All people wants insulin to outlive! With out sufficient or any insulin, your physique can’t use the meals you eat for power, and blood sugar ranges rise to harmful and ultimately deadly ranges.
This makes insulin one of the crucial vital hormones in your physique, however simply as too little insulin will be life-threatening, an excessive amount of insulin — an insulin overdose — is equally harmful.
On this article, we are going to have a look at the way to spot the warning indicators of an insulin overdose, the way to deal with it, and the way to forestall it from occurring within the first place.
What’s an insulin overdose?
An insulin overdose is outlined as merely getting an excessive amount of insulin to the purpose of inflicting low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) — however the severity of that low blood sugar can differ wildly based mostly on how a lot extra insulin was taken.
Signs of an insulin overdose
Early signs of an insulin overdose are the identical as signs of low blood sugar:
- Feeling shaky
- Being nervous or anxious
- Sweating, chills, and clamminess
- Irritability or impatience
- Confusion
- Quick heartbeat
- Feeling lightheaded or dizzy
- Starvation
- Nausea
- Colour draining from the pores and skin (pallor)
- Feeling Sleepy
- Feeling weak or having no power
- Blurred/impaired imaginative and prescient
- Tingling or numbness within the lips, tongue, or cheeks
- Complications
- Coordination issues, clumsiness
- Nightmares or crying out throughout sleep
Extreme hypoglycemia (under 40 mg/dL) from an insulin overdose can result in:
- Being unable to speak, chew, or swallow
- Dropping consciousness – as a result of your mind isn’t getting the glucose it must operate
- Seizures – as a result of your mind isn’t getting the glucose it must operate
- Loss of life – as a result of each a part of your half requires glucose in an effort to operate
Causes of an unintended insulin overdose
In life with diabetes, making an attempt to stability your insulin wants with the variables of meals, exercise, stress, weight administration, and many others. is a continuing problem. Only one or two items of insulin greater than your physique wants can simply result in even the earliest signs of an overdose.
Listed below are the overall causes of an unintended insulin overdose:
- Taking a dose of insulin in your meal twice
- Taking your long-acting insulin twice in in the future while you usually take it as soon as
- Taking insulin for a deliberate meal however forgetting to eat
- Overestimating the quantity of insulin wanted for a meal
- Overestimating the quantity of insulin wanted to appropriate a excessive blood sugar
- Exercising with an excessive amount of insulin in your bloodstream / not sufficient glucose
- Taking your rapid-acting insulin as an alternative of your long-acting, or vice versa
- Prescribed an insulin dose that doesn’t suit your physique’s wants
- Modifications in your insulin sensitivity like dropping pounds, improved weight loss plan, decreased stress, exercising extra, and many others.
- Taking insulin for a high-carb/high-fat meal that digests too slowly to match the height of your insulin
Treating an insulin overdose
The way you deal with an insulin overdose is dependent upon how a lot extra insulin was dosed. If it was just some items and also you’re mentally clear and able to feeding your self, the low blood sugar needs to be simply corrected with a small snack.
The better the overdose of insulin is, the extra seemingly you’ll want extra severe medical intervention.
Let’s take a better look.
For delicate insulin overdoses: blood sugars between 50 to 70 mg/dL
If you’ll be able to feed your self meals or drink, deal with your low blood sugar with 5 to fifteen grams of fast-acting carbohydrate like:
- Glucose tabs
- Gummy sweet
- Juice
- Dried fruit
- Jelly beans
- Pixie Stix
- Honey
- Syrup
A small share of individuals can lose consciousness at 50 mg/dL. Whereas that is much less widespread, it’s vital to know what your private tolerance is for hypoglycemia.
Should you’ve misplaced consciousness earlier than at a blood sugar stage at or simply under 50 mg/dL, it is best to deal with this extra significantly with a glucagon package or calling 911 for emergency assist.
Deal with with 5 to fifteen grams of carbs after which…wait.
Some delicate lows might solely want 5 grams of carbohydrate to appropriate again to a wholesome blood sugar stage. Others might have 15 grams or extra.
Both method, attempt to eat that fast-acting carbohydrate supply after which be affected person. Examine your blood sugar once more in quarter-hour to see in case you’re coming again up.
The signs of a low — like cravings for extra meals — can persist lengthy after your blood sugar has returned to a protected stage.
It’s very simple to binge-eat throughout hypoglycemia, however this will turn out to be a vicious cycle.
Be ready: preserve fast-acting carbohydrates in easy-to-reach areas.
As an individual taking insulin, it is best to have fast-acting carbohydrate sources saved in just a few locations, like:
- Your purse
- Your baby’s diaper bag
- Your automobile
- Your jacket pocket
- Your gymnasium bag
- Your workplace desk
- Your accomplice’s automobile
Select meals that won’t soften, freeze, or rot since they’ll seemingly be stored in locations that may get extremely popular or very chilly.
For average to extreme insulin overdoses: blood sugars under 50 mg/dL
There are two issues you’ll be able to and will do in case you really feel you’ve taken a big overdose of insulin otherwise you’re affected by extreme hypoglycemia:
Use a glucagon package
A glucagon package can save your life and is prescribed by your physician. Make sure to preserve it in an easy-to-reach location that others in your family or workplace learn about. A glucagon package works by providing you with an injection of glucagon which is a hormone that tells your liver to launch saved glucose (sugar).
This massive dump of glucose out of your liver can save your life, or no less than forestall seizures in somebody who’s already unconscious.
Name 911 or get somebody to drive you to the ER instantly
Should you’ve taken a severe overdose of insulin or your blood sugar is crashing and also you should not have a glucagon package, name 911 instantly.
Should you’re caring for another person who has taken an overdose of insulin and they’re unresponsive and unable to chew or swallow, you completely have to name 911. The emergency medics will give dextrose (a fast-acting carbohydrate) intravenous to hopefully revive the particular person affected by a extreme insulin overdose.
Should you take insulin, you might be liable to experiencing an insulin overdose almost day-after-day of the week as a result of juggling insulin doses with the numerous different variables that have an effect on blood sugar ranges is a sophisticated recreation. The extra you observe how a lot insulin you want with sure meals and with meals that happen proper earlier than train, the extra you’ll be able to forestall overdosing.
How you can keep away from an insulin overdose
There are numerous steps you’ll be able to take to keep away from an unintended insulin overdose. Most of them revolve round avoiding errors while you take your insulin and remembering while you took your insulin and the way a lot you took
Hold an insulin log. Should you log each insulin injection, you might be a lot much less more likely to mistakenly inject the fallacious quantity of insulin or inject twice. There are numerous cellphone apps that may enable you calculate your insulin wants and log your injections. Most insulin pumps and smartpens (insulin pens that ship information on to your cellphone) also can do that routinely.
All the time double-check that you’re utilizing the fitting sort of insulin. By chance utilizing fast-acting insulin (bolus) while you had been supposed to make use of long-acting insulin (basal) can result in an insulin overdose.
Don’t overlook to eat. Should you take fast-acting insulin for a meal, you additionally want to really eat the meal. Don’t take your insulin till you realize the meal is on its method and that you’ve time to eat it.
Intentional overdose as a way of suicide
Overdosing insulin has been used as a way of tried suicide by each folks with diabetes and non-diabetics. As a result of folks with diabetes face an elevated danger of despair, it’s vital to notice that overdosing on insulin is just not a clean or assured dying.
As a substitute, in lots of circumstances, your liver saves you by releasing a big dose of glycogen which is transformed into glucose (sugar).
Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply a full restoration is assured both. Many sufferers who try suicide by insulin overdose undergo long-term neurological injury that may have an effect on their speech and motor expertise.
If you’re considering or planning suicide, name the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Hotline instantly: 1-800-273-8255, out there 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
