How much insulin is too much?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I have this patient : female, obese with an infection

problem is no matter how much insulin you inject her glycemia is always almost the same

4mg/dl~

at admission the insulin was working with 30 units it goes to normal ...but not anymore..

started giving her IV insulin and still no result makes you wonder if injected it at all :/

the Doctor is not helping ..

is this normal with an infection ? I haven't encountered a patient this irresponsible to insulin before

I'm guessing she got around 150 units of rapid insulin in 10 hours with no change in her blood sugar and she's been like that for days ...

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same source of insulin? ie, pen/vial. if so, try different one.

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Thank you :3 will try a different vial and see how things will go

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

What type of IV fluid is the carrier fluid?

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Specializes in ED, Pedi Vasc access, Paramedic serving 6 towns.

Could be her infection that is causing her sugars to remain high. Is she able to do any light exercise?

Annie

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I once had a patient whose sugars stubbornly remained at 18mmol despite being on an insulin drip of 30units per hour. I have never gone through so many bags of insulin/ shift

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Is the patient on any steroids?

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Maybe it's pancreatic ca?

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Specializes in Hematology-oncology.
Is the patient on any steroids?

Steroids can definitely cause a diabetic to have stubbornly high blood glucose readings. We sometimes have problems on my unit with our diabetics who are receiving high dose prednisone as part of their chemo treatment plan (100+ mg/day doses). One such patient required an insulin gtt at 10 units/hr plus 1:3 carb coverage with SQ novolog at meals. That regimen finally brought their blood glucose below 200 mg/dL.

Has endocrinology been consulted for your patient?

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Thank you

Endocrinologist just put her back to her old regimen when she was home

The old regimen where her morning blood sugar was >3g/l according to her..

I just wanted the best for her and the doctors are terrified of hypoglucemia that tgey don't want to put her on in dip... I was mostly wondering about how thing goes on otger units knowing that you can go to 30 units iv/hour is reassuring but I can't move alone and just inject insulin contrary to the doctor's order..

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Specializes in Public Health, TB.

Insulin will stick to the inside of IV tubing, so you may see little change initially, but I should think after 10 hours that effect would be gone.

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Can you change the insulin type? Some PT will respond to one brand and not another.

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