Lantus vs nph
Common Questions and Answers about Lantus vs nph
lantus
My son recently changed from NPH/R/H to Lantus and humalog pens. This is his fourth day on Lantus. He is doing fine but I am having problems trusting the Lantus - when his b/s drops below 100, I want to give him a can of apple juice, and of course that causes a moderate high. Also, he is not interested in stopping to eat as many snacks and meals because he does not have to 'feed' the NPH. Are these common problems in families starting on Lantus?
Im a type 1 diabetic, since 1991, and have been on NPH since 1998. Last November i had a huge problem, a bad low, which caused me to hallucinate, then sadly my new wife got hurt. Then this continued until march when then i was told my body was rejecting the NPH, is this common? My wife has since filed for divorce, i am now on new insulin, Lantus, and i cant even talk with her.
My daughter is 17 and is having trouble with adjusting insulin doses...how much lantus would be a good dose to start with?
Yes, I am now careful even with NPH. It is not as good as Lantus and overnight is the rough time. I find NPH plus an extre evening Humalog inhjection (4 per day) works best. I have considered a pump, but 5 injections probably give me the same coverage, and are more convienient.
On another note, I am thinking of starting a disbetes support group in my area for long time type 1 diabetics. I would like to hear from anyone else who may have experience with such a group.
She takes only one shot of lantis a day. She takes this at bedtime. She has been on lantis for 5 months. (she used to take NPH) She does not notice as many peaks and valleys as when she was on NPH, however, she has heard from people other than medical professionals that it really only lasts 18 hours. My sister feels that being on lantis has helped her.
About a month ago, my doctor changed my long acting insulin from Novolin NPH to Lantus. This completely threw me off and I ended up being woken up by paramedics 3 times in 1 week. My blood sugar would be normal before bed and then by morning it had gone to 1.8. When I would eat a snack before bed to keep my blood sugar from dropping, I would go high - 13.0-15.0 on average. My doctor has now switched me back to my Novolin NPH and I am still having a hard time getting back on track.
I am wondering whether this is some hormone related issue ,or whether I have developed some resistance vs humalog so it doesnt work well (and the lantus is too much). I have given up using any alcohol or doing demanding exercise(jogging) for a while becuase they make the matters worse (though i really enjoy exercising).
any suggestions to why this is happening or how i can take care of this would be greatly helpful.
My sister also has type 1 and takes lantus at bedtime and then takes humalog for correction AND to cover food with carbs, so in her case, if her BG is not High (if it IS under a particular number that she and her doc have discussed), then she does not need a correction shot AND if she was not going to eat anything containing carbs at that time, she would not need humalog to cover food, HOWEVER, she would still take her lantus shot at bedtime.
I personally would ask the doctor why she is putting him on NPH instead of on Lantus. I was on NPH for over 20 years as I grew up, and the odd peak times of this kind of insulin force you to feed the peaks. When the newer 24-hour Lantus was made available to diabetics, I switched and life is much easier now. The Lantus offers a base dose for about a day, with minimal peaks.
Ultra-tight control with injections. Heck, I was even using NPH instead of Lantus because I could never get Lantus to work right for me. Even so, my two NPH shots plus sliding-scale Humalog worked very well. And I work out (aerobic and weight lifting) religiously.
The tight control changed as my metabolism changed in my early 30s. I'm 32 now and things just went a little whacky, for lack of a better word.
So imediject has a valid point if you are taking Lantus in the morning. Many diabetics split their doses of Lantus and take some at night and some first thing in the morning so that peaking is minimal (for some of us, there IS a slight peak about 4 hours after injection) and the petering out of it as it wears off is also minimal.
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.
He is now working at a stressful job in finance in NYC and lives with his girlfriend. He is currently taking 2 shots a day of Humilin Reg. and NPH. Over the last six months he has bottomed out at least 8 times usually at lunch time and the paramedics have had to be called to his workplace. Yesterday when they arrived his Blood Sugar was 19. It seems he drops so quickly that he is unable to treat himself by eating a snack. He keeps himself healthy by eating well and is overall good shape.
In my case, it takes a bit less Lantus than it did NPH when I was on it. It sounds as if you do need to increase your dosage... I personally don't notice a huge difference between one or two units more or less. I would suggest that you don't wait for your appointment, but call your doctor and tell him or her what your sugars are running (write down the results so you have a record) and ask if you should increase by another 2 units.
I personally love Lantus...
Does anyone know a formula for amount of Lantus needed for a basal dose vs how many units fast-acting you take per carb? I have major swings. Yesterday was told by a nurse that the Lantus I take is really low compared to amount of Humalog I take, but she never told me HOW much she thought I should be taking.
I take 1.5 u Humalog per carb for all meals (for last 3 weeks - has changed many times). I'm supposed to take 11 u Lantus in am. My morning BS is usually 300-500.
My grandson is a Type 1 diabetic. He takes Lantus at night, NPH and Humalog at Breakfast, and Humalog at evening meal. He measures his blood sugar six time a day: 7:30am (breakfast), 9:30 am, noon, 5:30 pm (dinner), 7:30 pm, and 9:30 pm. My concern is the apparent difference in effectiveness of the Humalog which he takes at 7:30 am and 5:30 pm. He measures his blood sugar two hours after taking the Humalog (@ 9:30 am and @ 7:30 pm).
I have been diabetic for ten years now and have been taking lantus and humalog this whole time. Well a new doctor Im seeing took me off lantus due to the fact that it could cause my twins to become insulin resistant. She has me taking more of the humalog but it doesn't seem to be helping me and now i have a harder time controlling my sugar where before i kept it pretty well controlled. Should i get a second opinion or does anyone have suggestions?
I myself used to have lows when sleeping often enough to frighten me and my husband when I was taking NPH. I switched to taking a 24-hour insulin called Lantus, and this solved the problem for me. So if he is not interested in switching to a pump, beautiful control without severe lows can be acheived with this newer-than-NPH insulin.
I agree with the previous postings that stress can cause lows, and of course being a newlywed is a stress, even though a GOOD stress.
Some people find that one works more effectively than the other, so which is used is really up to the patient. Humulin, more commonly called Humulin NPH, and even more commonly called just NPH, is a long acting insulin. It is absorbed more slowly, and it's effects last longer, about 12 hours. Usually NPH is used in combination with one of the fast acting insulins. An alternative long acting insulin would be Lantus.
It sounds like you are doing all the right things. Your physicians are aware of the situation and their recommendation to wait a few days is the usual response to situations like this. Kids are very resilient and he may not be experiencing any syptoms that slow him down, even though there may still be a little virus running through his body. So, give it a few days to let the virus fully work its way through his system.
Most patients require only about 80% of their old NPH dose when they switch to Lantus, so the fact that you are having to INCREASE your insulin dosage seems to indicate that the root problem may be insulin resistance. The fact that you write that your weight is normal and you eat a low-carb diet seems to make this the only logical explanation for the constantly increasing glucose readings. You may want to do some reading on this problem and current treatments for it.
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