What happened, did I hit a vein?

[viranth]

This happened tonight:

2100: BG = 5.1 I eat 3 slices of bread, and one quite hard peach, set 3IE novorapid, and expected it to rise
(This is quite similar to what I do every day, usually only 2 slices, but was extra hungry tonight).

2310: BG = 5.9, I set 8IE Insulatard. And eat an apple cause it's a bit low.

2341: I feel low, BG = 4.0, I drink a glass of applejuice.

2346: BG = 2.5

2354 BG = 3.5
2 slices of bread


What happened there? Every day up until this day, I always rise during my meal after 6pm-ish. Those 3IE was nothing, so I suspect the 8IE Insulatard.

My question: Is it possible to inject straight into a vein, thus giving it an extra boost or something? I shook the insulin as normal, before use.

[fgummett]

Hopefully a more experienced Type 1 or injector will answer soon but meantime here is my 2 cents... a vein may be possible but I suspect you would have felt it... I'm sure you have had blood taken so know what a needle entering a vein feels like. It is more likely that you hit muscle which would have caused a faster uptake than subcutaneous tissue.

Incidentally, I understood that longer-acting and intermediate-acting insulins like Insulatard, should be gently rolled between your hands to mix them rather than shaken which can cause clumping.

[DeusXM]

Insulin requirements change constantly. You might need 3u to cover two slices of bread and a peach one day. Sometimes you might need 1u. Exercise, stress, ambient temperature, time of year...all of these things affect your BG. Your increased hunger when you ate is probably indicative that your body was craving energy from somewhere, meaning you probably needed a different insulin ratio than normal. I doubt it's the Insulatard because it doesn't start working until about 3 hours in - your BG dropped too soon after your Insulatard injection.

Did you have any follow-up hypos later? Insulatard is notorious for causing hypos around the 4-8 hour mark because of its action peak and the fact it contains zinc, which apparently can mask the initial symptoms of hypos.

Trust me, if you'd hit a vein, you'd know it. It'd hurt and you'd get blood pouring out of you.

[viranth]

Didn't get a follow up hypo, woke up at 2am with a BG of 9.2. Took one unit of novorapid, woke up at 7am and my BG was 6.2.

Not a good ending to a very good day (BG wise), but I guess these things happen.

[sprzepiora]

I have never experienced it, but I would assume that if you hit a vein, you would know it. Think of all that insulin hitting you at once instead of slowly over a couple of hours. It would probably knock you flat on your backside in less than a minute.

[-sammy-]

oo i dunno bout that. but ive nipped a vein a couple of times and more blood then usual comes out and also i get a big purple lump which is my vein biut goes down in like 2 days or something like that.

[shiftzor]

I had a crazy low the other day, injected 8 units to match 205g (127g carbs) of pasta ended up at 2.5mmol/L or 45mg/dl. I have used the carb ratio for months with no issues. I thought it might be fat or something that delayed uptake, but i had to eat so many carbs to replace those missing carbs and I didn't go high later. No sport or showers were involved. One theory is that the British summer is over, the vein theory seems unlikely as after eating a huge amount of correction carbs I didn’t go high due to my pasta kicking in. Think my requirements have changed, once again.