Things I don’t like to think about…
…include this. I got a refill prescription for glucagon on Monday and filled it. Mostly because my current glucagon pen was expired by about eight months and yet…still sitting in the fridge. My CDE said he likes re-filling prescriptions for glucagon pens when he’s replacing an expired one - because that means his patient hasn’t had to use it.
I have never (knock on wood) had to use a glucagon pen, but I always want one handy in case the day comes when I need to. In college I trained my roommates how to use it, and my boyfriend has also had the run down since he’s now technically my roommate! And every time I see it in the butter compartment of the fridge, I think to myself how grateful I am that I haven’t had to use it. At the same time, it always feels so good to see its bright red box there in the fridge, ready should I need the extra help. It’s like knowing my smoke detector works or that 911 is always available. Comforting, you know?
So although I know it’s there for emergencies technically, I’m curious to know if any of you have ever used it in a relative non-emergency? I’ve heard of people using to bring up a stubborn low when they, for example, have the flu and can’t keep any food down. Have any of you used it in a situation besides what its “intended for?”
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Comments
I used it once when I was hiking in Colorado. I was SO full of peanut butter crackers and glucose tabs that I thought a shot wouldn’t be too bad if it meant that I didn’t have to eat anymore food. I think I was around 55 or so when I took the glucagon. My hike down the mountain was fabulous, I was no longer low and I felt much better once all my snacks digested a little bit. However, a few hours after the glucagon I felt AWFUL!!! I started throwing up and couldn’t keep anything down all evening. I still felt sick for the whole next day. Not fun!!!
My BG was steadily dropping the morning of a scheduled surgery and dropped into the 50s even after I shut my pump down, so I took glucagon because I knew it wouldn’t cause my surgery to be cancelled. (I was NPO.) Within 15 minutes my BG was in the 80s, and mid-200s at the hospital. 2 units of IV insulin and my BGs were fine on the pump all through surgery.
I don’t have a Rx for glucagon but I have similar feelings about the epi-pen and nitro pills I carry around - just in case. I get them refilled when they expire and I hope to never need them.