Not even a spoonful
29 June, 2009 in Living with diabetes
I think a unit of insulin is a huge amount. One too many is the difference between me waking up and going to work, or waking up drenched in sweat jibbering complete rubbish and scaring the husband.
Equally, a unit less than I needed for dinner is the difference between a very pleasant evening with friends and an evening spent with my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and a fuzzy headache while I battle to get my blood sugar down from the ceiling.
In my world a unit of insulin is a big thing, it’s massive. A unit of insulin to me looks like a biscuit, half an apple, a small yoghurt or 5 fruit pastilles.
I generally use between 50 and 60 units a day (although I get really stroppy when ignorant travel insurance companies ask me how many units I use a day as if the answer will give them any meaningful information, but I digress). Do you know what 50 units of insulin looks like? Its nothing. Tiny, miniscule, I take at least twice as much medicine to sooth an irritating cough several times a day.
My daily elixir of life boils down to this – less than a teaspoon full!
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Tim said on 29 June, 2009
I’ve never thought of it in those terms – how odd; such a tiny amount does so much!
CALpumper said on 29 June, 2009
Wow.
What. An. Image.
I never thought of it that way either. I’m on ave. at 40u, maybe a bit less.
Seeing that image and thinking I take less, it still seems like such a Huge amount. (probably because it’s kinda vital, eh?)
Thank you for this Alison! What a great idea. And again, what an image.
Tim said on 29 June, 2009
Totting it up I put in about 60-ish units a day. Interesting that we’re all fairly different.
Tim said on 29 June, 2009
Nice mug BTW
Lora said on 29 June, 2009
Great picture. I thought the mug was neat, then scrolled down to the spoon as I was reading. It always seems like so much, but it’s so little…and so much.
Melanie said on 29 June, 2009
Wow, that’s incredible. It really demonstrates that every drop can make a huge difference.
Scott K. Johnson said on 30 June, 2009
What a GREAT post! The visualization is so powerful!
Nina Bailey said on 30 June, 2009
Never thought of the insulin dose like this… Little things can make a big difference
J.B. said on 1 July, 2009
Wow, hey I love this! BTW, where can I get a coffe mug like that one…love that, too!
Alison said on 2 July, 2009
Thanks for the lovely comments guys.
The mug comes from a batch my parents had made in around 1987 to raise money and awareness. The smallest batch the factory would do was 5000 – hence we were selling these things for many years! Sadly they sold out a few years ago and just a rare few remain in my cupboards ready to feature in appropriate photo opportunities.