Topic Overview
This information is for people who may need to give a
person with diabetes an injection of
during a low blood sugar emergency.
If you find someone with diabetes unconscious and suspect low blood
sugar, do not take time to check the person's blood sugar level before giving
him or her glucagon. You will do no harm by giving him or her glucagon, even if
his or her blood sugar level turns out not to be low—meaning that something
else caused the person's loss of consciousness. But the longer you wait to
treat severe low blood sugar, the greater the chance of serious side effects
such as
or
.
You may want to have two glucagon
kits available in case you make a mistake while you are preparing the medicine.
Glucagon has to be given immediately after it is prepared—it cannot be prepared
ahead of time. Always check the expiration date on the kit.
If the
person with diabetes is unconscious, give them the glucagon shot, then
immediately call 911 or other emergency services. If emergency services have not arrived within 5
minutes and the person is still unconscious, give another glucagon shot.
Practice giving your partner or child an insulin injection at least once
a month so you will not be afraid if you need to give someone glucagon in an
emergency.
Keep this information with the glucagon medicine, and
review these steps often.
To prepare a glucagon injection
Glucagon medicine comes in two types of
packages.
- A glucagon emergency kit has a syringe that
contains liquid (diluent) and a bottle that contains the
medicine.
- Another type of kit comes as a package that contains a
bottle of glucagon powder and a bottle of diluent. The package does not include
a syringe. You can use an insulin syringe to prepare and give the
injection.
The following are
when you have a
package with two bottles.
- Remove the seals from the tops of both bottles.
Don't touch the rubber area of the bottle tops.
- Take the cover off
the needle of the syringe and pull back on the plunger to draw air into the
syringe.
- Insert the needle of the syringe into the bottle that
contains liquid (diluent) and push the plunger of the syringe to force air from
the syringe into the bottle.
- Leave the needle of the syringe in the
bottle. Turn the bottle upside down and pull back on the plunger to draw the
liquid into the syringe.
- Remove the needle of the syringe from the
bottle, and insert it into the bottle that contains glucagon
powder.
- Push the plunger to force the liquid from the syringe into
the glucagon bottle. Remove the needle from the bottle. Carefully put the cover
back on the needle and put the syringe in a safe place.
- Gently
shake the bottle until the solution is clear.
- Remove the cover from
the needle of the syringe. Insert the needle back into the bottle and pull back
on the plunger to draw all the solution (about 1 mL) into the syringe.