Really, I should be dead. It is only because of insulin that I'm not. Since my pancreas decided to pack up over 20 years ago, I've injected a synthetic version of this hormone into my body over 30,000 times. Insulin is what keeps me and millions of others alive. So I was slightly taken aback to come across a book on insulin murder
, written by Vincent Marks and Caroline Richmond.
I've occasionally wondered what would happen if I injected a very large dose, but a murder weapon? Indeed it's been involved in at least 50 murder cases, as I describe in this article
Anyway, soon after starting the book I found out what happens when you inject a large dose of insulin ?
I accidentally injected four times my usual dose of the short-acting hormone.
Inevitably this lead to severe hypoglycaemia ?
which other type 1 diabetics out there will be familiar with: blurred vision, loss of concentration, raging appetite, tingling in the lips and inner trembling, and sweating. I had no choice but to guzzle my way through the hypo in order to increase my plummeting blood sugar. Numerous glucose tablets, three bananas, 2 small cartons of orange juice, a can of beans, and a chocolate bar later, my sugar level was almost back to normal. Phew!
But what would have happened if hadn't had access to glucose? I may have gone into a coma and remained that way until I received sugar ?
or until my liver decided to pump out some glucose stored for such emergencies.
But it is of some comfort that, according to Marks, who is a hypoglycaemia expert, the amount of insulin actually needed to kill an average adult is large ?
around 10 millilitres ?
that's the equivalent to 200 times the amount I usually inject in one go, or 20 full syringes. Even I would find it hard to inject that much by mistake!
Nothing changes the fact that, for me, insulin is a friend not a foe. To insulin I owe my life.
What does insulin mean to you? Have you ever experienced anything similar?Lucy Middleton, Opinion section researcher