Insulin and Hitting blood vessels..

[Morris "Type 1"]

Hi guys.

Well let's see, my first serious hypo was caused by my basal insulin and me hitting what I believe to be a blood vessel.

The first time it was pretty bad, scared me senseless and I was lucky to sort it out.

This time, this evening I had to ask my college to call for paramedics and I consumed a pack of glucose tablets, a can of coke and ate a sandwich.

I get home and eat a baked potato.

It's about 1.5 - 2 hours later.. 8.7 BG.

Normally a sandwich alone would spike me that high if I don't bolus for it, so this leads me to believe that I was really badly in danger.

What is your opinion with this?

Just to clarify, I had 5.0 mmol/L BG at around 7:15 pm, took my basal (glargine), 12 units and noticed excess blood at site. Also there was blood on the tip of the needle, I knew that this was a clear indication that I'm about ready for a severe hypo.

I was near a police station so I hovered around there, checked my sugar, it fell a bit but seemed stable after eating a bunch of glucose tablets.

I'm in class and about 30 minutes later my BG is 2.4, then 2.2 shortly after. I felt pretty scared as I was in unusual surroundings and basically asked them to call for an ambulance since I couldn't seem to get my BG backup.

I hate how glucose tablets seem to take forever to start working :(.

I am certain it was because of the basal going into my blood stream rapidly because within moments of injecting I had the most disgusting taste in my mouth. yuck.

[Granny Shanny]

Since I don't know sic 'em about using insulin, I'm only here to say thank heaven you're here to tell about it & it would sure scare the 'ell outta me!

[Morris "Type 1"]

aww thank you. :)

[jshuffle]

I've had milder, but similar things happen to me. Just another occupational hazard I guess... Being prepared is about the best you can do.

[fairyblood]

I have had lows that last 5 hours without going above 75(4) after having over 250 grams of carbs. I have never attributed it to hitting a blood vessel. I have hit many blood vessels in my 14 years however I have never noticed any changes in speed of action. I am sure it goes somewhat faster.

I am glad you are okay but I am surprised that you called an ambulance. I am not saying you did the wrong thing, better safe then sorry, I am just surprised.

Do you have glucagon on hand? I like to have that back up around even though I would have to give it to myself. It just makes me feel safer.

[fairyblood]

I just reread what I wrote and it came out harsher then I intended.

I have a hard time expressing myself sometimes.

Sorry if I offended anybody. :(

[It Ain't Over]

Good to hear from you again Morris. I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but you will get very used to the lows after some time. I say that with a caution as it can be easy to dismiss the lows and then really get into trouble. Many of us have done that and sooner or later it will cost.
I am still under the impression that you may be taking a bit more insulin than you need to. Start with the basal. Find a good time when your physical activity level will be at a minimum. Say a long day of study. Set out to test every hour through the day and write down everything, from what you eat to what your bg's test at. If you could skip a meal along the way better yet, but if not it will still be good.
You should see a rise after eating and taking a bolus, but your bg's should settle down to a normal level after 3 - 4 hours. If they continue to drop after that it is very likely you are taking too large of a dose of the basal. However that is always dependent on taking the correct bolus. That is why it is better if you could skip a meal and go for at least 6 hrs without any fast acting insulin. After 4 hours the fast acting will be all used up and the truest test of the basal dose will show up. If your bg's rise then, your dose is too low. If they drop, especially if they drop sharply after your last meal is gone, then you are taking too high a dose of basal insulin.
There are better ways to test basal and some here will add to this, but the point is to get that sorted out right away. Then your mealtime bolus will make a lot more sense to you.

[Grunch]

I just reread what I wrote and it came out harsher then I intended.

I have a hard time expressing myself sometimes.

Sorry if I offended anybody. :(

It didn't seem harsh at all. You're either low or drunk.

[fairyblood]

It didn't seem harsh at all. You're either low or drunk.

I was low when I did the second post. I just didn't know it yet.:D (good catch)

I think being "pretend" banned (the computer glitch) has made me irrationally worried about messing up with how I come across in text. ;)

[Morris "Type 1"]

It's nice to be back :).

No problem about harshness, I didn't really see it that way anyway to be honest.

The problem I had was that I had not had a severe hypo like that in public and recently there was a news paper article which made me really nervous.

A woman was on a bus, she was having a low and the bus driver called for paramedics. The one that turned up said something along the lines of, "She's pink, shes conscious and bloody drunk!". He refused to treat her, so then another paramedic had to be the one to save her.

So with that in mind I went through everything clearly with people around me so they were fully aware of the situation in preparation for if I dropped even lower.

One thing that does irritate me slightly though is that when I have spoken to one or two other insulin dependent diabetics about hitting a blood vessel I received the response that I was imagining it.

I do hypnosis, I understand that the mind can generate real experiences from literally nothing but I know this doesn't explain the nasty taste I got in my mouth within moments of taking the shot.

Anyway, back to the paramedics..

I know that it takes a while to get the glucose back into my system and I was already at 2.2 when I started to deal with it and that is the lowest I have been before.

The time that I had this situation happen before, I started out at about 4.5 and the injection dropped me to 2.4 within a few minutes and that was hard enough to get back from.

In hindsight, when I first noticed that I had done this I should have eaten real food because I did only have glucose tablets at that point.

Surely I can't be crazy about it going straight into my blood stream?

[Morris "Type 1"]

Good point about glucogen, I wasn't issued with any but I will ask for it soon from my doctor.

[Paul W]

I'm new here and I don't understand the blood sugar levels refered to in this way. What does 8.7 represent?

What you are describing has happened to me about 5 times in 30 years when I used to inject in my legs. But, what I noticed was I way over ate because I was so scared and then later my blood sugar level was sky high. I agree that your basil may be too high. I take only one injection of the basil at bed time. How many basil injections are you taking a day and of what type of insulin? How much in units at each injection? The most I ever took was 10 units at bed time and that was NPH way back in the day.

[TommyC1]

Good point about glucogen, I wasn't issued with any but I will ask for it soon from my doctor.

I looked into glucagon and decided against it.
It requires someone other than me to administer which would most likely be my wife the needlephobe.
The paramedics are reasonably close by. I've been in the low teens (mgdl) and could not swallow a few times. They brought me back nicely with a glucose drip (IV).

The only time I'd consider glucagon would be if I was far from medical help and I had someone trained to use it backing me up.

YMMV

[Subby]

Surely I can't be crazy about it going straight into my blood stream?

No, of course not. Of course it can happen, unfortunately! In fact, in a bizarre coincidence, it happened to me last night. I injected 70u of Levemir but broke it up into three shots, as I tend to get real issues with pooling and it's a token effort to keep that down with such a huge dose need. Two shots were fine, the last a spurt of blood.

Four hours later I woke with the most severe hypo and went and ate probably 80g of anything simple in the cupboard (as one is wont to do when half asleep). it was severe - usually I bounce back in a couple of minutes with 15g or so of simple carbs, but even having had all of that, I still felt dangerously low for about 10 minutes. The rebound hours later, was not particularly high, suggesting that there was much insulin active at the time.

This has never happened to me before, I find it extremely rare to hit blood in my butt cheek - (and otherwise suggest it a a good chance for being safe) but there you go, it happened. I consider myself fortunate I had split my dose up, so only got about 30u hitting the bloodstream. And I will continue to take multi injections, for this reason.

My casual understanding is that long acting is crystalised, and these crystals break down slowly in sub-q, thus giving slow release. If it hits liquid like blood... it dissolves quickly.

Good you got through... you didn't finish your story (that I could see). Did they take you away? Have a little break in emergency?

[Subby]

I'm new here and I don't understand the blood sugar levels refered to in this way. What does 8.7 represent?


A lot of the world uses mmol/l instead of mg/dl - such as Australia and the UK. Mmol/l is smaller than mg/dl by a factor of 18. So 8.7 mmol/l is about 156 mg/dl.

If like me you are unlikely to have fun using your 18x table, there is a handy calculator on this page. Just look on the right hand list, find "Converters" and click "Blood Glucose unit converter".

[fgummett]

Do they even teach the "times tables" at school these days or is it all just calculators :confused: :D

[strack350]

I would recomend you get some hypokits "glucogen" and teach your wife to use it if your unconcious, or beligerently low. I have three kits right now and my fiance knows to use one if I have a serious low.:cool:

[shades9323]

The only way the insulin went in your blood stream is if you injected it into a vein.

Which I am willing to say didn't happen unless you shot the insulin into your arm.

[Subby]

Why only the arm? So the medical world and druggies use it for convenient access... doesn't mean it's the only relatively shallow vein in the body.

[shades9323]

Why only the arm? So the medical world and druggies use it for convenient access... doesn't mean it's the only relatively shallow vein in the body.

This is true. However, the veins that can be reached by a insulin syring would be seen. And to hit the vein, it would have to be done on purpose.

[lark 27]

Very interesting thread. I have never encountered an episode like this where I think I've hit a vessel and therefore had quick breakdown of lantus or NPH.
I'm curious of Suby and Morris or anyone else who's experienced this. Did you notice consistent highs several hours after the episode and throughout the rest of the day due to the basal dose being "spent?" Glad you're both OK and thanks for sharing your info.

[Subby]

This is true. However, the veins that can be reached by a insulin syring would be seen. And to hit the vein, it would have to be done on purpose.

I do appreciate what you are saying, but I just don't think it's that straightforward or neat. For example, I can barely see the superficial vein on my arm, which is what? Half a cm down? So I would never presume to be able to see all reachable veins, at least on my body. As I understand it, veins can vary quite significantly from person to person. As for needing to be on purpose... treat yourself like a pincushion year in and year out, and I think you can hit anything lurking under there. I've probably had 5 big bleeders over the years, but this was the first time I seemed to suffer a consequence.

[Subby]

Very interesting thread. I have never encountered an episode like this where I think I've hit a vessel and therefore had quick breakdown of lantus or NPH.
I'm curious of Suby and Morris or anyone else who's experienced this. Did you notice consistent highs several hours after the episode and throughout the rest of the day due to the basal dose being "spent?" Glad you're both OK and thanks for sharing your info.

Well, bearing in mind that we can't be 100% sure what goes on, I can only give my experience which can help judge if it's a possibility I injected into some kind of vein... I guess I can't answer your question. I am still experimenting with Levemir to see if I can get consistent action out of it, the day was ok, but have no real pattern to compare.

[inkvisitor]

I have had similar blood experiences after taking insulin - I just figured I hit a capillary, though...

I think as time passes lows in that range may become less threatening - just a guess though. Along the lines of what fairyblood mentioned - it wouldn't occur to me to call paramedics in that situation, but I know we all have different physical and mental reactions.

Fwiw, I've only had paramedics called once (it was maybe ten years ago or so) and it was awful. I was at work and my coworker called against my plea not to - but I understand it was a liability if they didn't. I told her I just needed a coke (all we had, and I got one). Paramedics arrive and take my coke and dump some sugary pasty stuff in it and make me drink ALL of it (mind you, this was a 20 oz coke which half of alone would have been fine). Anyhow, they leave, all is better, but I check about an hour later and my BG was in the 400s. NICE.

Sorry. /rant.

[fgummett]

There are all kinds of different sized blood vessels all over the body, so as mentioned above, a "human pin-cushion" stands a good chance of hitting something sometime... beyond that (and hopefully not speaking out of turn as a Type 2) I think we each have our comfort levels with deciding how to deal with what could potentially turn into an emergency situation... as a general rule, I would say it is "better to be safe than sorry". :)

[It Ain't Over]

My neighbor is a Fireman/paramedic. He said they are taught to use O2 to bring around a diabetic, then stuff a glucose drip into their arm. The O2 will bring them right back no matter how low they get.
I don't think a small portable O2 bottle with a breather would be that hard for anyone to operate. Maybe better for the needlephobe spouse? I wonder what the downside is.

[Paul W]

The hitting a vein issue is real. Anytime your syringe hits a vein you will bleed, but every once in a while you can hit it in such a way as to get the insulin directly into your blood stream. Like I said before it has happened to me about 5 times in 30 years.

I'm concerned about these severe lows everyone is talking about. 70 units of anything sounds absolutely crazy to me. Is this standard procedure? I've never taken anything close to that. How many injections total do you take per day?

[Subby]

Paul, relax on that, as least with relative longtimers! 70 units is my typical basal dose and it has been close to that for many years. Through discussion here, it is clear that different people can need wildly varying amounts of insulin to get the same effect, both basal and bolus (I:C ratio).

Far as basal doses go, it can be from different factors, such as obesity related fat resistance, excessive gluconeogenesis/liver release/or antibody response reducing the potency of insulin/and from a layman point of view, a big pinch of just coz.

[Paul W]

Understood. I'm just trying to figure this out. So the 70 units is basal, but also for food? With this much insulin on board do you eat some meals without taking additional fast acting insulin? I used to be on two injections a day mixing regular and NPH and then I'd eat lunch without ever taking any additional insulin. But, I had to be sure and eat lunch by a certain time or I was in trouble. That was a long time ago and I don't remember exactly how that worked. But is that the jist?

[Tattoo azz]

After 27yrs i have come to the conclusion that to avoid hitting 'bleeders', i should NOT inject when wearing new, clean jeans lol. It's easy to recognise me when my jeans look like they're covered in splotches of red paint :D.

Paul, we inject slow acting (basal) insulin 1-2 times a day to keep our body's natural level of glucose under control. We inject quick acting (bolus) whenever we eat a meal or sometimes a snack. You don't inject basal insulin to cover for food.It get's slightly more confusing when you then add pumps into the equasion, these use only quick actin insulin, but deliver it in minute amounts many times a day, either at pre-ordained times, and/or whenever the user requests a shot.
Ask your endo/ doc about basal/bolus regimes, they'll give a better explanation.

[Morris "Type 1"]

Hey Guys.


I spoke to the staff at my college explaining the full scenario as I could see it, explaining that I had Insulin directly administered into my blood stream and that I was at risk of crashing further rapidly.

One of the women from my class saw that I didn't look well and grabbed a chair, put it down next to me and refused to leave me until she was certain that I was being looked after. I owe her a big thank you, just knowing that someone would protect me like that made a huge difference in how I felt. I always assume that in this situation people will just turn their heads the other way.

Anyway, so regarding the insulin and blood stream issue, the college staff had trouble conveying this to the emergency services over the phone and when the paramedics got there they assumed that my low was caused by no food and taking rapid insulin.

I told them that I routinely take my basal insulin without food, have done for a few months now without any ill effect whatsoever. In fact, I just took it again this morning without food and I won't take it with food later either.

I tried to correct them multiple times about their assumption but they wouldn't listen to me!

This scared me because the last time I checked my sugar it was 2.4, I had no idea if I was going to crash further. As Subby said, huge amount of carbs are absorbed rapidly and it feels really tough to pull back out of that hole. So by the paramedics not being on the ball and listening to what I said, I felt like I was at risk of dieing to be honest especially as I saw no sign of them having glucose at hand. That being said, they did get me a sandwich and made sure I ate it along with drinking a can of coke... I was a bit dazzed still so even though I had the can in my hand I wasn't drinking it much.

Once it was high they said I had a choice of going to hospital for the sheer fun of it or I could just go home, provided I had a safe route home that didn't include public transport - so the college paid for a taxi to take me home.

In fact, the college paid for all of the food + drink too, which is nice - but i don't take it for granted though because I had almost no money with me at the time and had ran out of glucose tablets.

I get home, eat a jacket potato and chill out, since then I have felt pretty rough though - tired mainly.

Stupid thing was, last night I was out and took just 3 units of rapid because I wanted to correct a slight high but didn't want to crash as I was sitting in a pub; so I took the injection, oops hit a blood vessel or whatever again! Luckily it was such a small dose that it didn't really make much problems for me but by the time I got home I was hypo again which was about an hour later. The hypo wasn't too bad, only a small low but left me with a headache all night. lol.

FUN FUN.

The place that I seem to hit something is in my stomach. Legs so far have been fine and not yet figured out how to shoot up in my own butt.

Also I have no idea how anyone uses the top of their arm by themselves.

Thanks for sharing your well-timed experience subby, I'm curious did this happen before or after reading my thread?

30 units, I imagine would have sucked pretty bad especially as it took only 12 units that last time to really badly mess me up.

That said, I also noticed that you can actually get a varying amount of it in your blood stream, so i'm hoping you and I have both discovered the most serious version of whatever it will ever be like as I would hate to get even more in there!

All I can think to say is, thank god you didn't put 70 units in that time. I can't even imagine how that would have ended.

[Paul W]

No, I understand what basal means. I take one myself. I just couldn't wrap my head around 70 units. I didn't realize that it was common for people to take this much. My doctor was hesitant to prescribe 10 units. At that, I kept getting low throughout the day. I thought maybe it was a different method of control. Like two shots a day and then there would be an insulin peak at certain times that you would plan your meals around. I used to do that in the beginning. We've come a long way since then. If you're telling me it's normal than I believe you. It does seem a bit dangerous, though. I understand that you may need that much because of maybe some absorbtion issues, etc, but what happens IF you do hit a vein? Does this basal insulin now act as a regukar type of insulin? I'm just trying to learn here. I had a doctor tell me once that there was no way I could have hit a vein while injecting insulin and yet it DID happen, and the results were very scary. I'm pretty sure if I were to take 70 units of regular insulin or Humalog and forget to eat I would need to go to the hospital. I'm just trying to figure out if hitting a vein with that much Lantus or the likes would have a similar reaction? If so, then I would think an insulin pump would be a far better choice in that it would eliminate that danger. What do you think?

[thisstinks]

i worry about getting a blood clot if injected in the bloodstream..nothing like ground up pork pancreas floating around..scary:eek:

[Paul W]

Hey Guys.


I spoke to the staff at my college explaining the full scenario as I could see it, explaining that I had Insulin directly administered into my blood stream and that I was at risk of crashing further rapidly.

One of the women from my class saw that I didn't look well and grabbed a chair, put it down next to me and refused to leave me until she was certain that I was being looked after. I owe her a big thank you, just knowing that someone would protect me like that made a huge difference in how I felt. I always assume that in this situation people will just turn their heads the other way.

Anyway, so regarding the insulin and blood stream issue, the college staff had trouble conveying this to the emergency services over the phone and when the paramedics got there they assumed that my low was caused by no food and taking rapid insulin.

I told them that I routinely take my basal insulin without food, have done for a few months now without any ill effect whatsoever. In fact, I just took it again this morning without food and I won't take it with food later either.

I tried to correct them multiple times about their assumption but they wouldn't listen to me!

This scared me because the last time I checked my sugar it was 2.4, I had no idea if I was going to crash further. As Subby said, huge amount of carbs are absorbed rapidly and it feels really tough to pull back out of that hole. So by the paramedics not being on the ball and listening to what I said, I felt like I was at risk of dieing to be honest especially as I saw no sign of them having glucose at hand. That being said, they did get me a sandwich and made sure I ate it along with drinking a can of coke... I was a bit dazzed still so even though I had the can in my hand I wasn't drinking it much.

Once it was high they said I had a choice of going to hospital for the sheer fun of it or I could just go home, provided I had a safe route home that didn't include public transport - so the college paid for a taxi to take me home.

In fact, the college paid for all of the food + drink too, which is nice - but i don't take it for granted though because I had almost no money with me at the time and had ran out of glucose tablets.

I get home, eat a jacket potato and chill out, since then I have felt pretty rough though - tired mainly.

Stupid thing was, last night I was out and took just 3 units of rapid because I wanted to correct a slight high but didn't want to crash as I was sitting in a pub; so I took the injection, oops hit a blood vessel or whatever again! Luckily it was such a small dose that it didn't really make much problems for me but by the time I got home I was hypo again which was about an hour later. The hypo wasn't too bad, only a small low but left me with a headache all night. lol.

FUN FUN.

The place that I seem to hit something is in my stomach. Legs so far have been fine and not yet figured out how to shoot up in my own butt.

Also I have no idea how anyone uses the top of their arm by themselves.

Thanks for sharing your well-timed experience subby, I'm curious did this happen before or after reading my thread?

30 units, I imagine would have sucked pretty bad especially as it took only 12 units that last time to really badly mess me up.

That said, I also noticed that you can actually get a varying amount of it in your blood stream, so i'm hoping you and I have both discovered the most serious version of whatever it will ever be like as I would hate to get even more in there!

All I can think to say is, thank god you didn't put 70 units in that time. I can't even imagine how that would have ended.

Morris-

I'm glad you're ok. Paramedics are supposed to treat insulin shock all the same way because they don't know why you went into shock. The accepted method is with an injection of Glucagon. Are you located in the United States? I'm curious because it seems abnormal for paramedics in the U.S. to stand by and watch you eat a sandwich while they wait for your blood sugar levels to rise. That could take a while and doesn't seem to be a good solution for someone who is in crisis.

You did the right thing by taking 3 units to correct a high. In that scenario hitting a vein wouldn't be a problem because you want all that insulin to come on right away anyway to correct the high as soon as possible. In your case I think maybe you only needed two. No big deal, but I want to share something with you. I have noticed that when I drink alcohol I need less insulin for the meal. Now, I don't know if alcohol is occupying the liver so that it doesn't produce the normal amount of sugars or what, but I can tell you it happens every time. Also, I want to say to be careful about taking your bolus injections prior to eating. That has bit me in the behind many times. Some foods that are high in fat take much, much longer to digest and the carbs do not enter the bloodstraem very quickly. This happens to me with pizza. I have to wait about 30 minutes after eating a pizza to take insulin. If I don't I'll start getting real low. Then after I've had my glucose tablets and my sugars are back to normal the carbs from the pizza finally kick in and now I'm sky high. Just my two cents.

[Paul W]

I'm pretty sure all the insulin available today is human insulin grown in labs. I don't think they've used pork for some time. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Tattoo azz]

No, you can still get animal derived insulin, one or two t1's on df use it as a matter of fact.
70u does seem quite alot though, maybe splitting the dose would help? say 35u at breakfast and another 35u at around evening meal time? Sorry for misunderstanding you Paul, i tend to skip-read and i guess i skipped a bit too much lol :D

[Subby]

No, I understand what basal means. I take one myself. I just couldn't wrap my head around 70 units. I didn't realize that it was common for people to take this much.

Not saying it's common, just that it's what I require (and larger dosage requirements are nothing like unheard of once you chat to a range of type 1s). I have high insulin uses. My I:C ratio is around 1:6, as well, which is likely to be a high dose for carbs compared to you.


My doctor was hesitant to prescribe 10 units. At that, I kept getting low throughout the day. I thought maybe it was a different method of control. Like two shots a day and then there would be an insulin peak at certain times that you would plan your meals around. I used to do that in the beginning. We've come a long way since then. If you're telling me it's normal than I believe you. It does seem a bit dangerous, though.

Again, not saying it's "normal". Saying it is what my body requires, and that there can be a lot of variation out there.

What needs to be understood is that effectively, insulin can have different potency for each of us. Look at it this way. You have a certain amount of insulin you need for basal control, correct? that was, what, 10 units? Call that 100% basal requirements.

I need 70 units. Call that 100% basal requirements. This is extremely rough, but 100% is going to act around the same, whatever it actually is for our individual bodies. 50% is going to work roughly the same. So for example, you overshooting by 5 units, may be similar to me overshooting by 35 units. Insulin just works about 7 times more effectively for you. Again, there is no appeal to "what is common" here. You are probably closer to the norm than me, that's for sure. But you in fact sound on the low side of norm from conversations I have had.

Bottom line: insulin can be a very different potency in people. Assuming we are talking correct doses (eg for basal control), then my 70 units is probably quite similar in effect to your 10 units. That's a gross oversimplification, but I think closer to the truth than thinking a unit has the same effect in everyone (which I think is very easily shown to be just not the case).


I understand that you may need that much because of maybe some absorbtion issues, etc, but what happens IF you do hit a vein? Does this basal insulin now act as a regukar type of insulin? I'm just trying to learn here. I had a doctor tell me once that there was no way I could have hit a vein while injecting insulin and yet it DID happen, and the results were very scary. I'm pretty sure if I were to take 70 units of regular insulin or Humalog and forget to eat I would need to go to the hospital. I'm just trying to figure out if hitting a vein with that much Lantus or the likes would have a similar reaction? If so, then I would think an insulin pump would be a far better choice in that it would eliminate that danger. What do you think?

I think pumps are great for a number of reasons. I use one, although have been taking a break (hence the levemir injections). But I have to say pumps have other dangers which would in my opinion outweigh this risk.

Although this does appear to have occurred for me the other night, it's the first time in over 17 years of basal injecting that I know of! So it's really, really, really, rare. For me at least.


Thanks for sharing your well-timed experience subby, I'm curious did this happen before or after reading my thread?

Before, the night before. Really strange considering it hasn't happened before. And, since it knocked me around in the middle of the night, I almost forgot about it... luckily I do have a lot of faith in my "auto pilot" given enough indications.


30 units, I imagine would have sucked pretty bad especially as it took only 12 units that last time to really badly mess me up.


Kind of like my point above, insulin is likely just to be less effective in me (although with you, there is still the consideration of potential beta cell mass... making it a bit more complex again, but, that's the general gist), so, I think the best (although far from perfect) comparison is percentage of total.


That said, I also noticed that you can actually get a varying amount of it in your blood stream, so i'm hoping you and I have both discovered the most serious version of whatever it will ever be like as I would hate to get even more in there!


I hope so too! Stay well.

[shades9323]

Morris,

Just because you bleed doesn't mean you hit a vein or that the insulin is in your blood stream.

[Paul W]

Subby-

Thank you for that explaination. I understand now. One of the reasons I joined this forum is to have a better understanding of what others were doing. I had been thinking that everyone pretty much required similar doses of insulin, but that in some people the insulin wasn't getting into the blood stream because it was somehow being blocked or absorbed by other body tissues. So there was a need for higher doses. So I then thought, if the insulin were to accidentally go directly into the blood a person might be getting suddenly ten times what they needed. Do you see where my flawwed logic made sense to me? Anyway, I think I need to read more.

[Morris "Type 1"]

I'm not saying that it does.

I am stating that it did certainly happen though.

[Subby]

Subby-

Thank you for that explaination. I understand now. One of the reasons I joined this forum is to have a better understanding of what others were doing. I had been thinking that everyone pretty much required similar doses of insulin, but that in some people the insulin wasn't getting into the blood stream because it was somehow being blocked or absorbed by other body tissues. So there was a need for higher doses. So I then thought, if the insulin were to accidentally go directly into the blood a person might be getting suddenly ten times what they needed. Do you see where my flawwed logic made sense to me? Anyway, I think I need to read more.

Makes sense for sure. It's what this forum is good for, having fruitful conversations, and we should also always check up our knowledge or shared journey to more understanding, with more conversation, fact finding and research, always! Don't take my word for it... I would prefer people investigating anything I said and adding or correcting.

[CarrieJett]

When I first was DX'ed they gave me standard needles for my insulin, and I had the scary Insulin-in-my-vein experience too. I also used to get huge lumps of blood under my skin, bruising, and bloody messes Once I switched to shorter needles, it never happened again! Are you using the standard longish needles?