At supper last night, Caleb's bg was 313, so with a correction and carbs, he should have gotten 4u of Humalog. I did the 2u dial-up and test shot, and then ended up not dialing back up to 4u and instead gave him an air shot. It wasn't until I checked his bg 2 hours later for bedtime that I realized my mistake. His bg was 469. So I gave him a 3u correction (which I rarely do at night because he tends to drop fast) and this morning he was at 47. It's just been one thing after another lately with his D. The week before last we were dealing with highs, now it's the lows again. Go figure.
I too have primed the pen and forgot to set the bolus. However, I usually catch it when I give the shot to her because I don't hear the clicks. Unfortunately, she gets stuck twice when I do that.
I'm not sure I understand. Wouldn't you know with a pen that you gave no insulin, because you wouldn't feel the plunger move?
Maybe you did give it but thought you didn't because of the high number? then corrected thinking you didn't give it and got the 46? 313 to 469 isn't much of spike if he didn't get the insulin from dinner. I think you would have noticed trying to give a shot and the pludger not moving (from not redialing).
Even with no units dialed, the pen pushes down a little anyways. I wasn't really paying close attention to it, as I had 4 other kids that I was taking care of. I just for the life of me couldn't remember if I dialed up the 4u or not and assumed with the high bedtime number that I didn't because he's never that high at night.
I did that a couple of times. That was one of the reasons I was so ready to move to the pump. I felt like I had too many user error problems on the pens.
you should be priming the pen, otherwise there is about 2u of air in the tip of the needle.. you should put the needle on, dial up 2u shoot it into the air.. you may need more than 2u.. took me 4u one time, you need to do it until you see insulin come out the tip.. Being in a hurry, having other kids around, cleaning up after dinner, trying to eat dinner yourself, counting carbs etc.. its all confusing, its easy to miss a step.. whether that step is forgetting to dial or dialing and forgetting you did it.. I've done it before, thankfully the pump keeps track for me.
We used the pen for almost 3 years and never primed it and never had a problem. They didnt tell us to prime it when we were taught how to use it. I guess we were just lucky that we never had a problem. I only learned about priming it by coming here. We dont use it anymore but it is good to know. Thanks