ve been injecting Byetta for nearly two years (twice a day). My husband saw that there is a class action suit against the manufacturer because of side effects, damage to the pancreas. I did some reserch on line and found there are all kinds of side effects, damage to the kidneys, liver and G.I. issues. For the last year I have had IBS and now my blood sugar is climbing, (only my fasting). Needless to say I have quit taking the injections because I'm afraid it has caused these changes.
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?
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.
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.
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.
The modern short acting insulin that is considered safe for pregnancy is Humalog (insulin lispro). The modern long acting insulin that is considered safe for pregnancy is levemir (insulin detemir).
You will need to do basal-bolus testing to determine your correct insulin dosages for each type of insulin.
You should also look into low carb eating (paleo style), which will help with managing blood sugar as well.
2004) Before that he was on NPH and Humalog. I am sorry to sound ignorant, but, although I have heard of 70/30, I am unfamiliar with how it works. I am guessing that 70/30 insulin is in lieu of NPH, but the question is...does he need regular to cover food or does he only get the regular insulin at night as you mentioned?
What does his Endocrinologist say? The only thing that comes to mind for me is that he has done a lot of growing from 14 -19 yrs. of age, going through puberty, etc.
This is usually worked out by trial and error and is indivicual. Often people start off with a ratio of 1 unit of Humalog to 20 g of carbs and then adjust from there.
If you are eating low carb, then you will also probably need to dose for protein (about 50% of the insulin needed for carbs). ie. something likee 1 unit of humalog for 40 g of protein (but you need to fine tune this for yourself).
By the above formula, taking one unit of Humalog would drop my bloodsugar by 60 mg/dl. This is way too high. 10 units would put me at a drop of 600. I've take as much as 10 units of humalog with a bloodsugar drop of maybe 40-50 mg/dl.
Am I reading this correctly?
is aptly named because that is what we try to do with our insulin usage. We are trying to mimic the action of the pancreas in people who don't have diabetes. Their bodies have a low level of background insulin all the time and that's why we take our basal which lasts 24 hours (sometimes not so we split the dose). Then their bodies give off spurts of more insulin when they perceive carbs being eaten.
older insulin Humalin-N has an onset of 15 - 30 minutes compared to the modern insulins such as Aspart (novorapid for me) and Humalog, which have an onset of about 10 - 15 minutes.
Moderate acting insulins are the ones we use for basal (background) insulin. Examples are Humalin-R (older insulin), levemir, lantus etc.
Then we have the action profile: whether there is a peak or not.
The older insulins, particularly humalin-R do not have a flat action profile.
HOWEVER, make sure you do not dose the Humalog (or fast acting) any sooner then 2 hours of each other. Also, it helps not to dose Humalog after 7 or 8 p.m. unless your child is over 275. The most important thing no one ever told me not to dose Humalog and then let your child get a bath. Always wait at least 1-2 hours after being dosed before bath time, if you do not they will drop very low.
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?
No I have not had that experience with Humalog-in fact it works very well for me. I use a sliding scale of Humalog at mealtimes and I use 14 units of Lantis each evening. Lantis is a 24 cylce insulin or a long acting insulin where Humalog is short term or short acting insulin. But this just shows you that different people have different needs. Before I used Lantis I used to use NPH-which is a shorter long acting inuslin-more like 8 hours. Have you tried giving your Novolin before you eat?
I know our readings are different in canada , 5 to 7 is normal.I have had sugars as high as 32 and used 10 units of humalog , half an hour later I am 34 , I don't understand this ? What is the ratio of humalog to carbs ? I had the flu and I know it can really mess up your sugars , but this was a month ago .Also , I generally feel better when my sugars are around 13 , anything below that and I feel the efects of hyperglycemea , I know that does,t make sense , but it is how I feel.
I went to a diabetes education class that teaches about the sliding scale and how to take your Humalog. However, my doc gave me a formula to use to counteract high blood sugars when not enough insulin has been taken. It's (bloodsugar) - 100 divided by 40. So, if your blood sugar is 300 you would subtract 100 to get 200. Divide that by 40 to get 5 units of Humalog. I also have a scale for when I eat. It's for every 15 grams of carbs I take 2 units of Humalog.
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