December 5, 2002
Insulin
Question from California, USA:
I am 31 years old, have had type 1 diabetes for 20 years, and six times in my life, right after injecting my insulin, I have had a severe reaction with symptoms like heart racing, trouble breathing, severe abdominal cramping, dizziness and a general buzzing feeling all over my body. It starts 20 seconds or so after giving my injection, and I can feel it coming, When I breathe in I can “taste” the insulin, and it’s gone after two-three minutes. According to the insulin pamphlet, it sounds like an allergic reaction, but my doctor doesn’t think human insulin causes allergic reactions. Have you heard of this happening to other people? Does this sound like something that could be helped by switching insulin brands? Is this a systemic allergic reaction? Is it dangerous?
Answer:
Insulin, especially NPH such as Humulin, may cause some of the symptoms you describe within a few hours the shot even though redness and itching are the most occurring ones. This is generally due to an allergy from the protamine or a preservative in the insulin and will usually subside after a few years as you continue with this insulin treatment.
There is a special skin test available to find out if you are allergic to the insulin, protamine or preservative. There are often increased levels of insulin antibodies in the blood that can be checked. Allergy to nickel in insulin pens and syringes may also cause redness after injections.You might want to take a skin test to see if you are allergic to nickel as well.
MS