Glucagon-Make Sure You Know How To Use It Because You Never Know When You'll Need It

I am so grateful that about 5 months ago, I practiced mixing up one of Caleb's expired Glucagon kits. When he was diagnosed (almost a year ago), I of course read the instructions and looked it over. I figured I most likely wouldn't ever need to use it on Caleb, so I wasn't too worried. But reading on here about how quickly a child's bg can drop and seeing it in Caleb myself, it made me worry. Would I really know how to use the Glucagon in an emergency? Would I remember the directions that I'd read? So one day as I was refilling Caleb's supplies, I asked if I could get 2 new Glucagon kits. The pharmacist said that wasn't a problem, so when we got home, I took the one we'd had since dx and tried it. I read the directions again as I went step-by-step and actually mixed it up, never thinking that in a few months I'd be needing to do it for real.

When I woke up Friday to my sister's screaming that Caleb was having a seizure, I ran to get his Glucagon and could picture in my head mixing it up just a few months ago. Don't get me wrong, I was absolutely terrified. I was shaking so bad I could barely get the needle in the vial. I also had a moment when I tried to draw up the liquid and freaked out for a second because it wasn't coming into the syringe...I had forgotten to tip the vial upside down and draw it out that way.

Overall though...I remembered what to do because I'd mixed it up before in a non-emergency situation. I hope that all of you will take your expired or about to expire Glucagon kits and practice mixing them up if you haven't done it before. Actually doing it helps you remember better than just reading the directions. Because with D, as all of you know, you just never know when or if you'll need it.

 

Excellent, excellent advice. I practice with an expired one at least once per year and I give one to the school nurse for the same reason.

 

Definitely good advice.
I spoke about this to our endo last time. I have no idea if we'll know what to do, in the moment, kwim?

I keep all expired ones for practice...which we haven't done yet.

 

I checked Youtube last evening and there are also several videos out there explaining how to do this as well. DLife had one posted on Youtube. I know it isnt the same as actually doing it live, but for those that don't have expired ones, it may be worth a look on Youtube?

 

My glucagon has expired, and I'm wondering if there's even a point in refilling it, since I'm the only one who knows how to do it. I suppose I could still use it for a mini-dose if I was vomiting or whatever, but I do wonder what would happen if I was unconscious or seizing.

My mum learned how to do it, but that was almost three years ago. And she's hardly ever around me anyway..

 

Someone who is around you should know how to use it.:cwds: Maybe a friend, teachers, whomever knows about you.

 

Good reminder. We practice on the old one's and give another expired one to the school nurse for practice/training. Our 9 year old also practiced on an orange this paste month and she was pretty good. I think she was envisioning jabbing her brother with a big needle and enjoying it a bit too much.

 

Just to let you know that you don't HAVE to use that big needle. After using that huge needle once or twice, he learned to try to avoid it at all costs. I had read somewhere that most people don't need that much and decided to try using a standard syringe. It worked better, because he wasn't nearly so sick to his stomach after using the half dose. You still mix it all, so you could always do two shots if you really wanted to use it all or if the half dose didn't work. I can't imagine that happening though.