Helpful info for when you run out of insulin On a Sunday!

Hi all,

Just thought I'd share my experience after running out of Levemir late on a Saturday Night

I had 1 cartridge of Levemir in the fridge and a small amount in my pen on Saturday night and then just before bed as always I do my test followed by BI and any corrections required..... Got my Levemir pen and wound it to what should have been 6 units but only went to 4, never mind I'll get my last one out of the fridge and warmed it up and then put on the side ready to swap it over, removed old cartridge and put down then went to pick up the new cartrdige but in my sleepy state managed to knock it on the floor where it spectacularly exploded DOH! Anyway my wife went into panic mode bless her and rang the walk in center who informed her to ring 111, after speaking to someone for some time she was told someone would ring back within 2 hours (It's now Tuesday and still not received a call) anyway I put my old cartridge in and injected the 4 units instead of 6 and suggested we both go to bed to which my good lady said she wanted to stay up....

Woke up the following morning did my test (which was a little higher than normal) and did some searching to see if anyone else had run out of Levemir or another BI and couldn't find anything apart from people who had run out of QA insulin and the advice ranged from going to A&E or a walk in center or to a chemist so I thought I'd search for the nearest one that was open which turned out to be Ashby Tesco's

All I can say is that the staff at the Chemist in Ashby Tesco's were absolutely fantastic, they assured me they would sort me out and kept checking that I was ok.... 20 mins later (after doing some shopping) they gave me a spare cartrdige of Levemir (Be warned though it is at the discretion of the Pharmacist as to whether they charge you or not, on this occasion I didn't get charged)

The main thing to remember is don't panic, I know how frightening it can be to know you are out of Insulin when you think there is no chance of getting any but it's good to know the options

I always use the same pharmacy so the staff know me and will trust me to get a prescription to them in the next day or so if I need supplies in an emergency. It's handy if the pharmacist knows you're diabetic if you go for over the counter remedies too as he'll point out anything I need to be aware of. I think it's well worth the trip to the local chemist rather than using the supermarket pharmacy (although obviously Ashby Tesco's were fab!)

Would it help to carry a copy of your prescription along with all the other stuff when you are away from normal chemist?

Hi BeccyB/Alturn, I agree always going to the same Chemist is best and I always use the same one

I've changed the heading now as this was on a Saturday Night/Sunday Morning and unfortunately my normal Chemist wasn't open so I went for the nearest one which I thought may have the best chance of having my insulin plus I had to do some shopping at Tesco's anyway