Alice · #12 (**permalink**) 10-05-2007, 06:45 PM

I can't really think of an emergency situation where I would need to be injected with insulin. My husband wouldn't have the least bit of knowledge...he has a polite "whatever" attitude. Note to self: train the next husband on every aspect of my life...

DeusXM · #13 (**permalink**) 10-06-2007, 12:58 AM

To be honest, I'd be wary of teaching anyone how to inject you. The problem is that once they know how to inject, they start assuming that if there's a problem, they need to give you an injection.

Most of us don't carry glucagon kits with us. Most of us do carry insulin pens. And if you're obviously suddenly ill, then it'll be caused by low blood sugar, not high blood sugar.

And I don't want someone thinking an injection is the solution for that situation when I'm only packing insulin. So I don't really want anyone near me to feel like they have the confidence and ability to give me an injection - because no matter how much they think I've taught them, they'll always give me the wrong one.

REDLAN · #14 (**permalink**) 10-06-2007, 03:16 AM

I don't have a backup, I've never needed one.

I guess the only time you might need someone is if you temporarily lost the use of your hands - accident or surgery. But if that's the case then there would be plenty of time to train someone to do it for you.

RobiJo · #15 (**permalink**) 10-06-2007, 05:55 AM

No real back up here. My husband knows how (and has) tested my bg while I was asleep, put the number in my pump and given me the bolus though. With the active insulin/bolus wizard feature I am not conserned about him over dosing me. My mom (a nurse) was also good about doing all I needed while I was asleep too. He also knows how to use my glucagon. He knows to call my mom if there is a problem he's not sure about and if all else fails or he freaks out--call 911.

My grandmother REFUSED to give me shots. (She also refused to comb my extremely curly hair) both because she said Grandma's aren't supposed to inflict pain. Whenever I stayed at Grandmas's my aunt would have to drive down at breakfast and dinner (from 3-4 miles away) and give my shots. Once I started doing them on my own, my aunt would still come to supervise.