Lantus or levemir
Common Questions and Answers about Lantus or levemir
lantus
I, too, had a lot of trouble with the Opticlick pen. It was just unreliable in that it would sometimes leak with injection so I never knew if I was getting the proper dosage. I switched to Levemir (flex pen) a couple of years ago, and it has been fine. Both Lantus and Levemir are the peakless insulins. They provide your "background coverage" all day long (24 hours). When you eat, you need the fast acting insulin like Novolog to act quickly to cover the meal.
Since then he has been on many differnet variation of meds. Just over the past 6 months or so, they gave him LANTUS, in addition to his meds. (Actos, Glypizide, Metaformin) He takes the meds in the morning and the LANTUS at night. Here is my problem. He has a lot of highs and lows.
Just 3 weeks ago, his average was 115. This week a different story.
He has been in the mid 200's and he has not changed his diet.
This morning, before breakfast, his sugar was 337.
The reason lies back to the pH value of the Lantus and the pH value of your body. Values of pH simply describe how acidic or how basic a solution is, the closer to 1 the solution is more acidic and the closer to 14 the solution is, the more basic. Your body resides at a neutral pH of 7 and the pH value of Lantus resides at about 4, which explains why it stings when it comes into contact.
If you believe your are reacting badly to Lantus (or any other medications) you should ask your physician for an alternative, at least to verify it is the medication and not some other factor that is causing the problem. Lantus is popular for it's 24 hour action, but so is Levemir (Novo Nordisk). NPH insulin can also be used for long acting insulin, though two injections may be needed to get the 24 hour coverage.
Im diabetes 2 since 3 years a go, I used pills at the begining and 2 years ago my doc changed my treatment to insulin. Some days I wake up and my BS is high as today, was 225. Im using an app for counting carbs, yesterday I ate 220gs or carbs and my insulin dosis was 28 Levemir. I don't understad what failed, I know one unit of insulin works for 10gs of carbs. What could be the reason my BS is high? Every day I check my meals very carefully.
Can you ask your daughter if her lantus burns, itches, and/or does the area she injects it (arm, leg, stomach) feel heavy or like a big knot is under it? I have had this problem and was just wondering where she does it, how she stops it from these uncomfortable feelings (or if she cant, just tell her I do it in my thighs mostly all the time, freezing the area does not work, relaxing the leg doesn't work, ect.ect. Any information will help, and I am truly sorry I am questioning back.
No, I am not aware of any people who have contacted us with any kind of resistance to Lantus. I do know that Lantus must be replaced at the end of a month on one bottle. The expiration date is really important, for near the end of the month, some of us find that it no longer crystallizes properly. Some people notice that when the Lantus bottle is about one month old, it doesn't work well. But if you just started the bottle, this is probably not the problem.
I have read about folks taking their Lantus shot in the morning or at night or a partial dose at each time. If you were taking the Lantus in the morning and "crashing" overnight, then talk to your doc about taking it at night instead -- then the timing of any drops would be while you're wide awake and able to test & treat. If you had been taking it at night (which is what I'm guessing, given the timing of your "drop"), then shift to the morning.
I take 40 units Lantus (long acting), and sliding scale Novolog (fast acting) insulins. My bg is always so high in the mornings, I have to take Novolog and wait for sugar to come down to eat. I've had diabetes for many years, but never knew for sure which one! My dr would switch my diagnosis all the time. But went to endo and they did a blood test, and said I'm type 1. I'm angry my dr. never did anything about this.
Is she on a basal/bolus regimen or just on the basal (Lantus). You say she is having trouble adjusting doses. What was she on before and what were the results? If she is experiencing lows or highs in her fasting and in between meals and bedtime than I would adjust the Lantus accordingly up or down. Always adjust a very small amount initially and see how that works for a couple days.
Hi, this is probably reflecting the peaking of the lantus. If 60s are as low as you go, it 's probably not too big a problem. Your fasting blood sugar is not low. Likely what is happening is that you are going a bit low, and then going a bit higher. You may possibly consider changing your lantus dose to the morning instead of the evening. This way the 'peak' will be happening during the day.
I have recently started taking Lantus at night and Humalog before meals. After about a month my stomach pain was unbearable. It began with chills at night, severe dry heaves, (unable to throw up due to reflux surgery) and diahhrea. My doctor said he thought I had a virus. I could not figure out what was going on. I usually gave myself shots in the upper stomach area, so I moved the shots to my legs with no improvement. I even tried Levemir, but after two days the pains came back.
Some people do think that Lantus insulin causes some patients to gain weight, while the new Levemir insulin apparently does not do this. I read some articles about this just yesterday and was surprised, for I take Lantus and have noticed no weight gain at all. So this could be a factor.
However, a change in metabolism in middle age probably is the real culprit, along with possibly a slower metabolism because you are not eating. Exercise should help both problems. Start walking!
NPH and regular Humilin are older therapies. Something like Lantus or Levemir as the long acting and something like Novolog or another fast acting insulin are much more common these days. They give more consistent coverage with fewer spikes. Does he have hypoglycemia unawareness? If he's getting down to 19, it sounds like he may. That is a condition where he can't tell he's getting low. It is possible to correct the condition, you just have to work out a plan with his endo.
(Hopefully you take one of the newer insulins like Lantus or Levemir because it is too hard to control blood sugar with the older insulins such as Regular or 70/30). You might also need to be starting on fast acting mealtime insulins, depending on your numbers at other times. That is much too high. If you have a fast acting insulin you can also use it to correct those morning highs.
People have mixed experiences with snacks to counter DP.
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