It didn’t occur to me during the night – I was too busy consuming two tubes of glucose tabs, plus juice boxes and cookies – but it looks like the ideal time to have tried a micro-dose of glucagon. Except I’d have no clue how much to dose without going sky-high and then struggling to get back in range. What would people suggest?
A new pod went on around 7:30 pm and it’s like I’m getting IV insulin.
I get about a 20 point rise from 5 units of glucagon.
But for everyone, it depends a bit on how fully stocked your liver glycogen is. If your liver glycogen is somewhat depleted (like if you have not eaten in a while and have been somewhat active), you will need a bit more glucagon to get the same bump.
I think you just said this, and you’re micro-dosing glucagon… I assumed all of what you do then would be conventional, but I guess not.
Anyway, this is cool, and soon enough I’ll have questions about this, but for now, I’ll stick to my IM reading— because it turns out there’s a lot to learn (preferably before you start them). 
No, I’m not. It’s occurring to me the morning after. But next time I have the same bouncy ride, I’ll try. Maybe.
We were told 1 unit per year of age but at some point obviously that formula stops. So we give 5 units to bump up Samson when he’s super super low and glucose tabs aren’t working. My guess is most people would benefit from 10 to 15, depending on how low they are and how much of a bump they need.
Wow! What a wild ride! Hope you are able to get some rest today.
@Beacher
We tested 15 units on an adult relative and it bounced them up about 75 points.
The numbers are pretty close!
You devil you, testing on an adult relative. I wish I had thought of that. I keep reminding my diabetic that he is my lab rat, but I really should be testing on others too!
I am assuming this is 5 units from a reular syringe not the shot that comes in the glucagon?
Yes. 5 units from a U-100 insulin syringe, meaning only 1 / 20th of the full dosage of the syringe they provide.
The glucagon syringe is not divided out into units, it is simply 1 milliliter.
got it! my next question was going to be how many minis can you get so it sounds like 1 kit equals 20 units?
No, this would not be a good way to describe it!
The term “unit” can mean different volumes of measure. For U-100 syringes, 100 units equals 1 milliliter. For U-40, it would be 40 units per milliliter.
I was using the reference of a U-100 syringe, so when I said 5 units, I meant 0.05 milliliters.
Saying a kit equals 20 units doesn’t really fit any measurement.
I think the easiest thing is to get U-100 syringes, since those are the most readily available. And then you could say a single glucagon kit has 100 units.
And a dose can be whatever you need. 5 units, 10 units, 15 units, etc.
Also note that once mixed the glucagon isn’t stable forever, so if you are doing a mini-glucagon treatment, you are likely going to be throwing a fair amount away.
@Eric, have you done any tests to see how long Glucagon works once mixed?
Yes!
On this thread I demonstrated it. The whole thread is interesting, but this post details using it 5 days later and how it still worked.
5 days is the longest I tried, but that’s just because I ran out of it! Possibly it could last even longer.
Ugh. I HATE nights like that. They are the worst.
I have those types of nights perhaps once or twice a year. I always intend to try glucagon, but of course in the moment I always forget and just continue to munch tube after tube of glucose tablets. Eventually I often end up suspending my pump for a couple hours, which usually works.
I hope you’re no longer having such constant lows.
No, it was just that one night. And the next night, with basically the same dinner and the same dosing, I went up to 15. Go figure.
