Insulin Overdose
Beware the Hazards of Insulin Overdose
If you have experienced intense anxiety, trembling hands, cold sweats and a sense of general confusion, you may already be familiar with these symptoms of insulin overdose. They are also signs of hypoglycemia, which, simply put, is low blood sugar.
Insulin overdose is something that many diabetics have to contend with, and sometimes it can be serious. But if you study a few rules, you can reduce some of the problems associated with insulin.
Sometimes, insulin just works too well. Insulin works by stimulating the cells of your body to absorb the sugar from your blood. It also slows the liver's production of glucose. In type 2 diabetes, which is the most common type, your body is actually resistant to its own insulin.
Everyone who has type 1 diabetes has to take insulin, but many people who suffer from type 2 diabetes, who are unable to control their blood sugar with exercise, diet and oral medications, will have to take insulin as well.
There are a few different ways you may create insulin overdose in your body. One is simply injecting too much insulin due to your having trouble reading the syringes or understanding the product you are using.
Sometimes you might inject the right amount of insulin, but of the wrong type. If you use both long-acting and short-acting insulin, you may mix them up; it's a mistake anyone could make.
You may give yourself a pre-meal injection, but then get side-tracked, and forget to eat. The insulin in your body doesn't know you didn't eat, so your blood glucose drops dangerously low.
Insulin overdose always does the same thing to your body, regardless of how it is brought on – it results in low blood sugar levels, also known as hypoglycemia. Some of the symptoms are trembling hands, sweating or clammy skin, irritability, fatigue, extreme hunger, confusion and anxiety.
If your sugar levels continue falling in the period of your insulin overdose, you could experience serious complications, including seizures and unconsciousness.
In the diabetes lexicon, low blood sugar is less than 70 mg/dL. Hypoglycemia is actually defined as low blood sugar with symptoms. Some people whose diabetes is not adequately controlled can have symptoms of low blood sugar while they are technically in a normal blood sugar range.
At the other end of the spectrum are people who won't experience these symptoms even when their sugar levels are dangerously low. This happens more in type 1 diabetics, and may be a result of insulin overdose in some cases.
If you don't have warning signs that your blood sugar is low, this means you are put into a higher risk group for problems with insulin. If you become so confused that you can't correct the problem, it could be dangerous for you. Be sure to inform your friends and family what to do if this should happen.