Lantus vs nph insulin
Common Questions and Answers about Lantus vs nph insulin
lantus
Most diabetics in America who take injections rather than using a pump use Lantus once or twice a day and a quick-acting insulin like Novolog before meals. We do not normally take NPH with the Lantus, for they do similar things. Once the Lantus dose is right, NPH becomes unnecessary. I would suggest that you discuss this with her endo.
Yes this happens a lot, when switching to lantus or the pump. Lantus is a long acting insulin that has no peak it gives you a steady basal rate similar to the insulin pump. I realize that it is hard to trust the the insulin enought to not have a snack, but it does work, and it is hard to resist the urge to react to the number.
My wife has since filed for divorce, i am now on new insulin, Lantus, and i cant even talk with her. There are more things that were going on because of the NPH since my doctor had instructed me to take a third shot at lunch time. I love this Lantus, things are great since ive been on it but still having trouble understanding the things abou tthe NPH, any help would be apperciated.
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.
Cristophe,
It sounds like skipping meals is working for you. And, as long as your blood sugars remain within the target range, thats great. But the insulin you are using was not really designed to be used that way. Mixtard is pre-mixed insulin containing 30% rapid-acting and 70% NPH insulin. It's maximum action is at 2-8 hours after injection. And meals should be timed to coincide with this.
as I never heard of these problems with Lantus. Lantus is a 24 hour basal insulin that starts to work in an hour after injected and lasts most of the day without peaking. Also, I have never heard of a Lantus pen but have a call into our local rep to ask. My teenage son has Type 1 diabetes and there is never a dull moment with diabetes, is there.
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.
Both of the previous writers mentioned this Lantus insulin as a possibility. I just want to alert you to the fact that, BECAUSE it is a 24-hour (on the average person) insulin, it does need to be taken at the same time each day. Most folks take it at night, and if you did this, you could of course sleep in and take the quick-acting whenever you wished to get up to eat your morning meal. So do discuss the other insulin possibilities with your doctor.
You might talk with your endo about using Lantus -- a very long acting insulin that has almost no peak. Some folk take split doses and others take one dose a day. A potential disadvantage to Lantus is that it CANNOT be mixed in a syringe with short acting insulin. This characteristic requires taht folks take more shots usually. If the results are good and if you can afford the additional syringes, it is often a good treatment plan.
Good luck & let us know how you're doing...
The most effective and up to date diabetes regimen is a long acting basal insulin such as lantus or levimir either once or twice daily and a rapid acting bolus before each meal, dose determined by an insulin:carb ratio so that the dose is covering what you are actually eating. I would ask for a referral to an endo as your doctors don't seem to be up to date on treatment.
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.
But I would personally not make the assumption that you are dropping low at night and lower the long-lasting insulin (NPH or Lantus) just based on that assumption. You may want to set your alarm clock for some time in the middle of the night (maybe at around 3 a.m. if you are taking NPH before bedtime, for that would be when it would be peaking) and just do a blood test a few nights in a row to see for sure if you are dropping low while you sleep.
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.
m not a medical professional, just the parent of a kid with diabetes. Has he ever considered changing his insulin regimen? 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.
Montefiori Medical Center (Bronx, New York) performed an in-depth study of 240 women receiveing Lantus (insulin glargine) during pregnancy. The results were published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine, April, 2009 (4) 208-10. They found the drug to be well-tolerated and advised continuing the use of Lantus during pregnancy. PubMed has no studies whatsoever that substantiate an adverse affect on pregnancy.
Hello, Mister Magic! I'm not a medical professional, just the parent of a kid with diabetes. Humalog and Novolog are different types of fast acting insulin, meaning that they are quickly absorbed into your system to immediately drop your blood sugar. 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.
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.
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.
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 am a 40 year old male, 190 lbs, active and on low carb diet, who has been on insulin NPH BID 25 units for the past 2 years. Prior to that I took oral medications only(all sorts, metformin, avandia, etc..) In October of last year my A1C was at 6.3. Adjusting my insulin levels seemed to have no effect on my fasting blood gloucose level (typically in 130 range).
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.
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