The Glucagon Injection

The Glucagon injection is a needle that should be administered to a diabetic who is experiencing hypoglycemia.  Hypoglycemia is when a diabetic’s blood sugar drops very low and they pass out or become unconscious.  The word “glucagon” refers to a hormone produced by the pancreas to raise a very low blood sugar.  A glucagon injection should ONLY BE USED if a diabetic’s blood sugar is very low and they are passed out or unresponsive.  Otherwise if the diabetic is responding with a low blood sugar then treat the sugar with a juice box.  (A blood sugar below 70 is considered low)   

This is a picture of the Glucagon injection in the case it comes in.  On the right is the needle, and on the right is the vile full of glucagon.  

This is a picture of the syringe out of the case.

This is a picture of the syringe partly filled with glucagon.  

Emotions and Diabetes

I have noticed that your blood sugar can spike up really high or drop low depending on one’s emotional state.  My sister has diabetes too and when she becomes really sad her blood sugar goes up high.  When I become angry I notice that my blood sugar tends to go up high. 

            Emotions are part of your one body, and when strong emotions come out, it can affect your blood sugar.  However, each person is unique, so people who experience the same emotion may have a different outcome of their blood sugar.  

Never Panic With the Insulin Pump

As trustworthy as the insulin pump is, sometimes things can go wrong with it.  The “straw looking” port that is actually inside your body may become bent when you first inject the new site into your body.  This causes no insulin to enter into your body making your blood sugar go up high. When this happens the most important thing to do is NOT TO PANIC!!!

Usually to test to see if your pump is working when you just changed the site, you should eat something, bolus for what you just ate, and then test your blood sugar in an hour to see if your blood sugar is at a normal range, meaning the pump is working.  But sometimes after you wait the hour and test your blood sugar, it may be something high like 397, when it was 183 before you ate to test if the new pump site was working. This happens sometimes when your blood sugar randomly goes up without explanation.  The best thing to do is to correct for that new high sugar, wait 45 minutes to test your blood sugar again, and then see if it went down.  Usually your blood sugar will go down by then.

            If it doesn’t, that means that you have to change your pump site and do the test all over again.  I know some diabetics who had this happen to them, and instead of correcting for the high blood sugar, they just quickly change the pump again.  You normally should wait to see because then you don’t waste extra insulin and get rid of a pump site that is working even though you don’t think it is.  But most of the time the insulin pump is working.  Some causes that leave your blood sugar up high are due to the food that you ate or your emotional state.  

Foods That Spike Your Blood Sugar up High

Certain foods will spike a diabetic’s blood sugar up really high and will hold it up high for a long period of time.  Eating bagels will bring your blood sugar up high and hold it up high for a few hours because of all the carbohydrates in it. For some reason whenever I eat bagels my blood sugar will stay up high in the 300’s, even though I gave myself insulin for it.

            Foods like cotton candy, juice boxes, and lemonade (that has sugar in it or aren’t diet) will bring your blood sugar up fast but not hold it up high.  I remember when I ate cotton candy at a carnival and 40 minutes later I did my blood sugar and it was in the 400’s, even though before I ate it my blood sugar was around 130.  However, then my blood sugar dropped quickly after and I went low. 

            But everyone’s body is different and eventually you will figure out what foods your own body will react to and how to handle it. 

                  

Common Biases

Over the course of ten years I’ve noticed certain biases people have toward diabetics.  People always say to me “oh you’re a diabetic so you can’t eat sugar,” “Don’t worry you can eat this, it’s sugar free,” or “can you play any sports?” 

            This frustrates me all the time!!! Diabetics can do anything a normal person can.  Yes we can eat sugar, even though a lot of sugar isn’t good for anyone, INCLUDING people without diabetes. Besides diabetics do not count grams of sugar, we focus more on carbohydrates.  Diabetics’ pancreases don’t secrete the hormone insulin, which breaks down the carbohydrates into energy. So that’s why we need to manually inject insulin into our bodies to keep our blood sugar down and gain energy. 

            Diabetics are like any other people and can play sports. I’m a diabetic and I play tennis and run track. Plus I like to play soccer, basket ball, football, and any other types of sports with my friends.  Sure diabetics may have to test their blood sugar before playing or after, but that takes literally 10 seconds to do, and then we can play as long or as much as we want. 

            Just because you have diabetes doesn’t mean that you have to be treated differently by anyone else.  Most people don’t even know I have diabetes unless I tell them I do.  

New and Old Insulin Pumps

This is a picture of the old Insulin Pump.

This is a picture of the new updated Insulin Pump.

The new updated Insulin Pump has new features that the old pump did not have.  The new Insulin Pump also helps you change the pump site by giving you step-by-step directions. I recently just updated my old pump to the new one you see in the 2nd picture.

A Common Sign of a Diabetic Becoming Sick

For many diabetics, a common sign for them becoming sick is their blood sugar running high.  This can happen before they start feeling sick or when they are sick.

This past week I was at the beach and a lot of sand got in my pump site causing me to change it.  I tested my blood sugar and it registered 513, a very high reading.  So I injected myself with some insulin with my insulin pump.  However, mid way through the insulin being delivered into my body the pump vibrated and said “no delivery.”  This meant no more insulin could be delivered into my body by the pump so I had to change it again.  I did my blood sugar after I changed the pump site again and this time it registered at 585.  So I did another correction of insulin through the pump and also injected myself with insulin manually through a syringe. 

I waited an hour and did my blood sugar again and this time it didn’t even register on the meter. It just said “high," which meant it was over 600.  At this point I panicked along with the rest of my family because my blood sugar should have gone down, especially with the manual injection.  So we quickly got in the car to go to the emergency room.  On the car ride there I gave myself another manual injection of insulin.  In the car I also checked my blood sugar and saw that it went down to 597. 

We got to the emergency room but did not check in. Instead we waited in the waiting room because I noticed my blood sugar was going down.  I also went to the bathroom and checked my ketones, which luckily was only moderate.  Eventually within almost 2 hours after getting the emergency waiting room my blood sugar went down to my normal range and my insulin pump was working.

Then two days later I became sick with a sore throat, fever, cough, and pink eye.  This occurrence shows that diabetes can be very unpredictable at times, and you need to be prepared to handle it and not panic.  What saved me from getting ketones was drinking a lot of water.  Once I saw my blood sugar was in the 500’s I immediately drank a lot of water.