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What Are The After Effects Of Accidental Injection Of Air Into The Vein?

Posted on Mon, 11 Apr 2016

Question: My daughter, a type 1 diabetic, accidentally injected 16 units of air into her arm with her insulin syringe. She meant to inject the air into her vial of Lantus, then draw up the insulin, but we were talking and instead, she injected the air into her arm. We're a little worried.

Answered by Dr. Shehzad Topiwala (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Monitor

Detailed Answer:
It is quite a small quantity of air as the insulin syringe is 1 cc only in volume. If yours is the U-40 or U-100 syringe then 16 units amounts to very little air.

However, keep an eye out for symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath or weakness of limb or face muscles.

Also call her doctors office in the morning for further guidance

Note: For further follow-up, discuss your blood glucose reports with our diabetologist. Click here.

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