Last Nights Trip To The ER

I made a very big mistake last night. I wound up going to the emergency room. I am very fortunate that things went well and they released me about 5:30 this morning. If I had not realized my mistake after I had done it I would have gone to bed and  most likely died during the night.

Every morning and every night I take 50 or 60 units of Lantus insulin. I have a second insulin I take, novalog which is 10 units at each meal. My routine at night is to take my lantus, take my nighttime medications and go to bed. Last night I was distracted on the computer when my husband brought me my ziploc bag that holds my insulin. Insulin has to be refrigerated so my husband was being nice in bringing to me to remind me I needed to take it. I took and drew 50 units out of the bottle and gave myself the shot. When I went to put the bottle back in the box it comes in, there was already a bottle in the box. To my horror I realized I used the wrong bottle, it was the faster acting novalog.

My husband took me over to the hospital immediately and I was released at 5:30 am. Had I not noticed my error and went to bed, my blood sugar would have dropped and with my nighttime meds that help me sleep, it is possible I would not have woken up at all and no one would have known I was in crisis. Thank God I realized right away and was able to get the treatment I needed. When your sugar blood levels are dropping rapidly sometimes there can be complications like the process overloading your kidneys. I prayed to God the whole time that this would not happen to me and I believe he heard my prayers.

Now I will not keep my insulin in the same bag...the triage nurse suggested putting the different insulin in different colored mugs in the refrigerator. Since I have a large refrigerator in my kitchen and a small one in my bedroom, I will actually keep the lantus in my bedroom and the novalog in the kitchen as I take the novalog with meals. (We moved the small refrigerator in our bedroom when we had an 7 year old boy and his mother living with us and I felt it best if my medications were out of common areas.)

I made a stupid mistake as I was overtired and trying to do two things at one time and got distracted. I almost paid with my life. I share this with you as a reminder that when we do things routinely and get over confident we forget the dangers involved. It can cost us a high price. Yes, I made a mistake, but if I had not lost the respect I need to always remember when taking my insulin, I could have avoided this whole incident. When we lose respect for the dangers when we do things, we leave ourselves open for mistakes. I was overconfident and did not look carefully at what I was doing. Please remember this in your life.