Humalog and regular insulin
Common Questions and Answers about Humalog and regular insulin
humalog
Hello Geek,
I didn't see your msg until today and hope I can be of some help to you. I'm not a physician, but I have been a pumper for ~9 years and have had DM for ~35.
When I starated pumping, the only insulins available were "Regular" insulin and the main difference, as you know, is "how quickly" the insulin starts working, when it peaks and how long it lasts. Regular normally kicks in later than Novolog or Humalog will.
Steve, here is what I know about insulins and insulin pumps. Please consult your doctor for more details:
Insulins:
Novolog (aspart),onset 5-10 mins, peak 1-3 hrs, duration 3-5 hrs
Humalog (lispro), onset <15 mins, peak .5-1.5 hrs, duration 2-4
Regular, onset .
If your total daily dose of insulin were 30, then 1500 divided by 30 = 50, meaning that 1 unit of Regular insulin would drop your blood glucose approximately 50 mg/dl.
If you use Humalog (and likely the same would apply for Novolog): If your total daily dose of insulin were 30, then 1800 divided by 30 = 60, meaning that 1 unit of Humalog or Novolog would drop your blood glucose approximately 60 mg/dl.
We always thought that she needed to take the long acting insulin 2 times a day rather than 1 and when we saw her endocrinologist about a year ago, they changed her to Levimere insulin. You take this insulin morning and night. It has been a life saver for her in that she feels her lows quicker and her reactions aren't as pronounced. It takes a while to get the dosages right but we have also seen a tremendous change.
17 yrs? and now your asking?
You R Serious, right?
Go ahead take just the Lantus and test every couple of hours after and of course before meals and see what happens..
and I surely Hope you got the book > Think Like a Pancrease my friend..
I started controlling my blood sugar using Regular insulin About 3 years ago, my doctor moved me to humalog. Using humalog was not easy. I looked at the study that was done and it never reacted as expected when I used it. It was taking 2 hours to start working and in by the third hour my glucose level would drop 200 to 250. It was also hard for me to sense when my blood sugar is low. That was very frustrating. After six month of roller coaster, my doctor put me on Novolog.
Suddenly reports having readings that fluctuate greatly, and taking an average amount of insulin (split shot, 70/30) and having to supplement at night with 20 to 30 units of regular insulin (in 10 units at a time) and still having high readings. I seem to remember some talk of this sort of thing happening to long term patients for some particular reason but do not remember what initiates it or what the implications of the situation are. Does this scenario ring a bell with anyone?
It would involve one daily injection of a long-acting insulin like Lantus, which has a flat action profile over 24 hours. And a shot of Humalog or Novolog before each meal. Doing this would minimise the carb/insulin mismatch when you skip a meal.
The basal/bolus regimen would give you more flexibility and better control. You may want to discuss this with your doctor.
Humalog is a fast acting insulin. Typically it is taken before meals - up to 15 minutes before (not after) to match the amount of carbs eaten. It's duration of action is 3 - 5 hours, with most of the action in the first 2 hours.
You need to work out a carb:insulin ratio (ie. how much Humalog you need to cover how much carbs/ protein).
If you are going low overnight (how low?), then you need to be taking a lower dose of Humalog with your evening meal.
What time do you eat dinner?
what should I do if I give myself 25 units of regular humalog insulin at night when it should have been 25 units of lantus? this happened last night at 10:00 and at 10:30 I drank a lot of juice with sugar loaded in it, and about 8 oz. of peanut butter that I figured would be broken down later to aid me if this over abundance of insulin was to overcome me. I waited until 11:30 and was exhausted and fell asleep. I was awoken at 1:30 A.M. in a seizure, my body convulsing.
The dosage criteria for Humalog are about the same (He takes one unit of Humalog for each 10 carbohydrate grams in the morning and one unit of Humalog for each 12 carbohydrate grams at dinner). The only other difference is that he takes NPH at the same time as Humalog in the am and does not take NPH at the dinner meal. The other difference I have noted is that readings 70 and below occur more often at the noon reading than at any other time.
Extreme heat or cold can impact the effectivess of insulin. The injection site can sometimes be a factor in absorption of the insulin and ultimate impact on blood sugar. Then, of course, there are also a million other things that go on in our bodies that seem to wreak havoc with our blood sugars without any clue as to why.
I wouldn't hurry to change your insulin without first exploring the issue with your diabetes doctor. Good luck and let me know how you resolve this.
However I managed an specialist by visiting emergency. Due to high sugar, She gave me Humalog and Lantus insulin. Everything came under control, but after one year pressure increased to 170/90 at night. Then I had to stop Lantus. I have only Humalog to stop spike. But still when I wake up from bed pressure is 170/90/65. I take 300 gm Avapro. After ½ it becomes Ok. But sugar has gone high again.
I am a 28 year old female diabetic who was diagnosed when I was 9. I used to be on a regimen where I used both Regular, NPH, and Humalog to balance my blood sugars but it required a lot of effort and a lot of test strips which are so expensive, even with insurance! In January 2005, my endocrinologist started me on Lantus to try to find some balance with my sugars. My a1c readings have been under 6.
I give myself about 21 units of insulin per day--13 units of Lantus and a sliding scale of Humalog between 6-10 units--depending on how many carbohydrates I have eaten--So, it takes me about 2-3 months to use a bottle of Humalog and the Lantus would take longer, but I must open a new bottle every month for consistency issues. Does that help?
I currently take humalog before meals and such.. The peak time is around 2 hours with a duration of like 6. So anyway I was wondering, When I go out with my friends and eat ice cream or something like, right now the sugar peaks way before my humalog, but what if I injected my humalog into muscle tissue, so it was absorbed rapidly. I think this would better match the peak of the sugar. Lets say im eating on an empty stomach so it is absorbed very fast.
I also found some books that calculated the amount of insulin to use and gave the peak arc and life span of each type of insulin. My most recent one was Dr. Bernstein's - although I now dispute his protein diet as red meat does horrible things to my gut. I find that humalog is nifty but that regular did a better job on the longer-digesting proteins and fats (unless you use Lantus as the long-acting insulin with humalog). Hope that helps.
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