My Experience with Insulin Shock and Hypoglycemia
I started taking short-acting insulin a week ago as per my new endocrinologist's orders. I wasn't told to take a specific amount. I was just given a choice to take however much I thought I would need at a given point or meal. According to him I was to decide between four to 15 units, if not more if I thought I needed it, besides the the 30 units of Lantus I was taking every night. He did increase my Lantus units to 34 in order to decrease my blood sugars through the night.
Since I eat very light in the morning for breakfast I started taking four to six units of short acting insulin. In the afternoon I took anywhere from six to 10 depending on the meal quantity and quality. And at night I started taking anywhere from eight to 15, depending on whether I went to a restaurant or ate rice meals. Even though my intake of food is considerably smaller, I decided to eat several times a day, a little bit at a time rather than three meals as I used to. When I ate three meals I never bothered to eat any snacks in between.
I am so determined to reduce my blood sugar levels that I actually started walking the dog once a day for at least an hour and going to the gym for one of those intense Zumba classes or ball classes or just circuit training in the evenings. But this is the problem I am having now: my blood sugars haven't considerably dropped throughout the day, yet I am now having a lot of hypoglycemia. I had several episodes of insulin shock where I actually thought I was going to go into coma or something. It's so frustrating to understand how much insulin I need to take at any given point in order to maintain a proper sugar level. If I take too much I am having low blood sugar, and if I take less I am ending up with not as high a reading as I used to get, but high enough to be concerned.
So, I started taking short acting insulin while I am eating the meals instead of 10 or 15 minutes ahead of time as recommended. As soon as I take it, I make sure I eat something with carbohydrates. I pay close attention to the hypoglycemic symptoms. I let someone who is sitting beside me know that I did take insulin so he or she is aware of my symptoms.
We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
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