Suggest Treatment For High Blood Sugar Levels After Overdosed Intake Of Lantus

Posted on Thu, 28 Aug 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 28 Aug 2014 Answered on

Fri, 19 Sep 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I accidentally gave a pancreatic cancer patient 100 units of lantus instead of the ordered 15 units. Her blood sugars were very high, over 600 and 574, 4 hours apart. What can I expect to see?

Answered by Dr. Binu Parameswaran Pillai (28 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Need Observation and Frequent glucose monitoring

Detailed Answer:
Good day,
Noted your concern.
. I would like to know if the patient is using any other diabetes medicine ?

Lantus is a basal insulin and the manufactures claim it doesn't cause hypoglycemia. However, in clinical practice, I have seen many patients developing hypoglycemia. The risk is more if they are taking other type of insulins or oral diabetes medicines along with Lantus.

In any case, 100 units is a huge dose. You need to monitor the patient's blood glucose frequently and start sugary food or IV glucose if there are signs or symptoms of hypoglycemia.

The best thing to do would be to take her to an ER and keep under observation for few hours to one day.

Regards
Binu

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar