Help/Advice required

[everydayupsanddowns]

is there a difference in the type of insulin and the action they have?

You are currently on a premixed insulin that has a mixture of rapid acting insulin and intermediate acting insulin. But you can't take one without the other. It's much less easyt to adapt and adjust your doses (essentially you can't) on a premixed insulin, which is why the guidance for T1s says to start them on basal:bolus / MDI (two different insulins that you can deliver independently) from the start.

On MDI you have one or two injections of a 'long acting' to cover background needs, and as many meal or snack doses of 'rapid acting' as you need.

 

[trophywench]

is there a difference in the type of insulin and the action they have?

Yes! No two brands of insulin will work (ie their activity rather than whether they reduce your BG) exactly the same, even when they contain the same types of insulin. Plus because every single human body has its very own exclusive metabolism exactly when it will commence its action and then cease it, will be different.

eg I use Novorapid and don't eat all that quickly, it starts to act within 10 minutes for me. So when I eat, I inject the insulin immediately before starting to eat, if I injected it any sooner, I'd be hypo before I'd consumed even half of it. Some folk need to inject prior to eating - as much as 30 minutes is quite common but again, that might only be for breakfast or lunch or dinner and they may need different timings for meals at different times of day.

Similarly different people get on perfectly well with certain brands and not with certain others, it isn't just a standard treatment for every one of us!

However old we are when we are diagnosed but assuming we're intelligent - having diabetes does make us realise what a marvellous thing the human body is, to carry out the myriad of different things it has to do constantly - and automatically, ever, at all !

 

[trophywench]

Incidentally - MDI means Multiple Daily Injections.

 

[Ditto]

Your dogs are so cute! 🙂 Why are they facing the wrong way?

 

[Oblivious]

Your dogs are so cute! 🙂 Why are they facing the wrong way?

because they are stubborn and i was trying to get them to come inside. they thought if they didn't make eye contact they could stay out, have attached a 'face pic' rather than a 'butt pic'

 

[Oblivious]

@trophywench and @everydayupsanddowns
thanks, here was me thinking that insulin was insulin.

 

[trophywench]

Been a long time since that was true - and even then it had to be sourced from pigs and cattle, hence if the world had been vegetarian in 1923, a lot more people would have died and there were already more than enough. I started on porcine insulin when I was diagnosed cos they hadn't yet invented any other sort! so we all got either porcine or bovine.

 

[Oblivious]

I have so much to learn

 

[trophywench]

I have so much to learn

Mate - I've had T1 for 48 years and I still hear new things about D virtually every day, which to be fair didn't really start until 1998/9 cos we didn't have a Modem at home until then!

 

[grovesy]

Mate - I've had T1 for 48 years and I still hear new things about D virtually every day, which to be fair didn't really start until 1998/9 cos we didn't have a Modem at home until then!

Occasionally it is more than one new thing a day.