What to do when you can't give a shot on time?

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Shadowboy

Member Since 2013
Hi,
As you can see last night we weren't able to give Shadow his insulin on time. It ended up being 4 hours late.... We got invited out to dinner with family from out of state at the last minute. We left our house at 4pm and got back at 10pm. This doesn't happen often, but it does happen. What do we do in these cases? Should we have given it early at 4pm? Skip the dose?
Thanks
 
A late shot acts like a decrease in dose. An early shot acts like a increase in dose.

A 4 hour difference can be done if it is later. I would not recommend shooting 4 hours early. If given later, then, subsequent shots can be given 15 minutes earlier each 12 hour cycle or move the shot time 30 minutes once a day.

Sometimes, we have people wait to see if the numbers are rising above 200 so it is safe to give the insulin. This is called 'stalling' and can move the shot time an hour or more later. Then, you need to do the 30 minute adjustments in subsequent days to get your shot times back on track.

You could have skipped the shot.

You also could have given the shot and then given a reduced dose the next morning if you needed to shoot earlier than 10 am.
 
As Wendy said, you don't want to give a shot much more than 30 minutes early. As Deb commented, an early shot acts like an increased dose.

You were very smart to not give you cat an insulin shot at all, because you would not have been home to test his BG, and he could of gone too low, thus putting kitty in big-time danger. I note a green number

I see that you were able to switch your shot time today to a time that is better for you :-D

And congrats! on the lovely green number today!
 
Yes, we home test. I did give insulin at 10pm. This morning I went back to 7am and tonight I will test & shoot at 7pm. Count this as a learning experience.

In the future, if it was 10pm when I could test and give insulin, the next day I would test & shoot at 9:45 & 9:45 then the following day 9:30 & 9:30 & continue that pattern until we were back at 7 & 7?

This would take days to get back at 7 & 7!!!
 
Shadowboy said:
I did give insulin at 10pm. This morning I went back to 7am and tonight I will test & shoot at 7pm. Count this as a learning experience.

In the future, if it was 10pm when I could test and give insulin, the next day I would test & shoot at 9:45 & 9:45 then the following day 9:30 & 9:30 & continue that pattern until we were back at 7 & 7?

This would take days to get back at 7 & 7!!!
Click to expand...
Yes, that would be a very good way way to do it but it does take a while if you do it like that. So the one good thing about missing a dose--you get to adjust your time to shoot to what works for you best. Believe me, I changed Gobbles' shot time so, so many times that I had to start noting his shot time on his SS--I was giving shots as early as 2 a.m. and as late at midnight. It was usually the result of me having to withhold a shot for an hour or two, due to really low numbers at his scheduled shot time...

OR

you can move a shot time like this example:

AM 10:00 PM 9:45 Monday
AM 9:30 PM 9:15 Tuesday
AM 9:00 PM 8:45 Wednesday
and so on...
 
So, the better option would have been for me to skip last night and start over at 7a this morning? I was worried because his numbers have been high as it is...
 
The better option was whatever would have worked best with your schedule.

Count this as a learning experience.
Click to expand...

We are all learning more every single day. There are usually always more than one way to do things also. Just wanted to make you aware of the various options.
 
Better a day too high than a moment too low. You can't get the insulin out once it is in, and going too low (hypoglycemia) can kill. It generally takes longer for highs (hyperglycemia) to cause harm.
 
So to confirm, you shot at 10pm last night and 7am this morning? You want to be careful not to do that since the shots arent 12 hours apart and you effectively gave an increase.

You can move shots by 30mins a day. Either 15 minutes both am and pm. Or 30minutes once a day. I find the latter easier to keep track of.
 
I am not sure of that actually. Lantus is a depot insulin - so it takes a while for dose to build up, so the 89 might have been a result of the last few days and not this mornings dose.

Ok I may have asked this before - your signature says you are using an alphatrak - is that correct?

Wendy
 
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