Attempted Suicide Using Insulin by a Non Diabetic: A Case Study Demonstrating the Acute and Chronic Consequences of Profound Hypoglycemia

Abstract

This paper describes the case of a non diabetic physician with a prior psychiatric history in which there was overwhelming biochemical and clinical evidence that he had attempted suicide by injecting himself with an overdose of insulin. He was extensively monitored from the time of his admission to hospital in a coma, until he fully recovered consciousness 30 days later and during the next eight months of his rehabilitation. This case attests to the high level of morbidity which might follow profound hypoglycemia. It also illustrates some putative psychodynamics of suicidal behaviour — notably ambivalence and denial (at the time of writing, the patient never acknowledged that he had overdosed with insulin). A selective review on some of the more recent literature on the neuropathological effects of insulin overdose and profound hypoglycemia is presented.