The home care nurse is caring for an older adult client who has type 1 diabetes. The client has visual impairment and cannot read the numbers on the syringe when preparing insulin for administration nor afford the cost of prefilled auto syringes.
What strategy might the nurse use to help this client comply with insulin needs between visits?

Octreotide is a synthetic analog of somatostatin, a hormone that inhibits the secretion of growth hormone, insulin, glucagon, and other hormones. Octreotide can cause gastrointestinal side effects such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, nausea, vomiting, and flatulence. These side effects are more common and severe with the oral route than with the injectable route.

Choice B is wrong because tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, is not a common or serious side effect of octreotide.

Choice C is wrong because alteration in consciousness is not a common or serious side effect of octreotide.

However, octreotide can affect blood glucose levels and cause hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia, which can lead to confusion, dizziness, fainting, seizures, or coma in severe cases.

Choice D is wrong because changes in vision are not a common or serious side effect of octreotide.

However, octreotide can cause rare but serious eye problems such as blurred vision, double vision, eye pain, or blindness due to optic nerve damage or retinal detachment.

These eye problems require immediate medical attention.

Normal ranges for blood glucose are 70 to 100 mg/dL (3.9 to 5.6 mmol/L) for fasting and less than 140 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L) for postprandial.

This is because hypothyroidism can reduce the metabolism and clearance of theophylline, leading to higher serum levels and increased risk of toxicity. Therefore, when the thyroid function is restored by levothyroxine or liothyronine, the dose of theophylline may need to be lowered to avoid excessive effects.

Choice A is wrong because decreasing theophylline dosage immediately may result in suboptimal control of asthma symptoms.

The dose adjustment should be based on serum theophylline levels and clinical response.

Choice C is wrong because discontinuing the client’s theophylline may cause worsening of asthma and potentially life-threatening complications.

Theophylline is an important bronchodilator that should not be stopped abruptly without medical supervision.

Choice D is wrong because increasing theophylline dosage immediately may cause overdose and adverse effects such as nausea, vomiting, headache, tachycardia, arrhythmias, seizures and even death.

The dose of theophylline should be carefully titrated according to serum levels and clinical response.