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Busdriver60 said:
I have been prescribed Toujeo Solo Star (300 units/ml) 8 units very morning after breakfast, using a Lantus pen requested by my local hospital nurse.
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I’m a bit confused by that, doesn’t Toujeo come in a pre-filled disposable solo star pen, to avoid accidents with dosing because it’s more concentrated? I’m not sure where the Lantus pen comes in, Lantus is a normal strength (100units per ml) long acting insulin, available either as a pre-filled pen, or in cartridges to fit into a reusesble one.
 
Robin said:
I’m a bit confused by that, doesn’t Toujeo come in a pre-filled disposable solo star pen, to avoid accidents with dosing because it’s more concentrated? I’m not sure where the Lantus pen comes in, Lantus is a normal strength (100units per ml) long acting insulin, available either as a pre-filled pen, or in cartridges to fit into a reusesble one.
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Hi Robin, Yes That's right, both pens are pre-filled. The Lantus pen is the one I'm using now, when it runs out, then I will use the Toujeo pen.
 
Who has swapped you onto Toujeo? Is it your GP or the practice nurse who looks after the diabetic patients at the surgery?
 
Busdriver60 said:
Hi Robin, Yes That's right, both pens are pre-filled. The Lantus pen is the one I'm using now, when it runs out, then I will use the Toujeo pen.
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Ah, that makes sense. You dial the same number of units up on each, but the Toujeo insulin is suspended in less liquid, so the actual amount of fluid you inject is less. I’m surprised you've been given Toujeo, as you said you’re only taking 8 units. Toujeo is normally given to people with insulin resistance who are having to take a much higher number of units at once.
 
By the way Robin, its nice to meet you! I joined the forum yesterday.
 
rebrascora said:
Who has swapped you onto Toujeo? Is it your GP or the practice nurse who looks after the diabetic patients at the surgery?
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Its the hospital nurse who prescribe it to me, she looks after my care.
 
Busdriver60 said:
By the way Robin, its nice to meet you! I joined the forum yesterday.
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Ha, yes, I'm often so busy diving in to the nuts and bolts of the diabetes that I forget my manners! Good to meet you too, welcome to the forum!
 
Hello - I'm Angela, Paul's wife. This is my first post 😉 I am still dealing with the shock of his diagnosis. Today, we met virtually with my workplace's psychosocial practitioner as he wants to support my husband as he previously did last year when my husband was poorly with pancreatitis. He explained that he used to work as a nurse at the diabetes department, before qualifying as a psychosocial practitioner. I can confirm that Lantus insulin is u100, his diabetes nurse gave him this on the day of his education appointment at the hospital. She requested that he be put on a repeat prescription for Toujeo u300 insulin for the next month. Today, his diabetes nurse offered him to try Freestyle Libre 2, and we need to decide whether to accept this. He misses his coach driving job very much.
 
Hi Angela and welcome.

Absolutely accept the Libre. He will still need to finger prick occasionally even with the Libre, so it is not an either/or situation. He will still be prescribed test strips for his meter but he will need less of them when using the Libre. It doesn't mean that he can't go back to coach driving once he gets the basics under his belt and the Libre should help him to understand things a bit quicker because it gives you so much more information, plus it has the alarms to warn you of levels dropping low or high, so whilst he would have to do quite a bit of finger pricking to get his PCV licence back, the Libre should help him to be successful with that.
 
rebrascora said:
Absolutely accept the Libre. He will still need to finger prick occasionally even with the Libre, so it is not an either/or situation.
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He’ll have to test more than occasionally if he wants a bus licence back. I’d advise checking on the DVLA site but I’m sure it’s 3+ months of 2+ fingerpricks every day.
 
For those who might be interested, I did a simple search and found this link to a report from a study looking at Lantus u100 in comparison to Toujeo u300 - for T2s. Toujeo seems to offer a slightly longer lasting basal with a reduced glycaemic variability, but uses a bit more insulin and thus is potentially a little more costly.
See: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12325-021-01773-z .

Welcome Angela @GracefulAng; as @rebrascora says, I would definitely accept the offer of Libre2. Whatever Paul's diagnosis ends up as being (T2 or T3c) - CGM tech can be difficult to get for anyone other than T1 and being insulin dependent doesn't actually make it a certainty. Like a lot of tech CGM is terrific when it works well and pretty frustrating when it's not working so well! But it is still worth having.

There is a huge amount to take on board about Paul's pancreatitis and now this diagnosis of diabetes (Type still to be confirmed) and it is all initially very stressful. My wife has been with me at virtually every medical appointment over the last nearly 5 years and I find it extremely helpful having a 2nd "pair of ears" taking on board the many messages.

I also insist on every Consultant, GP, or Specialist sending me a copy of any report that is written about me; previously I had a number of messages passed to me from my GP Surgery from a Receptionist and no record exists of these messages. It is both surprising and disappointing that a fair amount gets wrongly recorded and erroneous detail gets repeated even after asking for things to be corrected. In theory each medical report ends up accessible to me through the NHS app; in practice that turns out to be a myth. About 50% of all the correspondence about me showing on the app appears as merely a record of a Consult/appointment/discussion on a date, but frequently without the actual report. Referrals are never visible, ie what was actually said in the request from one Health Care Practicioner asking for a referral to someone else; that detail is hidden in the computer generated referral request, which allegedly can not be printed nor transferred onto my medical records (so I can never get to see it).

My main reason for keeping on top of this stuff is because I want to take ownership of my medical problems and my progress. Anyway, do keep asking questions if you find you need to know/understand more.
 
Good morning everyone! 🙂
 
Good morning! Hope things are continuing to mostly go well with your BG management.
 
rebrascora said:
Good morning! Hope things are continuing to mostly go well with your BG management.
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Hi, yes all going well thank you. The only problem I have at the moment is a shortage of glucose testing lancets. I recently ordered some more on repeat prescription, my designated chemist doesn't have any and couldn't supply them. So, I tried another well-known High St Chemist in the Town Centre and they don't have them either! I was told by both chemists, there is a national shortage apparently due to manufacturer issue. My GP is aware of it, but his hands are tied. It's really annoying and causing me to stress about it. I know stress is not a good thing and isn't good for my condition. It's like being 'held to ransom' Even more annoying is that the manufacturer doesn't seem to take any responsibility with this. What do you think?
 
Busdriver60 said:
Hi, yes all going well thank you. The only problem I have at the moment is a shortage of glucose testing lancets. I recently ordered some more on repeat prescription, my designated chemist doesn't have any and couldn't supply them. So, I tried another well-known High St Chemist in the Town Centre and they don't have them either! I was told by both chemists, there is a national shortage apparently due to manufacturer issue. My GP is aware of it, but his hands are tied. It's really annoying and causing me to stress about it. I know stress is not a good thing and isn't good for my condition. It's like being 'held to ransom' Even more annoying is that the manufacturer doesn't seem to take any responsibility with this. What do you think?
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Many people reuse their lancets so you could spin them out for longer.
In any case they are pretty cheap to buy from Amazon.
 
I have the same problem with creon which I need for my daily meals, all because of the manufacturer supply problem.
 
Really surprised there is a shortage of lancets.... most of us have a huge stock of them because we only use one a year and change it annually on St Swithin's day. It is a bit of a standing joke here on the forum. Yes, they are supposed to be single use, but you certainly won't die if you reuse them..... as long as you only use them on yourself..... If you are tempted to test friends and family from time to time, then obviously break out a new lancet for them, but many of us test hundreds of times with the same lancet, so don't get yourself into too much of a sweat about it.
 
Leadinglights said:
Many people reuse their lancets so you could spin them out for longer.
In any case they are pretty cheap to buy from Amazon.
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ok is that wise?
 
Obviously Creon is more important. There has been a lot of discussion about the Creon shortages and generally I believe that it is the 25000 capsules which are hard to get, but people have found that there is no problem with the 10000 capsules, which you would obviously need to take mre of, but should tide you over any shortage. There are also other options for PERT but Creon is the most well known, so talk to your pharmacist about alternatives if they can't get you what is prescribed.
 
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