I Hit A Vein :(:(:(

This morning I hit a vein! I pulled the syringe out of her after giving her the shot, and noticed a tiny amount of red where the needle ends in the barrel. I'm panicking right now. I have never, ever done that before. I can't be sure if she moved while giving the shot, or maybe I angled the needle wrong or something. God, please let her be ok.

 

Angela, did you pull the plunger back on the syringe before you injected the insulin? You are supposed to do that every time to check if you are in a vein. (Don't feel bad if you didn't, I can't do it myself!) If you did inject into a vein, I would expect his BG #s will drop quickly because it gets into his system quickly. I would test him now and often for a while if you suspect that's what happened, and have the hypo kit ready to go. I have no experience with this, but that's what I would do. Keep us posted!

 

agreed with laurie. i pull the plunger back every time cause i am always worried about that. i would be checking and re-checking! also you should definiatly have the hypo kit ready.

 

The kit's ready, and I just checked her at 7:14 a.m. BG is elevated a bit at 365 from 329, but it could be that I had given her 2 pcs of cooked chicken as a treat. I have never done that before. I'm watching her like a hawk right now.

 

if it was just a little bit of blood on the needle, you probably just nicked a capillary on the way in. I've done that. Usually that's no big deal. Some early spot checks would be a good idea, just to be sure.

 

Patches(GA) 4 years, b.i.d., Baby(GA) 5 1/2 years, b.i.d., Hope 4 1/2years, b.i.d., Mishka 6 1/2 years, b.i.d.........never once have I ever pulled back on the plunger....you just inject and shoot. You might have just scratched the skin pulling the needle out.

 

I wasn't taught to pull the plunger back after inserting the needle. I just pulled skin, and inserted in that vacant spot we've all grown to love. LOL Right now, I'm using a U-40 needle with the U-40 insulin (ProZinc). I've tested her at 7:14 a.m., and the was at 365. She started out at 329. I'll do another check shortly.

 

If I scratched the skin or hit a capillary, there would be blood ON the needle, and not in the barrel where the needle stops. Right...? I've got a very small amount in the barrel part just where the needle ends inside the barrel of the syringe.

 

I'm with Hope, I've had 6 FDs in my life and never once have I pulled back the plunger. I pull the skin out a little and shoot into the tent. Most of the time Tucker's lying on his side so I simply pull up the skin of his belly and shoot. It takes less than a second, in-out, done.

Even when giving B12 injections or the injectible pepcid which I do in the scruff, takes a few seconds, but again, basically just in and out.

The U40 syringes that I have seen have a longer needle, but even when I did shoot U40 PZI it was pretty much the same. I hope by now everything is good with your kitty and that you feel better.

 

In 4 years of FD treatment, I have never pulled the plunger out to test for blood -- just tent and shoot.

 

Just retested Blackie, and she's going down a bit. Now read 342. She was 365 about 1/2 hour prior to the 342 reading.

I'm considering using the U-100 syringes instead of the U-40. They're shorter, and finer. I have the conversion chart. Right now, she's getting 1.00f in the U-40, and according to the conversion chart, if I were to use the U-100 syringe I would need to draw a 2.5f, correct?

 

Correct. You would draw up to the 2.5 unit line on the U100 insulin syringe. Be sure to use the U100 3/10 cc (30 unit capacity) insulin syringes with the half unit markings.

Like the others, I have never pulled back on the plunger when injecting. I just tent and stick the needle right in and inject.

 

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who doesn't pull the plunger back! I just can't, I'm needle phobic so I need to do it quickly so I don't pass out. :mrgreen: That advice is somewhere in the info here, I think.

If he isn't dropping quickly, then I don't think you injected into a vein. You may have hit a blood vessel, but it doesn't sound like it's a big deal.

I use the u100s, they are much better IMO. Yes, 1.0u of ProZinc would be measured as 2.5u on a u100 syringe. I printed out the conversion chart and hung it on my fridge, I always double check it before I shoot.

 

I also never pull back the plunger. as a nurse on pts, yes. on cats, never. actually never seen my vet do it and when he showed me how to shoot, he never said anything about pulling back plunger
you will be fine

 

Insulin shot should go just underneath the skin, not in to a muscle. There is no need to pull back the plunger before injecting insulin because you only need to do that if you are injecting something in to a muscle.

We tent the skin slightly to make sure we are only shooting under the skin.

So if your technique is to tent the skin slightly, inject at a 45 degree angle, you probably hit a capillary as someone said. There would be a lot more very dark blood if it was a vein. Did you perhaps pull back on the plunger a bit as you withdrew? For blood to be IN the barrel, you would have had to pulled it in to there by pulling back.

It's probably OK and no need to panic. But we've all had these moments of uncertainty because it's a long learning process. You can see that many of us replying have been at this for years and we've all had these little scary mishaps, about which, when everything turned out perfectly fine, we laughed at ourselves for being worried.

 

I tent the skin, too, and know to shoot in that empty space. When drawing insulin, I was told to pull the plunger back slowly to avoid bubbles.

UPDATE:

I just tested her again, and she's at 231 +3. I'm still watching her like a hawk right now. Would a pc of chicken treat after eat shot help with the glucose dropping so much? Or is that not a good thing? I cooked some dark meat chicken yesterday, and have been giving them on occasion yesterday. Despite the protests, she's doing pretty well. The occasional fight, though. LOL I've got the levels marked on her spreadsheet.

 

I'm not really seeing any big spikes or drops today that would concern me. 329, 365, those numbers are so close that could be simple meter variance, give or take 20% on numbers to account for the meter. The 231 at +3 is not huge drop, you can keep monitoring, but I wouldn't be too worried. It looks like you had a starting dose of 8U a few days ago, hypoed and then went to 1U. This 1U should be a comfortable dose for her right now.

I do give treats at shot time, usually freeze dried chicken or salmon, it's a nice way to get your kitty interested in test time. Over the years it's rare that I forget about Tucker's shot/test, but on those rare occasions, he makes sure I remember because he wants his treat :mrgreen:

 

I have done that too, with Pippin I think some of the insulin came out with the blood, I could smell it and he actually had higher numbers after but he was fine and so will your sweetie.

 

Jennifer, thank you for the advice.

Keep in mind that Blackie was increased about every week when she was first diagnosed with diabetes in March. The most recent history is as follows: She was at 8U 2x a day since June 12th, when 2 wks prior to that that she was at 6U BID. On the 12th, the vet told me to increase it 2U that day. The weekend following, we took her back, and I suggested putting her on the wet diet. Vet agreed, and wanted us to feed her the W/D wet. So, we did. Blackie was fine Saturday night, all day Sunday, and all day Monday. Tuesday afternoon is when she hypoed, and I fought to bring her back up. That night, she went right off that W/D garbage to Fancy Feast. Her insulin was dropped right down to 1. I called the vet Wednesday morning right when they opened, and told her about what happened. She asked what the symptoms were, I told her that she was staggering. I told her that I dropped her insulin dose to 1 unit, and she told me that she would've dropped it down to 4 units (cutting it in 1/2). I read somewhere on here that you drop the insulin to 1 unit, and then build back up SLOWLY, if at all.

 

I use cooked chicken as a treat when I test. It should not affect BG levels much as it is protein...carbs are what have the most dramatic effect on BG levels. It's fine to give cooked chicken. Are you feeding him a meal at shot time? If not, what are your feeding times in relation to shot times?

That looks like a normal drop to me, not something to be concerned about. It looks like all is well. :smile:

 

There are conditions that cause a need for increased insulin, but since you changed the food and are getting a drop, the one unit looks like a good place to be right now, and then increase slowly as you mentioned.

You're doing great and you have a very lucky kitty to have you as a bean

 

She gets 3 meals since being on the Fancy Feast. She eats 1 can AMPS, and 1 can PMPS, and then another can about 4-5 hours later.

I'm concerned about her diarrhea, though. She was fine Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, and it's runny and darkish most of the time. No blood in it, thank goodness.

Is the FF too harsh for her tummy? Would her system ever get used to it? Or should I gradually change her FF diet to the Friskies diet?

She did drink a bit more water so far today, though. I told her that if she didn't drink more water, I'd be syringing her water, and she didn't want that. LOL

 

Changing food can cause some kitties to get belly upsets. She may be at the point now where she'll get used to it, but add some water to her FF also to help keep her hydrated. All of my cats eat FF, even the new ones who just came in December and end of May, they did well with the switch, although Bean is still getting used to no dry food so she's hungrier than the rest.

If the stool doens't firm up within a few days then either call the vet or consider going back to what she was eating and slowly switching food again.

Hopefully others with more experience on this subject can help, I'm no expert

 

I'd hate to put her back on the Hill's Prescription W/D wet that she was eating before. That would put her levels right up there again, and I don't want to be doing that to her. I like her levels where they're at for the time being, and am hoping for better levels as her system starts adjusting to the new diet.

 

I'm no expert on food switching either. I did an immediate switch to FF when Tinkles was diagnosed, and all 3 of my cats adjusted well. I would try a different brand of low carb, Friskies or whatever is readily available to you. Some foods just don't agree with some cats, for whatever reason. FF is a commonly used brand here, but it isn't the only acceptable food by any means! I switched Tinkles over to Special Kitty, and he gets better BG #s.

Just make sure you take Janet & Binky's list with you to the store and try to buy the ones with the lowest carbs. (Don't mind the funny looks you get from people when you're picking food from the sheets of paper in the cat food aisle.... :lol: )

 

and don't be afraid to go 'borrow' a pair of reading glasses to read the teeny tiny words on the can.

 

I have a pair of ancient reading glasses (back in the 90's or is it late 80's?) and they still work. Thankfully (knocking on wood here) my eyes haven't gotten that bad (yet) where I'd need a new pair of glasses. LOL I'll take them along with me. Thank you.