Glucagon Testing

Hi sorry for the radio silence on here. Its been pretty busy in my life at the minute so blog posts and videos have been put on hold. I'm trying to stay a float but its really hard. I have things coming up in july and august. Like I am volunteering for the Summer Reading challenge in my local library again. I enjoyed it so much last time that as soon as I saw it being advertised I signed myself up. The lovely thing this time round is that all the staff at my local library know me and know that I've been there done that. They're really nice. But I also have YALC which I, due to another thing straight after Yalc, I have decided that I am only going on Friday and Sunday. I'm also not staying in the apartment. This is why I shouldn't talk about my plans because they always change! So one of the things that I have had this month is a set of tests. As you may know I am currently being investigated for Growth Hormone Deficiency. So on Tuesday I went to my hospital for the tests. I had a test called a glucacon test.  I thought I would do a blog post about it explaining what it is and any advice  for people who may be having this test done.

So a glucagon test is to help diagnose a growth hormone deficiency and/or a cortisol deficiency. I had it done for both diagnoses. Cortisol and growth hormone deficiency. So I got to the hospital for 8:45. Yes I had to be there that early. I live about 45 minutes away from the hospital so we had to leave at 7:30 so that even if we hit traffic we should get there on time. Only just though!
So we went to the endocrine department. We met one of the nurses, I can't remember her name but she was really nice, made me feel really at ease. Because to be honest I was a little nervous.
I was then shown onto a day ward type unit. It was a room of three beds on one side and 3 chairs, you know the type you sit in to have a blood test with the funny arm rests. And it had an adjoining nurses station room. I was shown to my bed and then it began.

What happens when you have a glucagon test is you are injected with glucagon and then you have blood tests every half hour for 4 hours. So I wasnt allowed anything to eat or drink past midnight except for water, which was good as this was on the hottest day of the year.




So the nurses came to put a canula in my arm. Now I'm difficult with veins because 1. my left arm is not a viable option and 2. my veins are quite poor due to amount of needles being put into them over the years. So they put the needle in but somehow on the first try it slipped out. Squeamish alert if you don't do blood don't read the next line.

So blood started pouring out my arm, it was strange because i've seen things like that happen on tv and they make it sound like it really hurts but it doesn't.

 To be honest if I wasnt looking at it I wouldn't have noticed. I mean it obviously wasnt a pleasant sight. I'm fine with blood tests but that was slightly uncomfortable! But second try and it was in. I've never had a canula in the crook of my elbow before so it was a new experience but it was quite uncomfortable so I had to have my mum help me a bit! So then they took the first set of bloods from the canula which made it so much easier than having to be poked by lots of needles. No thank you! I do have a bit of a bruise now though!
Then the nurse came and injected me in my stomach with the glucagon, she did warn that it might sting a bit. But a apart from a minor pinch I didn't really feel it until a bit later and that side of my stomach ached a little. Although she did say that might happen. I did feel quite faint and light and fuzzy headed after that but I do think that was down to my lack of sleep so I went to sleep and when I woke up I felt much better.

Now my mum and I had looked into the test so we knew that it would be a few hours just sitting around really so I prepared pretty well. I brought a stack of dvds, my books I got from wicked and my laptop with my headphones. Although once they started taking bloods every half hour the time flew. I kept talking about wicked and I managed to get one of the nurses to go see it. I watched a bit of orphan black. I watched the wizard of oz, I do love that movie.

When they took my blood they also tested my sugar levels. Although mine stayed the same the whole time I believe. So I don't know what that means. Then before we knew it the final set of bloods were taken and we were free to go. Our lovely nurse advised us to ring back in a couple weeks to get the results. We then went to burger king, yes my hospital has a burger king. Because I was advised to eat something and I read its good for it to be carbohydrates filled. I also got a starbucks drink, yes they have that as well! I got one of the new teavana drinks, the iced shaken blackberry mojito tea lemonade. To be honest it just tasted like really sweet blackcurrant. Me and my mum are more into Costa, their over ice peach lemonade is gorgeous, the only drink I order but still. I'm not really a tea or coffee drinker. My hospital also has a shop called the stock shop and they do lovely little trinkets and accessories for the home so I bought this really nice gold butterfly dish that I had my eye on the last time I went to hospital. It was on sale this time which made it even better. I also went in the body shop, yeah my hospital just has a lot of shops! I brought some of their shower gels. I love the body shops shower gels, I think I prefer them to lush to be honest. Lushs scents can be quite confusing and not clear what they are. They're a mixture of things. Whereas the Body Shops scents are quite clear in what they are if that makes sense. I got the pina colada shower gel, Mango shower gel, I didn't like the sprits version but the shower gel smells gorgeous and the Moringa shower gel. I have no idea what a Moringa is but it smelt nice. I also bought a tester size of the english rose hand cream.
 I just happened to have gone to my local body shop the day before and bought a new tube of the installer primer and a small bottle of the honey mania shower gel. And a week ago I brought a new tube of the vitamin E moisturiser, I've gone through 2 previous tubs and I got a discount on it as they had changed the label so I got the biggest tub. Then we went to the car, we got a discount on the parking because we had an inpatient appointment. Then we went home.
I have a dexa scan as well this week which measures the minerals in the bones and checks for osteoporosis which is a side effect of growth hormone deficiency. So we are currently waiting for the results.

A few tips I would give for anyone who is going to undertake the test -

• Take a bottle of water with you - although you may not be allowed to eat or drink, you are allowed water
• Take entertainment - as much as once the blood tests start that they fly by its still 4 hours sitting around
• Research- I mean this is why I'm writing this so there is more information about this test for people undergoing it. Patient experiences so people know what is going to happen.
• Don't worry about the injection of glucagon, it really doesn't hurt all that much. I mean each person is different but its not a sharp scratch like a blood test.
• Oh side note when people describe a blood test/canula needle as a sharp scratch, that is a lie it is not the nicest feeling. it feels worse than a sharp scratch!
• Its easier to take blood with a canula than through multiple needles.
• Also don't confuse a glucagon test for a glucose test, although they are to get the same diagnosis. a glucose test is instead of glucagon its glucose. I also know that a glucose test doesn't have nice side effects. 

I hope this has helped explain what a glucose test is and my experience of it. I think I went in thinking it would be worse than it actually was. It was probably one of the easier things I've had done.  Apart from the canula in my arm it was quite relaxing. I mean I didn't even feel them taking the bloods really. 

I hope you enjoyed this post.

Thanks for reading,

until next time

Sophie